JP2005261461A - Thawing and cooking method and apparatus for unbaked frozen food - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and apparatus, which extremely shortens time to thaw, bake and serve frozen food (unbaked frozen food, especially non-baked frozen chinese meat dumpling) which are refrigerated in the shop front or the back yard of a convenience store, a supermarket or the like. <P>SOLUTION: A thawing/cooking apparatus 1 is provided with a heating chamber which holds unbaked frozen food and can be opened/closed, a normal pressure excessively heated vapor generator 9 which provides normal pressure excessively heated vapor to the heating chamber and a heater such as a gas heating baking machine, an electromagnetic induction heating machine or the like which heats a plate 4 composing the heating chamber. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method capable of thawing and heat-cooking unbaked frozen food, and providing a food baked in a short time, and an apparatus therefor.

  In storefronts or backyards of fast foods, convenience stores, supermarkets, etc., refrigerated cooked frozen foods such as unbaked frozen dumplings are thawed, baked and provided. At that time, if cooking is performed by a normal heating method using a dumpling pan, a frying pan, or the like after receiving an order from a customer, there is a problem that it takes a considerable time to provide a thawed and cooked food.

  Furthermore, the conventional thawing cooking method may overheat the food material, and in particular for unbaked frozen dumplings, it is not necessarily a method suitable for the texture of the inside ingredients.

  There is a heating cooker that combines microwave heating and hot air heating in the cooking industry or supermarket for backyard kitchens, but in order to accumulate and circulate hot air, the equipment must be large and installed. There are practical difficulties due to the location problem. Also, frozen foods cannot be cooked in a short time.

  As a method for shortening the heating time, a method for cooking food using normal-pressure superheated steam and an apparatus therefor have already been reported (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2). Developed for heating and thawing of frozen foods, and simultaneously thawing and cooking of unbaked frozen food, that is, frozen food that is a semi-cooked product but not yet completely heat-treated, and Nothing has the ability to do in a short time.

JP 2000-279148 A JP 2003-336846 A

  The present invention provides a frozen frozen cooked food (unbaked frozen food, in particular, unbaked frozen dumplings) that has been frozen and thawed and baked in stores or backyards such as fast food, convenience stores, and supermarkets. To shorten the time required for cooking and to keep the texture of cooked frozen foods (unbaked frozen foods, especially unbaked frozen dumplings) in good condition, or to achieve these extremely compact and space-saving It aims at providing a small thawing cooking apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, the present inventors have developed a thawing heating apparatus that combines heating means using normal pressure superheated steam having a high calorie per unit volume with gas heating and electromagnetic induction heating, which are normal heating means. Devised.

  That is, the present invention heats an openable / closable heating chamber containing unbaked frozen food, a normal pressure overheating steam generator for supplying normal pressure overheating steam to the heating chamber, and a plate constituting the heating chamber. The present invention relates to a thawing and heating cooking apparatus for unbaked frozen food provided with a gas heating baking machine or a heating machine such as an electromagnetic induction heating machine. Moreover, it is desirable to attach the control apparatus which controls the heating temperature of a to-be-heated foodstuff.

  In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for thawing and cooking unbaked frozen food, characterized in that the unbaked frozen food is heated in the presence of atmospheric superheated steam. The heating can be performed by a normal heating means, but is preferably gas combustion, electromagnetic induction, electric heating, or far infrared heating. Furthermore, it is preferable that the unbaked frozen food is dumpling, okonomiyaki, chijimi, hamburger, bread or takoyaki in an unbaked and frozen state. Since the method of the present invention is a method for producing the food, the food produced by the thawing heat cooking method is also included in the scope of the present invention.

  According to the cooking method using the apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the heating means by heat conduction from a normal heating plate, the amount of heat per unit volume is high, and superheated steam with excellent heat transfer power is used. It can be heated quickly. In addition, overheated water vapor can be dry-heated to deprive the food of moderate amount of food, so even when water is added to the heating plate and steamed, the food will not absorb water excessively and will retain moderate moisture Excellent texture can be imparted.

