Food Holding Device, Method of Making, and Method of Storing Cooked Food
A food holding device includes a holding bin and an optional heating component. The holding bin has a specified average surface roughness Ra on at least a portion of the surface intended to be contacted with food during storage of the food.
1 . A method of storing cooked food in a food holding bin, comprising:
placing cooked food in a food holding bin having a food-contacting surface, at least a portion of the food-contacting surface having an average surface roughness Ra in the range of from about 0.5 μm to about 3 μm;
directing radiant energy onto the food while in the holding bin and onto at least a portion of the surface of the food holding bin having the average surface roughness Ra.
2 . The method of storing cooked food of claim 1 , wherein the average surface roughness Ra is in the range of from about 0.75 μm to about 2 μm.
3 . The method of storing cooked food of claim 2 , wherein the average surface roughness Ra is in the range of from about 0.75 μm to about 1.75 μm.
4 . A method of making a food holding device comprising:
providing a sheet of material suitable for a holding bin, at least a portion of the sheet of material having an average surface roughness Ra in the range of from about 0.5 μm to about 3 μm;
forming at least a portion of a food holding bin from the sheet of material having a food-contacting surface wherein at least a portion of the food-contacting surface has the average surface roughness Ra.
5 . The method of claim 4 further comprising bead blasting the sheet of material to provide the average surface roughness Ra.
6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the average surface roughness Ra is in the range of from about 0.75 μm to about 2 μm.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the bead blasting comprises bead blasting with glass beads.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the average surface roughness Ra is up to a maximum of about 1.2 μm.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the food-contacting surface comprises a bottom surface of the food holding bin.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the bottom surface comprises a plurality of openings, the method further comprising separating the placed food from oil by allowing the oil to drip through the openings.
11 . The method of claim 9 wherein the bottom surface has an average surface roughness Ra between the perforations of between approximately 0.75 μm and approximately 2 μm.
12 . The method of claim 9 further comprising heating the bottom surface to an average temperature in the range of from about 165° F. to about 175° F. by the radiant energy.
13 . The method of claim 1 further comprising forming a thin film of cooking oil on the surface having the roughness.
14 . The method of claim 1 wherein placing cooked food in the food holding bin comprises placing French fries or chicken nuggets in the food holding bin.
15 . The method of claim 4 wherein the material of the food holding bin is stainless steel.
16 . The method of claim 5 wherein the bead blasting comprises bead blasting with glass beads having an average grit size of 6 to 80.
17 . The method of claim 4 , wherein all of the food-contacting surface of the holding bin has an average surface roughness Ra in the range of from about 0.5 μm to about 3 μm.
18 . The method of claim 4 , wherein at least substantially all of the food-contacting surface of the holding bin has an average surface roughness Ra in the range of from about 0.5 μm to about 3 μm.
19 . The method of claim 1 wherein the food is selected from the group consisting of French fries, chicken nuggets, hash browns, onion rings, fried mushrooms, hamburgers, chicken and mixtures thereof.
20 . A method of storing cooked French fries comprising:
placing cooked French fries in a food holding bin having a food-contacting surface, at least a portion of the food-contacting surface having an average surface roughness Ra in the range of from about 0.5 μm to about 3 μm;
directing radiant energy onto the cooked French fries while in the holding bin and onto at least a portion of the surface of the food holding bin having the average surface roughness Ra.