JP2024054691A - Method for reheating cooked food using steam in food distribution carts - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To prevent loss of taste and texture of cooked food when it is reheated using steam in a food serving cart. [Solution] Cooked food is placed in dishes 21, 23, covered with lids 22, 24, and placed on a tray T, and the tray T is stored in a tray storage chamber 32 of a food serving cart 1, and the internal temperature of the tray storage chamber 32 is set to 10°C or less to cool and store the cooked food, and then the cooling is stopped and the internal temperature of the tray storage chamber 32 is raised to a maximum temperature range of approximately 90°C to 140°C so that the core temperature of the cooked food placed in the dishes 21, 23 covered with lids 22, 24 is maintained at 75°C or higher for at least one minute, and the tray storage chamber 32 is filled with steam at 100°C or lower or superheated steam at 100°C or higher to create a steam-saturated state. [Selected Figure] Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a method for reheating cooked food using steam in a food serving cart used to provide three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

When providing meals at hospitals, nursing homes, etc., a food delivery cart is usually used to refrigerate and reheat cooked food before delivering it to the designated location.

And among these food serving carts, there are known ones that use steam to reheat the cooked food.

For example, a food serving cart is known in which one side of the main body of the cart is a heated space separated by a partition wall, and the other side is a non-heated space (dedicated for cooling), and a heating medium such as superheated steam is supplied to the heated space from a heating medium generating device.

In the food serving cart, the partition wall extends in the front-to-rear direction of the food serving cart and is composed of numerous partition wall members arranged in a row in the vertical direction, and trays on which various dishes containing various cooked foods are placed are inserted between each partition wall member, and this structure allows the trays to be supported in multiple tiers within the food serving cart body.

On the tray, the heated space side is usually placed with rice bowls, plates with main dishes such as meat or fish, and bowls with soup such as miso soup, while the non-heated space side is usually placed with multiple plates with cold dishes such as salads and desserts.

In hospitals, care facilities, etc., when using the food serving cart to serve breakfast, for example, the day before the meal is served, rice, main dishes, side dishes, etc. are first prepared using a rice cooker and various cooking utensils, and then these dishes are rapidly cooled in a cooling device and stored in a chilled state. Then, the chilled foods are served in the designated dishes such as rice bowls and plates, and each portion of the dishes is placed on each tray to make the trays. The trays are then stored in multiple layers in the food serving cart, and the foods are chilled and stored in the food serving cart for a designated time at a designated temperature range. Then, in time for serving the next morning, steam is supplied to the heating space of the food serving cart at a designated heating temperature to reheat the chilled rice, main dishes, soup, etc., and the meals are then served to hospitalized patients in the hospital or residents of the care facility.

JP 2019-10326 A JP 2013-027517 A

In recent years, in hospitals and nursing homes, dietitians and other specialists plan and serve meals to suit each individual inpatient or resident. However, although the final quality of the cooked food can vary greatly depending on the shape of the dishes on the trays in the food distribution cart, the presence or absence of lids on the dishes, and the steam output and temperature settings inside the cabinet when reheating, there were no sufficient manuals for the reheating conditions. As a result, there were cases where the taste and texture of the menu planned by the specialists was not achieved, which could give inpatients the impression that "hospital food is bad."

More specifically, when reheating food in each dish using steam at a specified temperature range and within a specified time period, the decision of whether or not to put a lid on the dish placed on the tray, and whether or not to heat the dish with the lid on when reheating in the food serving cart, was left to the discretion of the on-site staff in charge of serving food, and there were no strict guidelines for controlling reheating. As a result, the taste and texture of the menu intended by the dietitian or other specialist staff was often not achieved.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for reheating cooked food using steam in a food serving cart without impairing the taste and texture of the cooked food.

The present invention described in claim 1 is a method for reheating cooked food using steam in a tray storage compartment of a food serving cart, which is characterized in that cooked food is placed in a dish, the dish is covered with a lid, and placed on a tray, the tray is stored in the tray storage compartment of a food serving cart, the tray storage compartment is cooled to cool and store the cooked food, and then the cooling is stopped to raise the internal temperature of the tray storage compartment to a predetermined maximum temperature range so that the core temperature of the cooked food placed in the covered dish is maintained at 75°C or higher for one minute or more, and the tray storage compartment is filled with superheated steam at 100°C or higher to create a steam saturation state, so that the cooked food in the dish continues to be heated without releasing moisture due to the lid. Note that in the present invention, the temperature is usually raised to the maximum temperature range simultaneously by supplying the superheated steam at 100°C or higher.

