1. Field
The present invention relates to poultry cookers for steaming and roasting poultry such as whole turkeys, chickens, and other fowl, and more specifically to poultry cookers which are heated by charcoal or gas-fired grills which cook poultry using steam to keep the cooking meat moist and seasoned by vapors from a desired basting liquid.
2. State of the Art
People have become more conscious of their health over the last decade or two, watching closer the calories, fat, and cholesterol of the foods they eat. One result has been the switching from the xe2x80x9cred meatxe2x80x9d of cows to the healthier xe2x80x9cwhite meatsxe2x80x9d of poultry such as turkey and chicken, but also duck, pheasant, and other such fowl. Whole fowl are typically cooked indoors in a conventional convection oven, with a body cavity resulting from removal of the internal organs stuffed with bread stuffing, and then covered with aluminum foil. The moist stuffing and the outer covering of aluminum foil help to retain the natural juices of the fowl from evaporating, resulting in moister cooked meat. The aluminum foil is typically removed for a few minutes prior to removing the fowl from the oven to allow browning of the exterior of the fowl to crisp the skin and provide a more appealing look for serving.
Cooking whole fowl outdoors such as barbecuing on a charcoal grill or a gas-fired cooker (e.g. a gas-fired grill) has proven to be more challenging than cooking indoors primarily due to the lesser controllability of the cooking temperature, and the variability of the temperature at various areas particularly over the charcoal grill. A motorized rotisserie is often employed to horizontally rotate the fowl above the charcoal to more evenly cook the fowl. Some chefs brush the fowl with flavored liquid, liquified butter, or other basting liquid in an attempt to prevent burning and drying out of the meat during cooking. While such basting of the fowl with liquid helps the meat retain moisture and more evenly cook, basting requires frequent attention to the fowl and is thus inconvenient. More typically, the fowl is left to cook alone, and is checked only after a predetermined amount of time has elapsed. This results either in the fowl being cooked too long resulting in dry, tasteless meat with portions of the fowl burned, or the fowl being removed from the grill earlier and with portions of the meat undercooked. The undercooked fowl is particularly bad since salmonella and other such bacteria which are not killed due to insufficient exposure to heat can cause sickness or even death when eaten. A gas-fired cooker gives the chef more control over the heat input by allowing regulating of the flow of gas, and a more even heat due to the lack of using burning charcoal as the source of heat. However, the results are still not necessarily satisfactory.
There are numerous patents on various devices designed for cooking poultry outdoors on grills and gas-fired cookers. One example is the cooking apparatus for roasting and grilling foodstuffs disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,585 issued to Guidry. The cooking apparatus is designed for grilling whole chickens and other fowl on top of an open-topped charcoal or gas-fired grill while maintaining the meat moist and permitting desired flavorings to be imparted to the meat. The cooking apparatus includes one or a plurality of upstanding metal tubes affixed to a horizontally disposed metal base plate. The base plate seals a lower end of the tube while a beveled upper end thereof is open for adding basting liquid. A desired flavoring basting liquid is poured into the tube and the whole fowl is impaling on the beveled upper end. The cooking apparatus with impaled fowl is placed on a cooking surface of the grill above the burning charcoal. The flavored basting liquid evaporates during cooking of the chicken to moisten and flavor the meat. Heat is conducted through the tube to the interior of the fowl to produce more even cooking. The base plate partially shields the chicken from direct heat and flames from the charcoal to minimize searing and burning of the chicken. While the cooking apparatus attempts to keep the meat moist using vapor internally introduced to the fowl and partially shielded from excessive heat, it fails to retain the moisture from exiting outwardly from the fowl. Consequently, the large outer surface of the fowl may become dry and tasteless. The cooking apparatus may not be moved by hand when hot unless insulating gloves or the like are used.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,739 issued to Jernigan which discloses a cooking device for supporting and steaming fowl within a cooking appliance such as a grill or smoker. The cooking device includes a horizontally disposed circular base plate to which an upstanding frustoconical tubular insert affixed. The base plate seals a lower end of the insert. The insert includes a plurality of perforations from a midportion to an open upper end of the insert which is coverable using a removable domed cap. The insert is partially filled to the perforations with a basting liquid, the domed cap is replaced, and the insert placed into the body cavity of the fowl. Cooking device is placed on the cooking surface of the grill or smoker. Vapor produced within the insert is gradually disbursed through the perforations into the body cavity of the fowl to help prevent the fowl from drying. The cooking device appears to advantageously disperse the vapor over a larger area of the body cavity of the fowl, and is used within a closed-top grill or smoker which may retain some of the juices from evaporating from the meat. While the cooking device may be an improvement over the cooking apparatus of Guidry, the same basic drawbacks are present albeit possibly to a lesser degree. Additionally, only one fowl may be cooked at a time, requiring sequential time consuming cooking of multiple fowl to cook of a full meal such as several whole chickens, pheasants, ducks, or other smaller fowl, or multiple apparatuses to be used simultaneously.
