Method, continuous apparatus, and burner for producing a surface-roasted product

1. An apparatus for surface-roasting a food product comprising:

a housing;

a conveyor for carrying said food product through said housing; and

a series of at least two pairs of non-linear ribbon flame burners surrounded by said housing for discharging a ribbon of flame for surface-roasting said food product, one non-linear ribbon flame burner in each of said pairs being oriented at a forward leaning angle with respect to a direction of travel of said conveyor in said housing and the other non-linear ribbon flame burner in each of said pairs being oriented at an equal but opposite rearward leaning angle, the forward and rearward leaning angles being in a range of from about 5° to about 60° from vertical, the series being arranged so said food product being conveyed through the series on said conveyor is continuously contacted by said ribbon flame;

wherein each said non-linear ribbon flame burner comprises:

an upper segment which extends laterally over said conveyor for discharging an upper portion of said ribbon flame toward a top portion of said food product;

a first side segment which extends downwardly from a first end of said upper segment for discharging a first side portion of said ribbon flame toward a first side portion of said food product; and

a second side segment which extends downwardly from a second end of said upper segment for discharging a second side portion of said ribbon flame toward a second side portion of said food product;

said ribbon flame being a flame that extends along the entire length of each said upper, first side, and second side segments.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said upper segment has a curved shape.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said curved shape is a segmented curved shape.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each said non-linear ribbon flame burner further comprises a lower segment which extends beneath said conveyor for discharging a lower portion of said ribbon flame toward a bottom exterior portion of said food product.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein each said non-linear ribbon flame burner forms a continuous loop through which said conveyor travels, said continuous loop comprising said upper segment, said first side segment, said second side segment, and said lower segment.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said ribbon flame forms a continuous ribbon flame loop through which said conveyor travels, said continuous ribbon flame loop comprising said upper portion of said ribbon flame, said first side portion of said ribbon flame, said second side portion of said ribbon flame, and said lower portion of said ribbon flame.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said upper segment has a curved shape.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said curved shape is a segment curved shape.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising:

a continuous flame slot in said continuous loop and

a ribbon flame element positioned in said continuous flame slot for discharging said ribbon flame.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a vapor conduit extending from said housing and

an extraction fan in said vapor conduit for extracting, at an extraction rate, at least a portion of a vapor product produced in said housing.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising a continuous oven wherein said food product is cooked, said vapor conduit extending to said continuous oven for delivering at least a portion of said vapor product into said continuous oven such that said food product can be cooked in said continuous oven in an environment comprising at least a portion of said vapor product.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said continuous oven is a spiral oven having a conveyor therein for conveying said food product within said spiral oven in a spiral pattern.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

a temperature sensor in said housing or in said vapor conduit for determining a temperature condition of said vapor product and

a controller for automatically controlling said extraction rate to maintain said temperature condition of said vapor product.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

a continuous oven wherein said food product is cooked and

a vapor conduit extending between said housing and said continuous oven for delivering at least a portion of a vapor product produced in said housing into said continuous oven such that said food product can be cooked in said continuous oven in an environment comprising at least a portion of said vapor product from said housing.