  The apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a thawing heat cooking apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. The thawing heating cooking apparatus 1 of the present invention accommodates unbaked frozen food and heats it by heat transfer from its surface, a work coil 7 for electromagnetic induction heating that heats the heating plate, and a heating plate. A cooker lid 3 that covers the upper part of the cooker, a superheated steam jet 6 disposed in a part of the cooker lid, a superheated steam distribution pipe 2 that leads to the jet, and a superheated steam generator 9. And a superheated steam generator 9 and a control mechanism 8 for controlling the output of the work coil 7.

  The superheated steam supplied from the superheated steam generator 9 means steam in a state heated to 100 ° C. or higher under atmospheric pressure. That is, when steam at 100 ° C. is heated without applying pressure, steam at 100 ° C. or higher is obtained under atmospheric pressure, which is called superheated steam under normal pressure. The temperature at the time of using this normal pressure overheated steam can be appropriately selected according to the type and amount of the food to be heated and the heating method. Usually, the temperature is from 150 ° C to 500 ° C, preferably from 180 ° C to 300 ° C. Since the water vapor heated to this temperature range can be subjected to dry heating similar to hot air, the cooking material equivalent to oven heating can be performed on the food to be heated. In addition, when an appropriate amount of water or hot water is added to the heating plate of this apparatus and heated, heating cooking equivalent to steaming can be performed.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, known means and apparatuses can be used as the overheated steam generator. For example, an apparatus for generating superheated steam by flowing water between a heating coil and a foam metal and heating it is disclosed (see JP 2000-184964 A, etc.). This normal-pressure overheated steam needs to control the temperature and amount necessary for thawing the food to be heated and cooking. For example, a signal from a thermocouple provided at the outlet nozzle of the overheated steam generator is taken into the control mechanism 8 and the inverter output is PID controlled. Further, a similar sensor can be provided at a position for each heating tube for preventing air blown, and protection control for stopping the inverter heating when the temperature becomes higher than the set temperature can be performed.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, the heating plate 4 and the means for heating the same include conventional heating means conventionally used. For example, the electromagnetic induction heating method is a method in which an eddy current is generated in the heating plate by the action of magnetic lines generated by applying a high-frequency current to the heating coil (work coil), and the heating plate itself generates heat. As a commercially available product, for example, a 3 kW or 5 kW type hot plate type is sold by Chubu Corporation. The far-infrared heating type uses electromagnetic waves with a strong thermal action that are on the longer wavelength side than the red color of visible light, and causes the molecular vibrations of water molecules to be converted into thermal energy by the internal resonance action of moisture and starch contained in foodstuffs. And heating. As a commercially available product, for example, it is sold by Aigi Sangyo Co., Ltd. The gas heating method is a very general heating method in which a gas stove is incorporated, and commercially available products from many manufacturers can be used. In addition, an electric heating means such as an electric stove or an electric heater can also be used. Even when these heating methods are employed, a temperature control device is necessary to perform heating suitable for the characteristics of the food to be heated. For example, a temperature sensor can be arranged on the surface of the heating plate, and the information can be fed back to the control mechanism 8 to adjust the temperature of the surface of the heating plate.

  The cooker lid 3 covers at least a part of the heating plate 4 to form a heating chamber that can be opened and closed integrally with the heating plate 4. Preferably, the cooker lid 3 covers the entire surface of the heating plate so as to be in a substantially sealed state, whereby water or hot water can be added to the heating plate to perform cooking equivalent to steaming. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the above-described normal pressure superheated steam is ejected from an opening (superheated steam jet 6) having a predetermined size arranged on the inner surface of the cooker lid 3. The shape and number of the superheated steam outlet 6 can be appropriately set according to the size of the heating plate and the amount of unbaked frozen food that can be stored. The heating plate 4 and the cooker lid portion 3 are integrated to form a heating chamber.