The present invention described in claim 2 is a method for reheating cooked food using steam in a tray storage compartment of a food serving cart, which is characterized in that cooked food is placed in a dish, the dish is covered with a lid, and placed on the tray, the tray is stored in the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart, the tray storage compartment is cooled to cool and store the cooked food, and then the cooling is stopped to heat and raise the internal temperature of the tray storage compartment to a predetermined maximum temperature range so that the core temperature of the cooked food placed in the dish covered with the lid is maintained at 75°C or higher for at least one minute, and the tray storage compartment is filled with steam at 100°C or lower to create a steam saturation state, so that the cooked food in the dish continues to be heated without releasing moisture due to the lid. Note that in the present invention, the temperature is usually raised to the maximum temperature range by a heater.

The present invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that, in the method of reheating cooked food using steam described in claim 1, after the steam saturation state is reached, the supply of steam below 100°C is stopped and only heating is performed for a predetermined period of time to eliminate the steam saturation state.

The present invention described in claim 4 is characterized in that the method of reheating cooked food using steam in the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart described in claim 3 has a heating temperature range of 60°C to 100°C to eliminate steam saturation, and a heating operation time of 5 to 15 minutes. The heating temperature range and heating operation time were chosen because extensive experiments have shown that they can be effective in eliminating excessive stickiness of reheated cooked food while also preventing the cooked food from drying out.

The present invention described in claim 5 is characterized in that the cooling storage temperature in the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart described in any one of claims 1 to 4 using steam is 10°C or lower. Furthermore, a more preferable cooling storage temperature is within the range of 1°C to 3°C.

The present invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that the maximum temperature range of the inside temperature of the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart described in any one of claims 1 to 5 is within the range of 90°C to 140°C.

Regarding the method of the present invention described in claim 1 or 2 above, as described in claim 5 above, the cooked food is first chilled and stored at 10°C or below in order to ensure a low-temperature state effective in preventing the proliferation of bacteria that cause food poisoning, and the core temperature of the cooked food is maintained at 75°C or above for at least one minute during reheating because this is a heat treatment that can effectively kill bacteria that cause food poisoning even if they are attached to the cooked food. The chilled storage temperature is 10°C or below, and more preferably within the range of 1°C to 3°C, because this is the most effective low-temperature state in preventing the activity of bacteria that cause food poisoning, and is also a temperature range that can prevent the cooked food from freezing.

Furthermore, as described in claim 6 of the present invention, the temperature inside the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart is raised to a maximum temperature range of 90°C to 140°C because, below 90°C, the temperature inside the compartment cannot be raised efficiently enough, resulting in insufficient reheating of cooked foods, and above 140°C, the cooked foods in the dishes are overheated, causing the Maillard reaction in the foods and resulting in browning of the cooked foods. Therefore, it is preferable to set the temperature inside the compartment in the range of 90°C to 140°C. A more preferable maximum temperature range is within the range of 100°C to 130°C.

The present invention is a method for reheating cooked food using steam in a tray storage compartment of a food serving cart, which involves placing cooked food in a dish, covering the dish with a lid and placing it on a tray, storing the tray in the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart, cooling the tray storage compartment to cool and store the cooked food, and then stopping the cooling to raise the internal temperature of the tray storage compartment to a predetermined maximum temperature range so that the core temperature of the cooked food placed in the covered dish is maintained at 75°C or higher for at least one minute, and filling the tray storage compartment with steam of 100°C or lower or superheated steam of 100°C or higher to create a steam-saturated state, thereby allowing the cooked food in the dish to continue to be heated without losing moisture due to the lid.

The method of reheating cooked food using steam in the tray storage compartment of a food service cart according to the present invention described above provides the exceptional practical advantage that the taste and texture of the cooked food placed in the dishes on the trays stored in the tray storage compartment of the food service cart is not impaired by the reheating process, so that school lunches can be served without compromising the quality of the menu planned by a registered dietitian or other school lunch specialist.

