IE69548B1

IE69548B1 - Food Processing

Info

Publication number: IE69548B1
Application number: IE922443A
Authority: IE
Inventors: David Cahill
Original assignee: David Cahill
Priority date: 1992-07-27
Filing date: 1992-07-27
Publication date: 1996-09-18
Also published as: BE1004466A6; GB2269083A; GB9218661D0; GB2269083B; IE922443A1

Abstract

A block of frozen chicken meat is tempered and formed into flakes 30 in a flaking step 4 and then mixed with flaked chicken skin, water, salt, phosphate and protein in a mincer mixer step 5. The mixed material is then formed in step 6 into desired shape and a first batter coating is applied in step 8. In step 10 the meat pieces with batter coating are coated with crumb. Excess crumb is removed in step 11 prior to delivery to a conveyor 12 and further excess crumb is removed in a second stage 13 at the inlet end of the conveyor 12 and in step 14 at the discharge end of the conveyor. The meat pieces are then flash fried and because substantially all excess crumb is removed the process may be operated substantially continuously.

Description

*& method for preparing a white meat food product The invention relates to a method for preparing a white meat, particular chicken, food product.

It is known to produce white meat pieces in desired shapes with batter and crumb coating which are cooked in a fryer.

There are considerable problems with such processes, however, in that in the cooking process coating material becomes detached from the white meat pieces and deposits in the fryer. Over a relatively short period of time, the oil in the fryer becomes spoiled and the fryer no longer operates effectively.

Thus, the production must be shut-down to facilitate cleaning of the fryer and filling of the fryer with fresh oil. This is not only costly in oil usage and production down-time but it also causes inconsistencies in the organolectic properties of white meat products produced.

This invention is directed towards providing an improved process which would overcome at least some of these difficulties.

According to the invention there is provided- a method for preparing a white meat food product comprising the steps ofs15 69548 - 2 tempering frozen blocks of white meat pieces, flaking the block of frozen white meat pieces into meat flakes, introducing the meat flakes into a mixer/mincer, mixing the minced meat flakes with water, protein and binding agents, shaping the mixture thus formed into a desired shape, applying a batter coating to the shaped meat pieces, collecting and recycling excess batter, applying a crumb coating to the battered meat pieces, removing part of the excess crumb pieces in a first stage, delivering the crumbed meat pieces along a conveyor to facilitate binding of the crumb pieces to the batter covering of the meat pieces, removing further excess crumb pieces in a second stage as the crumbed meat pieces are travelling along the conveyor, delivering the crumbed meat pieces into a fryer, and frying the meat pieces in the fryer at a temperature of at least 185°C for a period of not less than 25 seconds.

In one embodiment of the invention excess crumb is removed in a third stage prior to delivery of the meat pieces to the fryer.

In a preferred arrangement the first excess crumb removing stage comprises blowing an air current over the meat pieces · Preferably also the second excess crumb removing stage comprises blowing an air current over the meat pieces.

In a particularly preferred arrangement excess crumb is removed in the third stage by suction.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the crumbed meat pieces are fried in a fryer at a temperature of approximately 200°C for a period of approximately 30 seconds.

In one embodiment of the invention excess crumb removed from the meat pieces is collected in at least the first and second stages and recycled.

In a preferred arrangement the meat flakes are produced by 5 cutting flakes from a frozen block of meat with a blade means to provide flakes which have an average longitudinal dimension of not less than 10 mm.

Preferably white meat skin pieces are mixed with the flaked meat pieces. Preferably the white meat skin is flaked.

In a preferred arrangement the white meat mixture is formed into nugget-like shapes. Alternatively, the white meat mixture is formed into burger-like shapes.

The invention also provides white meat food products whenever prepared by the method of the invention.

The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description thereof given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the process of the invention, Fig. 2 is an elevational view of a flaking step of the process of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a knife drum used in the flaking step of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a front view of the flaking drum, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one knife used in the 5 drum.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view on the line V-V on Fig. 5, Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the flaking drum, Fig. 8 is a side view of the mixing, shaping, battering, 10 breading, excess batter removing and frying steps of the invention, and Fig. 9 is a perspective view of an excess batter removal step in the process of the invention.

Referring to the drawings and initially to Fig. 1, in a first 15 step 1 of the process a block of frozen chicken meat is * tempered. The tempered block of frozen chicken meat is then delivered by a pusher 25 (see Fig. 2) to a rotating knife 3 which forms the frozen chicken meat into flakes 30 in the flaking step 4. Frozen chicken skin is also flaked in a similar manner and the flaked chicken meat pieces and skin are mixed along with water, phosphate, salt and protein in a mincer/mixer step 5. The mixed material is then collected and delivered into a forming station 6 including a shaping stage 7 in. which the mixture is formed into desired shaped pieces such as nuggets, burgers and the like. A batter coating is applied to the shaped meat pieces in a batter applying step 8, excess batter being collected and recycled in step 9. The meat pieces with the batter coating is then delivered to a crumb bath where, in step 10, crumb coating is applied to the battered meat pieces. In step 11 part of the excess crumb pieces are removed prior to delivery of the battered and crumbed meat pieces onto a conveyor 12 which facilitates bonding of the crumb pieces to the batter covering. Further excess crumb pieces are removed in a second stage 13 adjacent an inlet end of the conveyor 12 and final excess crumb is drawn off the pieces in step 14 adjacent the discharge end of the conveyor· 12. From the conveyor 12 the crumb meat pieces are delivered into a fryer 15 in which the meat pieces are cooked at a temperature of at least 185°C for a period of not less than 25 seconds. In this case the meat pieces are flash fried in the fryer at a temperature of approximately 200°C for a period of about 30 seconds. The cooked meat pieces discharged from the fryer 15 are collected and blast frozen in step 16 and packaged in step 17 ready for dispatch.