Finally, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,976 issued to Berryman is disclosed a poultry steamer. The poultry steamer includes a base having a circular floor supported by a plurality of downwardly dependent legs and an upstanding perimeter wall. A removable support post extends upwardly from the center of the base for insertion into the body cavity of a whole fowl to support the fowl. A layer of sand is deposited in the base with a sheet of aluminum foil placed thereover. A removable cover of a much smaller diameter than the base fits over the fowl on the support post and engages the foil supported by the sand to semi-seal the fowl within the cover. Charcoal is layered in an annular space formed between the perimeter wall and the cover to heat the cover and cook the fowl therewithin. The cover is removed using a removable handle so as not to be hot during use. The cooking device appears to advantageously retain natural juices from the fowl around the fowl to lessen drying, but includes no way to add a basting liquid to supplement the natural juices. Likewise, it is virtually impossible to remove the cover to baste the fowl or to check whether the fowl is done and then replace the cover following basting or if the fowl is not fully cooked. Lifting the cover allows the hot charcoal to fall inwardly toward the support post and blocking replacement of the cover against the aluminum foil. The cooking device does not permit controlling of the cooking temperature and is not useable with conventional charcoal and gas-fired grills.
Therefore, there is a need for a cooking device for whole fowl which may be used with conventional gas-fired cookers or gas ranges, that shields the fowl from excessive heat, and which provides evenly distributed, controllable heat to evenly cook the fowl. The cooking device should retain the natural juices from the fowl around the fowl, steaming and roasting the fowl to preserve the taste of the meat and lessen drying, and permit adding of a flavored or other basting liquid which vaporizes to supplement the natural juices. The cooking device should allow cooking of a full meal at once, either a plurality of smaller fowl cooked at the same time or one large fowl. Finally, the cooking device should permit easy access to the fowl for basting and checking whether the meat is cooked properly, and is portable as a unitary device.
The present invention is a poultry roaster for use on top of a heat source, preferably a gas-fired cooker, so the heat input to the poultry roaster may easily be controlled. The poultry roaster includes a cover assembly which has a barrel-shaped cover with a circular upper wall and a downwardly dependent outer wall terminating at an annular lower rim defining an inner cooking chamber of the cover. At least one handle is affixed to the cover to facilitate lifting. A bottom pan has a circular bottom wall and an upwardly dependent peripheral rim adapted to receive the lower rim of the cover. The bottom wall has a plurality of lower heat distribution holes therethrough which are upwardly punched to form respective upwardly tapered annular grease dams around the lower heat distribution holes. A heat deflector made of a thermally conductive material has a horizontally disposed circular plate to which at least one meat holder is affixed adapted to hold a piece of meat such as a whole fowl. The meat holder is preferably an upstanding basting adapter made of a thermally conductive material which is affixable to the circular plate. The basting adapter is adapted to hold a can of basting liquid to be inserted into a body cavity of at least one whole fowl during cooking of the whole fowl. The circular plate has a plurality of upper heat distribution holes therethrough and is supported by the bottom pan in a spaced sealed relationship to the bottom wall forming a heat diffuser chamber therebetween. The heat diffuser chamber mixes heat from hotter and cooler portions of the heat source to provide a more even flow of heat upwardly from the heat source to the inner cooking chamber of the cover.
In a preferred embodiment of the poultry roaster, the cover is designed to resemble a beer keg with the outer wall being annularly ribbed or smooth. The handle is affixed centrally to the upper wall of the cover, and includes a pair of vertical posts that are affixed in a spaced relationship at respective lower ends to the upper wall and interconnected at respective upper ends by a transverse hand grip. A pair of simulated beer taps are affixed to respective of the upper ends of the vertical posts facing oppositely. The cover is retainable to the bottom pan by at least one retaining device. The cover includes a vent control disk that is rotatably connected to the upper wall thereof, the disk having a vent hole which is selectively overlappable with a vent hole through the upper wall. A thermometer hole extends through the upper wall for insertion of a thermometer to monitor the temperature within the inner cooking chamber of the cover.
A first preferred basting adapter comprises a single basting adapter for cooking a single larger size whole fowl. The single basting adapter includes a horizontally disposed base plate made of a thermally conductive material to which a plurality of upwardly dependent can retainer rods made of a thermally conductive material are affixed supporting an upper ring. The retainer rods and the upper ring are sized to receive the can of basting liquid to be inserted into the body cavity of the whole fowl prior to cooking to steam the whole fowl during cooking.
A second preferred basting adapter comprises a tri-basting adapter for cooking three smaller size whole fowl. The tri-basting adapter includes a horizontally disposed tri-arm base plate made of a thermally conductive material to which three upwardly dependent short can retainer tubes made of a thermally conductive material are affixed. The retainer tubes are sized to receive the can of basting liquid to be inserted into the body cavity of the whole fowl prior to cooking to steam respective of the whole fowl during cooking.