Furthermore, according to the method for reheating cooked food of the present invention, after the steam saturation state in the tray storage chamber is reached, the supply of steam below 100°C is stopped and heating is only performed for a predetermined period of time to eliminate the steam saturation state, thereby reliably preventing excess moisture and condensation from occurring in the cooked food after reheating.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a food serving cart used in an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a side view showing an example of the internal structure of the food serving cart of FIG. 1. This is an enlarged front view of the main parts showing the reheating state of food in dishes on a tray in the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart. FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of a main portion showing the state of food in the dish after reheating in FIG. 3 .

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the food serving cart 1 used in this embodiment comprises, for example, a food serving cart main body 2 and a food serving cart 3, and the food serving cart 3 is housed within the food serving cart main body 2, which has a pair of left and right main body doors 13 on the front side, legs 15 on the outer bottom surface of the food serving cart main body 2, and a cooling device 40 having a compressor C or the like is disposed on the upper part of the food serving cart main body 2, and cold air flows from the cooling device 40 into the tray storage chamber 32 of the food serving cart 3 via a cooling inlet duct 51, an inlet relay duct 53, and a circulation duct 24. In addition, in the figure, 52 denotes a cold air intake duct that draws in cold air, and 54 denotes a cold air intake relay duct.

A steam generator 6 is installed at the bottom of the food serving cart body 2, and the steam generated by the steam generator 6 rises through a circulation duct 24 and flows into the trays T stored in multiple tiers in the food serving cart 3. A heater 19 is installed at the bottom of the circulation duct 24, and the steam generated by the steam generator 6 is heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater 19. Furthermore, when the steam generator 6 is stopped, the heater 19 supplies hot air to the tray storage chamber 32 of the food serving cart 3. In the figure, 36 indicates a steam supply section for supplying steam, and 6a indicates a steam generating section.

In addition, one or more fans (not shown) are appropriately installed inside the circulation duct 24 mentioned above.

Furthermore, in the central portion of the tray storage chamber 32 of the food serving cart 3, partition wall members 11a are arranged in a vertical row to form a partition wall 11, one side of which is a non-heated space serving as a cold zone CZ where only food is cooled, and the other side of the partition wall 11 is a heated space serving as a warm/cold zone HCZ where cooked food is reheated using hot air, steam, and superheated steam, and where, when the cooked food is stored before being reheated, the cooked food is also cooled in the same manner as in the cold zone CZ of the non-heated space.

According to the food serving cart 1 having the above-described structure, only cold air is supplied from the cooling device 40 to the cold zone CZ on one side of the partition wall 11 of the food serving cart 3 housed in the food serving cart main body 2, and in addition to the cold air from the cooling device 40, the hot/cold zone HCZ on the other side of the partition wall 11 can be supplied with hot air, steam, and superheated steam from the steam generating device 6 and heater 19.

The food serving cart 1 described above is one example of the method for reheating cooked food of the present invention, and the method of the present invention is not limited to the use of the food serving cart 1 having the structure described above.

Next, we will explain how to reheat cooked food using the food serving cart with the above-mentioned structure.

First, each tray T is loaded with dishes containing pre-cooked and chilled foods such as rice and main dishes, and such trays T are stored in multiple layers in the tray storage chamber 32 of the food serving cart 3 described above.

3, for example, a rice bowl 21 containing rice HR and a plate 23 containing hamburger steak HB, the main dish, are placed on the tray T, and the rice bowl 21 is always covered with a lid 22 and the plate 23 is always covered with a lid 24, and reheating is performed using steam under conditions to be described later. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the rice HR in the rice bowl 21 and the hamburger steak HB in the plate 23 with the lids 22 and 24 removed can have a taste and texture with appropriate moisture retention.
(Embodiment 1)

The temperature inside the serving cart 3 is set within the range of 1 to 3°C, and the rice HR in the rice bowl 21 covered with the lid 22 and the hamburger HB in the plate 23 covered with the lid 24 are cooled and stored. Then, the cooling is stopped and the temperature inside the tray storage chamber 32 of the serving cart 3 is raised to the maximum temperature range of 90°C to 140°C so that the core temperatures of the rice HR in the rice bowl 21 covered with the lid 22 and the hamburger HB in the plate 23 covered with the lid 24 are maintained at 75°C or higher for at least one minute. At the same time, the tray storage chamber 32 is filled with steam ST at 100°C or lower to create a steam-saturated state, so that the rice HR in the rice bowl 21 and the hamburger HB in the plate 23 continue to be heated without releasing moisture due to the lids 22 and 24 that are covering them.

