Silicone basting brush

Abstract

A silicone basting brush is provided. The brush has a handle portion and a basting portion. The basting portion includes a plurality of flexible silicone bristle units. The bristle units are slotted for receiving and retaining a basting sauce in the slots and releasing the sauce from the slots when the bristle unit is flexed by applying the basting portion to the surface of a food.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The invention relates to basting brushes.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]Basting brushes are used to transfer sauce onto a food surface. When dipped into a volume of sauce, the bristles wick sauce into the spaces between the bristles where the sauce is retained. When the bristles are brushed over the surface, the sauce is dispersed evenly to coat the surface. This has many culinary applications, on the barbecue, in baking, for basting during cooking, or for adding a finishing coating to cooked foods.[0005]Conventional basting brushes use natural or synthetic fibre bristles. Although reasonably good for retaining sauce, they have a variety of problems. Chief among them, the bristles do not hold up over a long term of use. The stress of heat exposure, wear from use and cleaning, and exposure to both oily and astringent substances tends to break down the fibres. These can fracture or shed, and may leave behind...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]Various shapes of bristle units are possible. The bristle units may be fluted. It is possible to have multiple slots in the bristle unit. The bristle units may have surface texturing to enhance sauce wicking.

Problems solved by technology

Although reasonably good for retaining sauce, they have a variety of problems.

The stress of heat exposure, wear from use and cleaning, and exposure to both oily and astringent substances tends to break down the fibres.

These can fracture or shed, and may leave behind fibre bits on the food.

Another drawback of conventional bristle brushes is their construction.

A buildup of residue may occur at the ferrule joint, which can be both unhygienic and unsightly.

However, this slipperiness of silicone also poses a challenge for basting brushes as the silicone tends also to shed sauce, rather than retain it for basting.

Thus, silicone basting brushes are not as effective at sauce transfer as conventional fibre brushes.

However, there is a practical limit to the “density” approach, and the bristles can be packed in so densely that they start to suffer from residue buildup similar to conventional brushes.

This has some benefit, although it is still not as effective as conventional fibre brushes.

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