CA1080027A - Meat jerky-like product and method for making same - Google Patents

Meat jerky-like product and method for making same

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Publication number
CA1080027A
CA1080027A CA248,324A CA248324A CA1080027A CA 1080027 A CA1080027 A CA 1080027A CA 248324 A CA248324 A CA 248324A CA 1080027 A CA1080027 A CA 1080027A
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CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
product
meat
casing
jerky
thick
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA248,324A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Edward F. Kline
David E. Lustig
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Devro Inc
Original Assignee
Devro Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Devro Inc filed Critical Devro Inc
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1080027A publication Critical patent/CA1080027A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Abstract

A MEAT JERKY-LIKE PRODUCT AND METHOD
FOR MAKING SAME

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A meat jerky-like product comprising a dried, thin, rectangular strip of comminuted meat con-tained in a thick, edible collagen casing, and rapid method for making same.

Description

BACKGROUND OF ~,'111~ INVENTION
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This invention relates to dried meat products and to a method for making same, and more particularly to a meat jerky-like product comprising comminuted meat and a method for making same.

Meat jerky, as originally developed by the American Indian, was a strip of beef or other meat which was salted and dried by curing in the sun or smoking. This treatment yielded a toughJ spicy strip of dried meat with excellent storage properties which could be used as food during travel or whenever fresh meat was not available.

More recently, ~erky has been made by cutting beef into strips of given dimensions, salting and seasoning the strips, and finally drying the seasoned beef. This product~ has become popular as a snack food and for use by hunters, hikers, and the like who desire a nutritlous meat " .
pFoduct with excellent storage ~tability.

: I'he increased demand for meat ~erky, coupled with rising costs for the cuts o~ meat normally used for making lt, have led to attempts to make jerky from chunk or comminuted meat. The intact slice process is time-consuming and also ~ ;~

, ~ involes substantial~loss o~ meat during the cutting operation which has stimulated attempts to make meat jerky from chunk ~-or comminuted meat. Such a jerky would be less expensive than that made by slicingJ would t~ke less time to make, and would ~25~ not involve so great a loss in cutting.

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However, attempts to make this product from comminuted meat have met with various difficulties. The main problem is that such a jerky is extremely friable and consequently does not have the desired bite, texture,and chew expected of a jerky product. Because o~ its friability, the product fragments very readily and hence is difficult to produce, ship, and store without damage.
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There have also been attempts to prepare bee~ ~erky by sub~ecting a mixture of ground and chunk beef to saline treatments followed by freezing, slicing, and dehydrating.
While the ~erky made by thi~ method is somewhat less friable than that made entirely o~ comminuted meat, thi~ procedure is also time-consuming and re~uires large capital expenditure.
FurthermoreJ the texture of this jerky product is not satis-factory compared with that of a jerky made by slicing intact meat. r ' 'rhere ;i8 thus a need for a meat ~erky-like product made from comminuted meatl which product would have the desired bite, texture, and chew expected of a ~erky product. The term ~meak ~erky-llke product" is intended to describe a product made from comminuted meat which h~s the appearance and toughness ("bite" and "chew") of conventio~nal~meat jerky made by~slicLng intact meat. ~ ~ ~

It is an ob~ect of the present invention to provide ~5 ~ such a product whlch haæ the bite, textural characteri~stics, and chew of ~erky made from intact meat. It is a further ob~ect to prov~ide a method whereby such jerky may rapidly be macle.
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~o80027 The meat jerky-like product of the invention may be distinguished from prior art products comprising a casing and a comminuted meat filling, such as frankfurters and snack pepperoni sausages, and also from the meat bars made not from - a collagen sausage casing but from special edible film derived from enzyme-modified collagen as specified in Miller U.S.
Patent No. 3,664,844, as disclosed in Autry U.S. Patent no.
3,664,849, in that the casing provides substantially all the ; bite, texture, and chew in such meat jerky-like product. In the prior art products, however1 a hard bite and toughness due to the casing or film is seen as a disadvantage; consequently, the casing in these products is less strong and generally less thick than the casing of the product of the in~en~ion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a meat jerky-like product comprising a dried, thin, rectangular strip of comminuted meat contained in a thick, edible collagen casing, and a method for rapidly preparing the same.
More specifically, the invention provides a meat i jer]cy-like product comprising a thin, rectangular strip of ;;
; comminuted meat having four siides and two ends, said strip being contained on all four sides by a thick, edible collagen casing, said casing having a thickness of from about 1.3 to 1.6 mils, said product being from about 1/8 inch to about 1/4 inch thick and having a moisture content less than that required : ..:
for microbial growth.
The method of the invention comprises underfilling a thick, edible collagen casing (as hereinafter described) with a comminuted meat stuffing. This underfilled casing is then rolled (either manually or mechanically) to produce a flat ., ~ ' ~ ~4~ ~