The use of a conveyor and multi-stage crumb removing steps gives the crumb an opportunity to adhere firmly to the batter chicken portion which gives a good texture to the final product. Most importantly, there is no loose crumb to become detached during the cooking process. This is particularly important as it avoids sediment build-up during the cooking step and hence the fryer can be used to maximum capacity with minimum down-time for cleaning.

In more detail and referring to Figs. 2 to 7, a block 20 of 10 frozen chicken meat is delivered to a rotating drum knife 21 by a pusher 25. The rotating knife drum 21 flakes the frozen meat pieces into flakes which axe delivered into a collection bin 26. As will be particularly apparent from Figs. 3 to 6 the rotating knife drum 21 comprises a number of spaced-apart circumferentially extending slots 27 in which knife blades 28 are releasably mounted. The blades 28 are provided with shims 29 which cause the leading cutting edge of the knives 28 to project proud of the circumference of the drum 21 for a distance sufficiently big to produce flaked pieces 30 which have a longitudinal dimension of more than 20 mm. Such relatively large flakes assist in processing and provide a processed white meat product of particularly good texture and organolectic properties.

Referring to Figs. 8 and 9, formed white meat pieces 40 from the forming machine 6 and shaper 7 are delivered into the bath - 8 of batter 8, excess batter being blown off in step 9 by a fan unit and the excess batter being thus collected being recycled. The crumb is applied to the battered meat pieces in a crumb bath 10 and excess crumb is blown off in step 11 by a blower and collected in a crumb collecting pan. The battered and crumbed pieces 40 then, on travelling along the conveyor 12, are subjected to a stream of air which blows further excess crumbs from the coated pieces, the excess crumb being collected in a tray 43. The conveyor belt 45 of the conveyor 12 is in the form of a mesh to facilitate removal of the excess crumb from the crumbed meat pieces. In a final excess crumb removing stage 14, a suction vacuum is applied from the vacuum generator 44 prior to delivery of the battered and crumbed meat pieces into the fryer 15. After frying, the meat pieces are delivered to a collecting table 47 for freezing and packaging.

Many variations on the embodiments of the invention described will be readily apparent and accordingly the invention is not limited to the embodiments hereinbefore described but may be varied in detail.

Claims

1. A method of preparing a white meat food product comprising the steps ofstempering frozen blocks of white meat pieces, 5 flaking the block of frozen white meat pieces into meat flakes, introducing the meat flakes into a mixer/mincer, mixing the minced meat flakes with water, protein and binding agents, 10 shaping the mixture thus formed into a desired shape, applying a batter coating to the shaped meat pieces, collecting and recycling excess batter, applying a crumb coating to the battered meat 15 pieces, removing part of the excess crumb pieces in a first stage, delivering the crumbed meat pieces along a conveyor to facilitate binding of the crumb pieces to the batter covering of the meat pieces, removing further excess crumb pieces in a second 5 stage as the crumbed meat pieces are travelling along the conveyor, delivering the crumbed meat pieces into a fryer, and frying the meat pieces in the fryer at a temperature of at least 185°C for a period of not less than 25 10 seconds.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein excess crumb is removed in a third stage prior to delivery of the meat pieces to the fryer.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the first 15 excess crumb removing stage comprises blowing an air current over the meat pieces.

4. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the second excess crumb removing stage comprises blowing an air current over the meat pieces. 5. A method as claimed in any of claims 2 to 4 wherein excess crumb is removed in the third stage by suction. 6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the crumbed meat pieces are fried in a fryer at a temperature 5 of approximately 200°C for a period of approximately 30 seconds. 7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein excess crumb removed from the meat pieces is collected in at least the first and second stages and recycled. 10 8. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the meat flakes are produced by cutting flakes from a frozen block of meat with a blade means to provide flakes which have an average longitudinal dimension of not less than 10 mm. 15 9. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein white meat skin pieces are mixed with the flaked meat pieces. 10. A method as claimed in claim 9 wherein the white meat skin is flaked. 11. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the 20 white meat mixture is formed into nugget-like shapes. 12. A method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 10 wherein the white meat mixture is formed into burger-like shapes. 13. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5. 14. A white meat food product whenever prepared by a method as claimed in any preceding claim.