In this embodiment, after the steam saturation state is reached, the supply of steam below 100° C. is stopped and only heating by the heater 19 is performed for a predetermined time to eliminate the steam saturation state. More specifically, the heating temperature range for eliminating the steam saturation state is within a range of 60° C. to 100° C., and the heating operation time is within a range of 5 minutes to 15 minutes.
(Embodiment 2)

The temperature inside the serving cart 3 is kept below 5°C to cool and store the rice HR in the rice bowl 21 covered with the lid 22 and the hamburger HB in the plate 23 covered with the lid 24, and then the cooling is stopped to keep the core temperatures of the rice HR in the rice bowl 21 covered with the lid 22 and the hamburger HB in the plate 23 covered with the lid 24 at 75°C or higher for at least one minute. The temperature inside the tray storage chamber 32 of the serving cart 3 is then raised to a maximum temperature range of 90°C to 140°C, and the tray storage chamber 32 is filled with superheated steam at 100°C or higher to create a steam-saturated state. This allows the rice HR in the rice bowl 21 and the hamburger HB in the plate 24 to continue to be heated without releasing moisture due to the lids 22 and 24 that are covering them.

In addition, as in the above-mentioned first and second embodiments, if the rice bowl 21 is not covered with the lid 22 and the plate 23 is not covered with the lid 24, the rice HR in the rice bowl 21 becomes stiff, and the hamburger steak HB placed on the plate 23 becomes hard.

The method of reheating cooked food using steam in a food distribution cart according to the present invention gives the reheated cooked food a good taste and texture, and is therefore expected to find wide application in the field of providing meals in hospitals and nursing homes.

Reference Signs List 1 Food serving cart 2 Food serving cart body 3 Food serving cart 4 Cooling duct 6 Steam generating device 11 Partition wall 11a Partition wall member 19 Heater 21 Rice bowl 22 Rice bowl lid 23 Plate 24 Plate lid 40 Cooling device

Claims (6)

A method for reheating cooked food using steam in a tray storage compartment of a food serving cart, characterized in that cooked food is placed in a dish, the dish is covered with a lid and placed on the tray, the tray is stored in the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart, the tray storage compartment is cooled to store the cooked food in a cooled state, and then the cooling is stopped and the temperature inside the tray storage compartment is raised to a predetermined maximum temperature range so that the core temperature of the cooked food placed in the covered dish is maintained at 75°C or higher for at least one minute, and the tray storage compartment is filled with superheated steam at 100°C or higher to create a steam-saturated state, thereby allowing the cooked food in the dish to continue to be heated without losing moisture due to the lid. A method for reheating cooked food using steam in a tray storage compartment of a food serving cart, characterized in that cooked food is placed in a dish, the dish is covered with a lid and placed on a tray, the tray is stored in the tray storage compartment of the food serving cart, the tray storage compartment is cooled to store the cooked food in a cooled state, and then the cooling is stopped and the temperature inside the tray storage compartment is heated and raised to a predetermined maximum temperature range so that the core temperature of the cooked food placed in the covered dish is maintained at 75°C or higher for at least one minute, and the tray storage compartment is filled with steam at 100°C or lower to create a steam-saturated state, thereby allowing the cooked food in the dish to continue to be heated without releasing moisture due to the lid. The method for reheating cooked food using steam in the tray storage compartment of a food delivery cart described in claim 2, characterized in that after the steam saturation state is reached, the supply of steam below 100°C is stopped and only heating is performed for a specified period of time to eliminate the steam saturation state. A method for reheating cooked food using steam in a tray storage compartment of a food serving cart as described in claim 3, in which the heating temperature range for eliminating steam saturation is within the range of 60°C to 100°C, and the heating operation time is within the range of 5 minutes to 15 minutes. A method for reheating cooked food using steam in the tray storage compartment of a food serving cart according to any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the cooling storage temperature in the tray storage compartment is 10°C or lower. A method for reheating cooked food using steam in the tray storage compartment of a food serving cart according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the maximum temperature range of the inside temperature of the tray storage compartment is within the range of 90°C to 140°C.

Images