GB2295761A - Tenderising meat - Google Patents

Abstract

A process for tenderising meat cuts which are in the form of whole muscle, comprising: physically tenderising the selected meat cut; injecting a tenderising solution into the meat cut to achieve a weight gain of at least 15% by weight of the meat, the tenderising solution comprising: - 0.5 to 1.5% of papain by weight of solution - 0.5 to 1.0% of salt by weight of solution - 2.8 to 3.6% of phosphate by weight of solution - balance water massaging said meat cuts to disseminate the tenderising solution uniformly, forming said meat to a desired shape, freezing the meat cuts, raising the temperature to about -3 to -7 DEG C, and forming the meat cuts to a desired shape under pressure. Portions may be sliced from the shaped cuts at about -3 to -7 DEG C and said portions are then vacuum or skin packed. The selected meat may be trimmed of fat and/or skin and membrane prior to tenderisation.

Description

A PROCESS FOR TENDERISING MEATS Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a process for tenderising meat particularly meats more commonly found in older animals and meats from the forequarters of animals which tends to be tougher than meat from the hind quarters. Inherent to this tenderising process is a method to predetermine the form of the tenderised meat.

Background of the Invention Meat tenderising processes are known including both physical and chemical means of tenderising meat. GB 2 234 659 A describes a method of treating meat comprising introducing a brine solution into the meat to achieve a weight gain of 8-12%, the brine solution comprising between 4 and 5 kg common salt and 150 - 220 ml papain per 140 to 145 kg water, massaging the meat so that adjacent pieces adhere, forming the meat into a desired shape by filling it into polythene sleeves and holding the meat in the desired shape up to the time of cooking. The method has a primary objective of adhering individual pieces of meat so as to form a unitary meat piece from these individual pieces.

However in GB2234659A the uptake of solution into the meat is limited, and the disclosure does not deal with the problem of producing tender meat portions from cuts in the form of whole muscle, taken from older animals.

GB2119623A discloses a product made by mechanically or chemically tenderising selected meat muscle, pressing the tenderised muscle in a mould or clamp to produce a flattened and elongated meat joint, which may be regular or irregular in shape and slicing. Tenderising is preferably effected by "shredding" and may be followed by freezing and conditioning the meat to -2 to -150C prior to pressing.

GB2119623A however does not disclose a solution composition suitable for tenderisation, nor does it disclose parameters to define the ratio of amount of tenderising solution to amount of meat.

Object of the Invention It is an object of this invention to overcome disadvantages of known meat tenderising processes and to describe a process by which traditionally tougher meats can be tenderised with the retention of qualities characteristic of tender meats which need not undergo any tenderising processes, and to further provide a process which produces sliced meat portions, from a tenderised meat cut, of substantially uniform proportion, shape, texture, appearance and quality.

Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a process for tenderising meat cuts which are in the form of whole muscle, comprising: physically tenderising the selected meat cut; injecting a tenderising solution into the meat cut to achieve a weight gain of at least 15% by weight of the meat, the tenderising solution comprising - 0.5 to 1.5% of papain by weight of solution - 0.5 to 1.0% of salt by weight of solution - 2.8 to 3.6% of phosphate by weight of solution - balance water manipulating said meat cuts to disseminate the tenderising solution uniformly; forming said meat to a desired shape; freezing the meat cuts; raising the temperature to about -3 to -70C, preferably about -5 0C; and forming the meat cuts to a desired shape under pressure.

Preferably the manipulating step comprises massaging the meat.

In the preferred embodiment the meat cuts are frozen to a temperature in the range -16 0C to-220C, more preferably about owl -18 C.

Preferably portions are sliced from the shaped cuts at about -3 to -70C; and said portions are then preferably vacuum packed (or skin packed) and the packaged portions are reduced in temperature by freezing, preferably to a temperature in the range -160C to -220C, more particularly approximately -180C.

Preferably the physical tenderising process is perforation of the meat by an array of blades and/or needles and preferably the selected meat for tenderising is trimmed and the larger membranes are removed.

In the preferred embodiment the meat cuts are beef primal cuts.

Most preferably the weight gain is at least 20% by weight of the meat, in particular about 25% by weight of the meat.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment While the present invention is susceptible of embodiment in many forms, there will here and after be described one presently preferred embodiment with the understanding that the present specification is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, which is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment illustrated.

Preferably the meat to be processed is beef although in particular mutton and pork may also be tenderised by this process. Preferred primal cuts are from the hind quarters of older animals (e.g. cow beef, sow pork or bacon, or ewe mutton) although this does not preclude the use of this process for meat cuts from the fore quarters of the animals. Neither does it preclude meat cuts from other parts of the animals.

Selected beef primal cuts for tenderising are trimmed. At this stage an assessment is made based on colour, texture and toughness of the muscle. The parameters of the process used are based on this assessment i.e. one or more aspects of the process may be adjusted in the light of such an assessment so as to adapt the process to the particular requirements of the meat to be tenderised.