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strip about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, which is cut to a convenient length for drying. The cut strips are then dried, and smoked if desired, until the moisture content is less than that required for microbial growth at normal conditions of temperature and humidity, preferably less than about 20%.
More specifically, according to the invention~
there is provided a rapid method of making a meat jerky-like product comprising the steps of:
(a) preparing a comminuted meat stuffing:
(b) underfilling a thick, edible collagen casing having a thickness of about 1.3 mil to 1.6 mil with said stuffing, . (c) rolling said underfilled casing to a thickness of about 1/8 to about 1/4 inch. and (d) drying said underfilled, rolled casing to a moisture content less than about 20%.

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The term "underfilling" is used herein to describe loose filling of the casing to about 1/3 full and no more than about 1/2 full, so that the underfilled casing may be rolled into a flat~thin strip as described.

In the method of the present invention, the dried jerky-like product may easily and uniformly be cut into lengths of constant weight for distribution and sale. This uniformity of weight arises from the use of dimensionally . .
uniform casing, as discussed below.

It is preferred that the product of the invention be rolled to a thickness o~ about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. I~ the strip is too thin, it tends to have stuffing-~ree (meat-free) areas and generally to be more casing than stuffing, which is un-desirable. If the strip is too thlck, on the other hand, ;~
drying becomes more difficult and more time-consuming, which defeats one purpose o~ the method of the invention; viz., rapidity of manufacture. It has been found that the 1/8" -1/4" thickness is best to obtain a rapidly-made, uniform, tasty ~erky product with the desired bite, texture, and chew, having excellent storage ~tability. The strip of meat contained in the meat jerky-like product of this thickness is herein described as "thin".
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The thick, edible collagen sausage casing may be any of a number known in the art such as, for example, one f those descrlbed in U.S. Patents 3,123,482 or 3,123~483 and widely avai.~abI~ commercially as edible collagen sau~age casings. --: ~- ' ~ " .

108~)027 It is necessary for the proper practice of the method Or the present invention that the casing be dimension~lly uni-form and made of edible reconstituted collagen. Preferably, it should be shirred for easier stuffing. A natural casing, such as for example hog intestine, would be unsuitable for the practice of the present invention because it is not dimensionally uniform. Furtherg natural casings are stored in brine and must be water-flushed; consequently they are saturated with water. Such wetness would make drying of the jerky product more dlfficult and consequently would be undesirable.

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Furthermore, because it is the casing which is impart-ing the deslred bite, texture and chew of the product of the lnventionJ it is essential that said casing be sufficiently strong to accomplish this result. With presently available casingsJ the thickness should be from about 1.3 to about 1.6 mils to yleld this strength, which thickness is about double the thickness preferred for an ordinary sausage casing. I'his casing is described herein as ~'thick~'. The casing should preferably also be pre-treated in such a fashion as to increase its strengthJ as for example by treatment wlth a reducing sugar or by curlng,as for example by heat, before stuffing. It should be understood that a stronger edible curing than those presently available could be thinner than ?5 thls preferred range and stlll yLeld the desired strength.

The comminuted meat stuffing used in the present invention may comprise any comminuted meat suitable for drying such as, for example, beef, pork, chicken, lambj se~food, and .
the like. The commlnuted meat stuffing may be seasoned or fermented as is known in the art. Further, the stu~fing may also lnclude non-meat materials such as dalry products ~800~

(e.g., cheese), soy, cereals, vegetable~ and the like.

