Microwave cooking package

Claim 1

A vacuum skin package useful for storing, heating, browning or crispening, and serving at least one food item, said package comprising: (a) a rigid, gas impermeable tray comprising a floor, a circumferential wall attached to said floor, and a rim at the upper end of the circumferential wall, wherein the circumferential wall contains at least one vent capable of venting air during vacuum skin packaging; (b) at least one food item contained in said tray; (c) a microwave susceptive, liquid and vapor permeable, drapable composite material having sufficient microwave susceptivity to brown or crispen the surface of said at least one food item in a microwave oven without substantially impeding the ability of microwave energy to penetrate the susceptor material and cook said at least one food item, said composite material being draped over and contacting said at least one food item; and (d) a polymeric, gas impermeable film covering said tray, said at least one food item, and said composite material, said film being vacuum skin formed onto said tray such that said film extends across the rim of the tray and down the outer portion of the circumferential wall adjacent to the rim, said film conforming to the shape of said at least one food item and said composite material within the tray and causing the composite material to be held in tight conformity to the shape of said at least one food item, said film further forming a mechanical crimp over the rim of the tray; said tray and film being sufficiently permeable to microwave radiation to allow said at least one food item to be heated in said package in a microwave oven.