The next step is to *PAD" the meat. All skin, gristle and membrane is removed from the muscle until the visible level of lean meat is greater than 90%.

Using an array of needles and blades, larger sinews and other tougher membranes of the muscle are physically broken down by perforating the meat. This is the physical tenderising step. A suitable machine is a Fomaco injection/tenderiser FGM 26/52 wherein the needles/blades are set in an array which reciprocally moves 60 times a minute, each reciprocal movement being a 'stroke', and which array of needles/blades penetrates the meat to within 2mm of the bottom of the meat during each stroke and the product is advanced 30mm between each stroke. The array contains 156 4mm double needles.

A tenderising solution is prepared. Concentration of the constituents of this solution are varied to optimise their action in the tenderising process having considered the tenderising requirements of the primal cuts selected.

A typical solution is described below: DESCRIPTION WEIGHT %BY WEIGHT Water 140.84 94.95% Papain 1.55 1.05% Salt 1.27 0.86% Phosphates 4.66 3.14% 148.33 100.00% The water is cooled to approximately 200C. Phosphates and salt are mixed together in a container at 2O0C. The phosphate and salt mix is then mixed into the chilled water until both of these constituents are completely dissolved. The papain is then added to this solution. The solution is mixed at 200C until all the constituents are fully dissolved in the chilled water.

A mechanical injection system comprising an array of injection needles is then used to inject the primal cuts with the tenderising solution at a selected rate so as to ensure that the injected solution comprises 25% of the original weight of the primal cut. The cuts are weighed before and after injection. If the weight gain is less than 25%, the cuts are returned for another injection of solution. At 25% weight gain, the concentration levels of the injected ingredients in the meat are as follows: DESCRIPTION %BY WEIGHT Meat 80.00% Injected Solution Water 18.99% Papain 0.21% Salt 0.17% Phosphates 0.63% Target Weight Gain 25% 20.00% Injected Meat 100.00% The injected primal cuts are then placed into a mechanical massager where the meat is preferably massaged for approximately 10 minutes. The massager is a rotating drum.The meat is then allowed to rest for approximately 15 minutes before being massaged for a further ten minutes approximately. After the second period of massaging the meat is then allowed to rest for approximately 30 minutes. The massaging process is used to disseminate the tenderising solution uniformly throughout the meat. The resting period allows any solution which may have been extracted from the meat during the massaging process (and which is retained in the drum) to be reabsorbed.

The massaged meat is then placed in trays and handformed into a shape which is as close to the preselected final shape as possible at this stage. Further forming is necessary as the meat at this stage has a high liquid content and thus its shape is not very well defined. No substantial amount of liquid should be expressed from the meat during the hand-forming procedure.

The meat is then placed into a blast freezer for approximately 40 hours until the meat is at a temperature of approximately -180C. This temperature ensures all of the meat has been frozen thoroughly throughout. The meat is then removed from the blast freezer and moved to a chill room where the temperature is increased to approximately 0 -5 over approximately 15 hours. This latter temperature is a temperature suitable for forming the meat. The meat is formed using a mechanical former fitted with a mould suitable to give the desired final shape to the meat. A suitable former is a Bettcher (model 70) meat press using stainless steel moulds or die shapes.

The tenderised meat cuts so formed and still approximately at 0 -5 C are sliced into portions of a desired preset thickness by a mechanical slicer. The nature of the above described tenderising and forming processes are such that by slicing the tenderised meat cuts to a desired thickness, the sliced portions produced are each substantially uniform in appearance, texture, shape, quality and weight.

The portions so obtained are then vacuum packed using a Trigon Vacuum Skin Packaging machine model number RM 751 so that a required number of portions and thus a predetermined weight of meat is selectively placed on each of a series of trays and each tray is individually covered with a transparent plastic film by shrink wrapping.

The packaged portions are then reduced in temperature by freezing to approximately -180C.

The present invention produces meat portions which are tender to eat and uniform in appearance so that they are particularly suitable for use in catering for functions, at hotels etc.

Claims (5)

1. A process for tenderising meat cuts which are in the form of whole muscle, comprising: physically tenderising the selected meat cut; injecting a tenderising solution into the meat cut to achieve a weight gain of at least 15% by weight of the meat, the tenderising solution comprising - 0.5 to 1.5% of papain by weight of solution - 0.5 to 1.0% of salt by weight of solution - 2.8 to 3.6% of phosphate by weight of solution - balance water manipulating said meat cuts to disseminate the tenderising solution uniformly; forming said meat to a desired shape; freezing the meat cuts, raising the temperature to about -3 to -70C, and forming the meat cuts to a desired shape under pressure.

2. A process according to claim 1 wherein portions are sliced from the shaped cuts at about -3 to -7 0C; and said portions are then vacuum or skin packed and the packaged portions are reduced in temperature by freezing.

3. A process as in Claim 1 wherein the physical tenderising process is perforation of the meat by an array of needles and/or blades.

4. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the selected meat is trimmed of fat and/or all skin and membrane is substantially removed, prior to tenderisation.

5. A process for tenderising meat cuts substantially as described herein.