The meat jerky-like product of the invention is illustrated in the Drawings of which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a piece of the product of the invention with parts broken away; Figure 2 is a section taken along line 2-2 of Figure l; and Figure 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of Figurel. In the drawings there is shown a piece of meat jerky-like product 6 comprising a thick edible collagen casing 4 containing a thin rectangular strip of dried -comminuted meat 2. The casing contains the strip of comminuted meat on all four sidesJ leaving the ends uncovered.

The following preferred embodiment is provided to ~urther illustrate the product and method of the present invention.
'.1' ~, , ~ .' ' ~ DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
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A comminuted meat stuf~lng is prepared comprislng the following: 50 pounds frozerl lean cow beef (90% lean/10% fat), 8 oz ~alt, 1 oz bee~ extract flavorJ and 1 oz déxtrose.
The meat is prepared by cutting it into piecesJ which pieces are ground and mixed with the salt and seasonlngs. The ~inal grind size is l/4~to 3/8 o~an inch in size and the final temp~erature o~ tha meat mixture ls 30 to 32F.

An edibla collagen casing as described above, having dlmenslonal unlform~ y,~ thlckness of 1.6 mll, and a dlameter ~25 J of 36 mm (Devro~360~slze sausage casing) ~s~Pitted onto a standard or modified stuffing horn of the proper ~ize, which ~er~o~f~

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horn is attached to a sausage stuffing machine such as, for exampleJ a VeMagQcontinuous stuffer.
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The comminuted meat stuffing prepared above is then stuffed into the casing through the stuffer in such a way that the casing is grossly underfilled (about 1/3 full).
The underfilled casing is then rolled into a strip about 1/8"
to 1/4" thick and about 1 3/4" to 1 7i8" wide with a rolling device lubricated by water in order to flatten the meat and-- ,- . , , ; ~o eliminate the voids or air pockets from the product.
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Examples of such devices include rolling pinsJ bakery-dough type rollers, and the like.
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It ls pre~erred that the casing be perrorated~a~ter rolling to allow egress of air bubbles trapped during the filling and rolling process.
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The strip is then cut into desired le~gths and is ~rled on a mesh Screen at 150F (dry bulb) for 2 hoursJ
after which it may be cut into shorter lengths for packaging l and sale.

j~ While the present invention has been ilIustrated by ~ a pre~erred embo~diment uBing beef stuffing, a specific heating temperatureJ etc~., it should be understood that there may be~ ;
many variations in~the above by one skilled in khe art while l ~ ~ still remaining within the scope of the pr~es;ent invention.

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Claims (6)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A meat jerky-like product comprising a thin, rectangular strip of comminuted meat having four sides and two ends, said strip being contained on all four sides by a thick, edible collagen casing, said casing having a thickness of from about 1.3 to 1.6 mils, said product being from about 1/8 inch to about 1/4 inch thick and having a moisture content less than that required for microbial growth.
2. A product as in claim 1 wherein the strip of comminuted meat comprises essentially beef.
3. A rapid method of making a meat jerky-like product comprising the steps of:
(a) preparing a comminuted meat stuffing, (b) underfilling a thick, edible collagen casing having a thickness of about 1.3 mil to 1.6 mil with said stuffing, (c) rolling said underfilled casing to a thickness of about 1/8 to about 1/4 inch; and (d) drying said underfilled, rolled casing to a moisture content less than about 20%.
4. The method of claim 3 which further comprises the step of perforating the underfilled, rolled casing prior to drying.
5. The method of claim 3 which further comprises smoking said product during the drying process.
6. The method of claim 3 wherein the moisture content of the dried product is less than 20%.
CA248,324A 1975-03-21 1976-03-19 Meat jerky-like product and method for making same Expired CA1080027A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US56045475A 1975-03-21 1975-03-21

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1080027A true CA1080027A (en) 1980-06-24

Family

ID=24237891

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA248,324A Expired CA1080027A (en) 1975-03-21 1976-03-19 Meat jerky-like product and method for making same

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1080027A (en)

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