  The apparatus of the present invention can be used for thawing and cooking of various unbaked frozen foods. Preferably, the unbaked and frozen foods such as dumplings, okonomiyaki, chijimi, hamburger, bread, Used for cooking such as takoyaki.

  By using the thawing and cooking device according to the present invention, for example, in a restaurant industry store, it is possible to defrost and provide food in a narrow space quickly and in order for customers to order, avoiding loss of sales chances. Contribute. According to the order, it is not necessary to make a frozen product by thawing cooking, and there is no waste loss. Hereinafter, although the specific Example is given and demonstrated about the apparatus of this invention, and the cooking method using the same, this invention is not limited to these Examples at all.

  The thawing heating cooking device of the main body has a width of 220 mm, a depth of 390 mm, and a height of 21 mm in the size of the baking plate (size in the baking portion). The container was heated by providing a 2.5 kw output IH inverter and a work coil adapted thereto. The thermistor temperature measuring terminal attached to the IH inverter was brought into contact with the surface of the heating plate, and the temperature was controlled in 5 steps between 10 ° C. between 190 ° C. and 230 ° C. with the input signal. The normal pressure superheated steam generator attached to the main body was able to supply superheated steam at a maximum temperature of 230 ° C. and 1 g per minute.

  Ten 20g unbaked frozen dumplings were stored in the same container, 50 ml of water was added, and thawing heating cooking was performed for 2 minutes and 30 seconds under the conditions of a main body heater temperature of 220 degrees and an overheated steam temperature of 180 degrees Celsius. For comparison, the control was cooked as usual without using superheated steam.

  As a result, in the thawing cooking of the control, the time until baking was 8 minutes, whereas in this apparatus, it was extremely short, 2 minutes 30 seconds. By the way, the core temperature of the dumplings cooked by this method at the time of completion was 82 ° C. to 90 ° C., which was not different from the control. In addition, the color of the grilled surface of the dumplings was comparable to the contrast.

  By the method similar to Example 1, the unbaked frozen vegetable dumpling was used as a sample, and the thaw cooking of this invention was performed with the control of the heating method as the usual method which does not use overheating water vapor | steam. Thereafter, the taste of the cooked products was compared and evaluated by taste test. Compared with the control method, the method of the present invention was not significantly different in the texture quality of the dumpling noodle band (skin), but the texture of the ingredients was 20 out of 20 taste inspectors and 17 of the sample vegetables. The result was superior to the texture, especially the crispness. There was no difference in appearance shape and color tone.

  In addition to unbaked frozen dumplings, this apparatus is useful for thawing and cooking such as frozen foods that are thawed and steamed and cooked, such as okonomiyaki, chijimi, hamburger, bread, and takoyaki.

Sectional drawing of the thawing | cooking heating cooking apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention is shown.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Defrosting heating cooking apparatus 2 Overheating steam distribution pipe 3 Cooker cover part 4 Heating plate 5 Heating plate surface 6 Overheating steam outlet 7 Work coil 8 Control mechanism 9 Overheating steam generator

Claims (6)

  An openable / closable heating chamber for storing unbaked frozen food, a normal pressure overheated steam generator for supplying normal pressure overheated steam to the heating chamber, and a heater for heating a plate constituting the heating chamber An apparatus for defrosting and heating unbaked frozen food.   The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heater is a gas heating calciner, an electromagnetic induction heater, an electric heater, or a far infrared heater.   Furthermore, the apparatus of Claim 1 or 2 which has a control part which controls the heating temperature of the said unbaked frozen food.   A method for thawing and heating unbaked frozen food, characterized in that the unbaked frozen food is heated in the presence of atmospheric superheated steam.   5. The method of claim 4, wherein the heating comprises gas combustion, electromagnetic induction, electrical heating, or far infrared heating.   The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the unbaked frozen food is dumplings, okonomiyaki, chijimi, hamburger, bread or takoyaki in an unbaked and frozen state.

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