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The kitchen assistant, known as 'Flippy', was designed by a startup called Miso Robotics which specializes in "technology that assists and empowers chefs to make food consistently and perfectly, at prices everyone can afford."
[...] Flippy uses feedback-loops that reinforce its good behavior so it gets better with each flip of the burger. Unlike an assembly line robot that needs to have everything positioned in an exact ordered pattern, Flippy's machine learning algorithms allow it to pick uncooked burgers from a stack or flip those already on the grill. Hardware like cameras helps Flippy see and navigate its surroundings while sensors inform the robot when a burger is ready or still raw. Meanwhile, an integrated system that sends orders from the counter back to the kitchen informs Flippy just how many raw burgers it should be prepping.
Source: http://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/burger-robot-flipping-meat-0432432/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 14 2017, @04:37PM (12 children)
Perhaps if you've never tasted a properly cooked burger you might think that. A clamshell grill cannot properly cook a burger because it only cooks at one temperature and as a result you get this burger that's either raw inside or extremely evenly cooked, but lacking any discernible browning.
The best way to cook a burger is to grill it on low until you've got a color change and fluid on the top side, then flipping it onto a hotter area for browning before briefly flipping it one time to brown the original bottom side. You're not going to produce a properly cooked burger if you don't also brown the thing. It's one of the reasons why fast food burgers can be so fast, but also lacking in actual taste.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday September 14 2017, @04:47PM (3 children)
As a wise(?) man once said, "Perhaps if you've never tasted a properly cooked burger you might think that."
The clamshell introduces heat at the top and bottom surfaces of the burger, resulting in a range of temperatures being applied to the meat itself: The highest temperatures at the surfaces, where searing is desired, and lower temperatures penetrating to the center, where the goal is to get the meat to safe temperature while conserving the natural moisture and texture.
There's food science involved, but no rocket science.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 14 2017, @04:52PM
We get it... you're in Sales.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 14 2017, @06:33PM (1 child)
That's not how cooking works. Cooking from the outside results in a heat gradient. The higher the temperature, the larger the gradient. That's how they can fry ice cream without melting it. They fry it at an extremely high temperature so that the inside is still frozen.
In terms of the clamshell design, those are never going to properly cook anything except an extremely thin piece of meat. And even then, the outside isn't going to be properly browned without overcooking the inside of the meat. I've used clamshell grills and there's a reason why they're used, they're cheap and fast and produce passable results.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday September 14 2017, @06:57PM
Because of the curve of that gradient, you have to start with meat at a lower temperature to increase the thickness of meat that will properly cook in such a manner. As I understand it (may be a flawed understanding), this is typically done by keeping the meat to be cooked under the desired degree of refrigeration until just before cooking.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday September 14 2017, @05:26PM (7 children)
>The best way to cook a burger is to grill it on low until you've got a color change and fluid on the top side, then flipping it
> onto a hotter area for browning before briefly flipping it one time to brown the original bottom side.
I always drop my steaks onto a really hot pan/grill to sear both sides quickly, trapping the juices inside. I consider "grill it on low" to be heretical.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday September 14 2017, @06:10PM (1 child)
Heretical? It's the most abominable crime, it treachery against nature, those who commit this sin will go straight past Judecca into the very frozen centre of hell, to be chewed forever by Lucifer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday September 14 2017, @06:16PM
He'll grill them on low, for sure, and make them chew themselves.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 14 2017, @06:41PM (4 children)
You shouldn't do that. Searing does not lock in juice. The purpose of searing is to brown the meat giving it that delightful flavor. You do it in spite of the fact that it causes a loss of juice, not to prevent the loss of juice.
http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_searing_seals_in_juices.html [amazingribs.com]
I've been doing it this way for years and I have yet to wind up with a steak that wasn't nice and juicy, tender and flavorful. In fact, the usual problem I have is with there being somewhat more juice left over at the end than I want.
You can sort of get away with that if you've got a thin piece of steak, but definitely not on thicker cuts. What's more, even on thinner pieces, you're better off with a lower temperature as that gives you a nice even cook. You can then throw it on the hotter part of the grill to get the browning that you're looking for.
People who claim that doing it over low heat are mostly incompetent. The juiciest, most flavorful meat you're going to get is via Sous Vide and that's usually low heat for many hours followed up with a short blast by a blow torch or being browned in a pan.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday September 14 2017, @06:49PM (3 children)
> there being somewhat more juice left over at the end than I want.
a nice even cook
I see where the discrepancy lies. My steaks are typically a few Planck lengths away from mooing. Rare to medium-rare, never disrespecting the meat I didn't get to meet.
(Score: 3, Funny) by rts008 on Thursday September 14 2017, @09:52PM
LOL!
First time I heard it put that way. I like it!
Usually my reply when asked about my steak's 'doneness' is:
'if it's not trying to eat my salad, it's overcooked.'
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 15 2017, @03:35AM
Doesn't matter where you get the steaks from, if you're searing them, you're drying them out. And if you sear before you actually cook them, then you're losing extra moisture.
Most of the moisture in a cut of meat is water and the hotter you get the water the more of it evaporates off. If you've got a particularly moist steak that's been properly cared for before being cooked, then you might not have a problem. But, the fact that you see no problem with this indicates that you probably haven't ever enjoyed a properly prepared steak in your life. The juice, tenderness and general flavor of a steak prepared properly will disabuse you of the notion that what you're talking about is at all OK.
Somebody killed a cow to get that steak, at least learn how to prepared it properly. There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that searing the meat will lock in the juices and there's no evidence to suggest that cooking at a higher temperature is somehow better. Keeping the heat closer to the desired temperature for longer causes less of the moisture to evaporate out and causes the meat to be cooked more consistently throughout. Searing it afterward, can give that proper browning that is so delicious without causing an excessive loss of moisture as you've preserved more than enough of it by doing things in the correct order.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday September 15 2017, @12:41PM
Why do you avoid the categorisation that matches your desires - blue? And certainly if you like it mostly uncooked, why waste time with the "to medium-rare" part of the above?!? If your restaurant understands "blue" (try a french or spanish restaurant, they seem to be the best in my experience), ask for "blue", and if it doesn't, ask for "rare".
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