HEATING VESSEL

Abstract

The applicant provides a heating vessel with a single lid for a microwave oven wherein boiling is maintained and overspill is unlikely to be ejected. In view of the fact that a wooden lid for an iron pot is flat, bulky and heavy, the applicant employs a thickened intermediate lid for a double-lid earthen pot for rice cooking that is used for heating with gas. By providing steam vents at equal intervals around the circumference of the lid, the soluble solids of cooked rice ejected due to boiling are returned into the earthen pot for rice cooking.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention

The present invention relates a heating vessel with a lid, for preventing overspill from being ejected and maintaining boiling even with a single lid, to make it easy for use of an earthen pot for rice cooking with a microwave oven.

2. Description of the related art

The Japanese Patent No. 4143936 discloses that rice can be cooked in a good manner with a simple output control when an earthen pot is used as a vessel for rice cooking with a microwave oven.

For earthen vessels for rice cooking with a microwave oven, there are double-lid rice bowls, earthen pots whose main body and lid are doubled, and triple-lid vessels.

However, the rice-cooking vessels have problems to be solved such as overspill and complicated way of use due to multiple lids.

The present invention is intended to provide an earthen pot with a single lid that prevents overspill from being ejected and maintain boiling for rice cooking in a good manner to make it easy for use of the earthen pot for rice cooking with a microwave oven easy.

A double-lid earthen pot for rice cooking that is used for heating with gas is reputable for cooking rice deliciously. However, it is difficult to use the earthen pot with a microwave oven because there are problems such that overspill is ejected intensely, grains of rice are raised from steam vents of the intermediate lid, soluble solids of cooked rice are stored on the intermediate lid, and, in some cases, grains of rice are ejected onto the outside lid.

As to rice cooking that is used for heating with gas, a heating vessel is heated with gas and then the heated heating vessel heats rice and water in the heating vessel by heat transfer. By contrast, as to rice cooking with a microwave oven, rice and water in a heating vessel are heated directly by microwaves and then the heating vessel is heated by heat transfer from the inside of the vessel. Because of this heating order, a high temperature that is difficult to be obtained only by electric output is rapidly generated by far-infrared heating in addition to microwave heating. And intense boiling can be caused.

The reason why it is difficult for a microwave oven to cook rice with an earthen pot is because this mechanism causes intense boiling and overspill ejected at once. As described in the Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-195541 A2007.8.9, the preferred form of an earthen pot has a higher circumference than an earthen pot for rice cooking by heating with gas.

As this heating by microwaves in addition to by far-infrared rays has the same effect of a heating process causing an intense boiling as rice cooking with a kitchen furnace (kamado), which consists of heating by burning firewood and by outputting far-infrared rays from the kitchen furnace. That is why rice can be cooked deliciously with a microwave oven by using an earthen pot.

When an earthen pot for rice cooking by heating with gas is used, one of the reasons why grains of rice are raised from steam vents of an intermediate lid is because the vents are too large compared with grains of rice. On the other hand, the reason why grains of rice are ejected onto an outside lid seems to be because the vents of the lid are too small to drain the soluble solids of cooked rice and steam which are ejected at once and that the lid is too light against the ejecting pressure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve these problems and make it easy for use of an earthen pot for rice cooking, an outside lid of the earthen pot is thickened and used as a single lid to weight the lid. Steam vents are provided around the circumference of the lid in approximately 1.5 cm in width and depth at 3 locations at equal intervals not to raise grains of rice from the lid of the earthen pot due to boiling, and to enable soluble solids of cooked rice to return into the pot even after being raised therefrom. Then rice is cooked by boiling with an output of 500 W.

As a result, an intense boiling ejects the soluble solids of cooked rice from the steam vents around the circumference of the lid. However, they are not spilled out of the circumference of the earthen pot and, after the heating, return into the pot not to raise grains of rice onto the lid.

With a rice-cooking earthen pot for “3 go” (approximately 450 g) of rice with a capacity of 1500 cc, up to 300 cc of rice can be cooked with a microwave oven, and with a capacity of 2000 cc that has a higher circumference, up to 400 cc of rice can be cooked. With a capacity of 2000 cc, a half, that is 200 cc, of rice are cooked in a good manner. Furthermore, 100 cc of rice can be cooked as rice gruel in a good manner.

After boiling, as described in the Japanese Patent No. 4143936, it is ideal to lower an output to maintain the boiling. When the output is lowered to 200 W, the boiling is no longer maintained because an earthen pot for rice cooking has a larger mass than a general earthen pot. When the boiling is continued with the 500 W output only, rice can be cooked with a single lid without lowering the output, though there is a problem that steam generated by the intense boiling is changed into water drops to make the inside of the microwave oven wet heavily. The problem will be solved if the output can be lowered enough to maintain the boiling.

The soluble solids of cooked rice raised from the steam vents of the lid return into the earthen pot after the heating and are blended into the whole rice without major problems. However, unevenness of cooked rice tends to be seen at the central part of the earthen pot.

It is thought that the unevenness at the central part is caused by the domically-shaped form of the earthen pot and incomplete boiling at the central part because the steam vents are provided around the circumference.

To solve this problem, in view of the fact that a wooden lid for an iron pot is bulky, heavy, and flat in the bottom surface, a single flat intermediate lid for an earthen pot for rice cooking, not an outside lid, is employed after being thickened and weighted, and steam vents are provided at equal intervals around the circumference.

The flat, bulky, and heavy lid with the steam vents around its circumference according to the present invention prevents overspill from being ejected. The single lid makes it easy for use of the earthen pot for rice cooking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a lid for an earthen pot for rice cooking.

FIG. 2 is an example of a lid for an earthen pot.

FIG. 3 is an example of a lid of heat-resistant glass.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERED EMBODIMENTS

As a lid for a rice-cooking earthen pot for “3 go” (approximately 450 g) of rice for heating with gas that has a deeper shape from a type-six earthen pot, the lid is 17.5 cm in diameter, flat and bulky in the bottom surface, and heavy, with steam vents provided at 3 locations at equal intervals of 1.5 cm each in width and depth as shown in FIG. 1, since too large steam vents cannot keep heat and makes it difficult to be boiled as the initial function of the lid.

The bottom surface of the lid is generally flat but has bottom rims. A handle should be in an easy-to-grip shape because it is heavier than a lid of a general earthen pot.

For an earthen pot for rice cooking by heating with gas, the lid according to the present invention provides a heating vessel for rice cooking with a single lid that prevents overspill from being ejected and makes it easy for use of the lid.

An earthen pot, not only for rice cooking, tends to cause boiling more instantly than other heating vessels, because far-infrared heating is added after ordinary heating is processed. When a plurality of steam vents are provided around the circumference of the lid of the pot, boiling is caused more slowly because they have a larger area than that of steam vents of a lid for an ordinary earthen pot. When heating for a long time with a low heating power or output, overspill is unlikely to be ejected and gentle boiling is maintained.

A heating vessel with a lid made of heat-resistant glass is convenient because the inside of the pot can be seen during cooking. The lid made of glass is heavy and has a high sealability since the circumference is reinforced with metal. Some of the lids are ventilated for steam, which achieves faster boiling than other lids but overspill is also likely to be ejected faster. It is not difficult, from a technological view point, to provide steam vents illustrated in FIG. 3 around the circumference of a lid. Thus a heating vessel with a lid made of heat-resistant glass with which overspill is unlikely to be ejected can be provided. When this heating vessel with the lid is adopted as a pot for cooking soups, it is convenient that the steam vents can also be a space to put a ladle while the pot is closed with the lid.

Some of the heating vessels for cooking rice with a microwave oven are made of heat-resistant glass. While the effect of far-infrared rays as the characteristics of ceramics cooks rice deliciously, there is a problem that overspill is likely to be ejected in the same manner as an earthen pot. But this can be solved by adopting the heating vessel with the lid that is ventilated around the circumference.

For a lid of a casserole pot made of heat-resistant glass for stews with a microwave oven, steam vents are not provided. If steam vents are provided around the circumference of the lid, a stew can be cooked by maintaining a low output and boiling.

For a general heating vessel with a lid, steam vents in a form of a circle, an ellipse or a square can be provided around the circumference of the lid to provide a heating vessel with a lid with which overspill is unlikely ejected.

THE FIRST EMBODIMENT

300 cc of pre-washed rice and 420 cc of water (approximately 1.4 times of the rice) are put into the rice-cooking earthen pot with a lid according to the present invention whose capacity is 1500 cc without taking time to immerse the rice in the water. After heating at 200 W for 5 minutes with a microwave oven, the output is changed to 500 W and then heating is performed for 13 minutes. Or, after heating them into boiling at 500 W, the output is lowered to an output at which boiling can be maintained, heating is performed approximately for 5 minutes and then leaving the pot with the lid approximately for 10 minutes.

THE SECOND EMBODIMENT

400 cc of pre-washed rice and 560 cc of water (approximately 1.4 times of the rice) are put into the rice-cooking earthen pot with a lid according the present invention whose capacity is 2000 cc without taking time to immerse the rice in the water. After heating at 200 W for 5 minutes with a microwave oven, the output is changed to 500 W and then heating is performed for 15 minutes. Or, after heating them into boiling at 500 W, the output is lowered to an output at which boiling can be maintained, heating is performed approximately for 5 minutes and then leaving the pot with the lid approximately for 10 minutes to cook delicious rice.

THE THIRD EMBODIMENT

When cooking a gruel, 100 cc of pre-washed rice and 500 cc of water (approximately 5 times of the rice) are put into the rice-cooking earthen pot with a lid according the present invention whose capacity is 2000 cc without taking time to immerse the rice in the water. After heating at 200 W for 5 minutes with a microwave oven, the output is changed to 500 W and then heating is performed for 12 minutes. Or, after heating them into boiling at 500 W, the output is lowered to an output at which boiling can be maintained, heating is performed approximately for 5 minutes and then leaving the pot with the lid approximately for 15 minutes to cook a delicious gruel.

Claims

1. A heating vessel, with a lid of which steam vents are provided around the circumference, in order to prevent overspill from being ejected and to maintain boiling.

2. A heating vessel, for a rice-cooking earthen pot, with a lid of which steam vents are provided around the circumference and whose bottom surface is flat and in a thickened shape, in order to prevent overspill from being ejected and to maintain boiling.

3. A heating vessel, for rice cooking with a microwave oven, whose capacity is 1500 cc for cooking 300 cc of rice and is 2000 cc for cooking 400 cc of rice.

4. A heating vessel, wherein heating means heat substances in the vessel and the heated substances heat the vessel by heat transfer as a result that a high temperature is rapidly generated and an intense boiling can be caused by far-infrared heating in addition to the heating means.