JPH10304850A - Continuous production of scrambled egg and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sanitarily and continuously produce scrambled egg in a good sanitary environment by stirring a transferring raw material liquid and simultaneously directly injecting and mixing steam into and with the raw material liquid in a line mixer connected to a piping for transferring the raw material liquid. SOLUTION: This method for continuously producing scrambled egg comprises transferring a raw material liquid containing an egg liquid to the next process through a piping, stirring the transferring raw liquid in a line mixer 5 connected to the piping and simultaneously directly injecting and mixing the steam into and with the raw material liquid to obtain the scrambled egg-like product in which the proteins in the raw material liquid are denaturated. In another line mixer 6 connected to the downstream side of the line mixer 5 through a lining, the scrambled egg-like product in which the proteins were denaturated may temporarily be stayed to further denaturate the proteins with the remaining heat.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for continuously producing a heated egg product such as a scrambled egg and a roast egg.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method of mass-preparing scrambled eggs, a so-called frying pan has been increased in size to a direct-fired pan.
There is a method in which a raw liquid egg, skim milk powder, soybean oil, a seasoning and salt are added, and the mixture is denatured by heating while kneading with a stirring blade to obtain a scrambled egg. Such a cooking method involves batch processing in an open system.Specifically, in order to obtain a large amount of scrambled eggs, a raw material liquid is charged into a pot pot, and the mixture is directly mixed with a large rice scoop. The process of heating with a fire and taking out the completed scrambled eggs from the pot is repeated in sequence and with time. As a method of cooking scrambled eggs and various kinds of heated egg products, a method using a pressure cooker (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-181741) and a method using a high-frequency heating device such as a microwave oven (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-248681). However, any of these methods is basically a method of producing scrambled eggs or the like by batch processing. Also, by homogenizing the same raw materials with a homomixer, sterilizing and spray-drying the seasoning powdered egg into boiling water and stirring gently, a scrambled egg-shaped one can be manufactured, but this has both properties and texture, It is completely different from ordinary scrambled eggs.

[0003]

As described above, the above-mentioned conventional method is based on batch processing and is not a method of continuously producing scrambled eggs, and thus has a problem of low productivity. For example, when a large pot or pressure cooker is used to heat and knead the raw material liquid including egg liquid, production efficiency is reduced because a large amount of time is required to take out products and clean the pot cooker. In addition, manual work is required, and reproducibility of the product cannot be ensured without relying on experience and intuition. In addition, since the cooking operation is performed in an open system, the working environment is poor (for example, an increase in room temperature) and unsanitary. Scrambled eggs are also provided in large quantities, even as group meals such as school meals and hospital meals or as raw materials for processing, but as described above, the conventional scrambled egg mass production system is a batch type and has a high quality, There are problems in terms of production efficiency and sanitary environment.

[0004] In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a novel method for continuously producing scrambled eggs and an apparatus therefor. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for continuously producing scrambled eggs, which has a good working environment, is hygienic, and has excellent product reproducibility, and an apparatus therefor.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems, a first aspect of the present invention is to transfer a raw material liquid containing egg solution to the next step via a pipe, and to connect a line connected to the pipe. In the mixer, the raw material liquid being transferred is agitated (kneaded, mixed, and stirred), and steam is directly injected into the raw material liquid and mixed to denature the protein to obtain a scrambled egg. In addition, the scrambled egg-like material refers to a material in which a part or the whole of a raw material liquid has been modified into properties of a final product (scrambled egg), and is a concept including a state in which a liquid and a solid are mixed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, based on the first aspect, in another line mixer connected through a pipe downstream of the line mixer, the protein-modified scrambled egg-like material is temporarily stored. And the protein denaturation is further advanced by residual heat.

[0007] A third aspect of the present invention is based on the first aspect, wherein another line mixer connected to the downstream side of the line mixer via a pipe has the scrambled egg-like material temporarily staying there. The supply of the steam is controlled according to the temperature.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a raw material transfer means for transferring a raw material liquid including an egg solution to a downstream side is connected to a downstream side of the raw material transfer means via a pipe, and steam is applied to the raw material liquid. A heating and kneading means for transforming the raw material liquid into proteins, and a heating and kneading means for feeding the scrambled egg-like substances protein-modified by heating to downstream by steam supply pressure or raw material liquid supply pressure. .

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, based on the fourth aspect, the scrambled egg is temporarily connected to a downstream side of the heating and kneading means through a pipe,
5. The scrambled egg continuous production apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a staying means for promoting protein denaturation by residual heat and supplying the scrambled egg-like material by the steam supply pressure or the raw material liquid supply pressure.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, based on the fourth aspect, the raw material transfer means is a pump means connected to a tank storing the raw material liquid and pumping the raw material liquid downstream,
The heating and kneading means is a line mixer having a static mixer element connected to the pump means and the steam supply source via a pipe, and the retaining means is a static mixer connected to the downstream side of the line mixer via a pipe. It is another line mixer provided with a mixer element. In addition, the static mixer element is fixed to a mixer tube or the like, splits, agitates, and mixes the flow supplied into the mixer, and typically protrudes in a direction orthogonal to the flow direction, and protrudes in the flow direction. It is a twisted blade.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, based on the fourth aspect, there is provided a washing means connected to an upstream or downstream side of the raw material transfer means via a valve and capable of supplying a washing liquid. And

Hereinafter, the principle of the present invention will be described. When making scrambled eggs at home, for example, dissolve 2 eggs, make 20-30 ml of milk and spices in this, add 5-50 g of butter in a frying pan, add the egg solution, and heat Stir constantly. If the heat is too strong, the scrambled eggs tend to be too hard, and the liquid will protrude and form a film.Therefore, even when making small quantities, cooking scrambled eggs is difficult and requires intuition and skill. And On the other hand, a large amount of scrambled eggs is also provided as a group meal such as a school lunch or a hospital lunch, or as a raw material for processing. As described above, the conventional scrambled egg mass production system is of a batch type and has problems in quality, production efficiency, hygiene environment, and the like. In addition, the finish properties of scrambled eggs are scaly to ragged, and their properties vary greatly depending on the degree of subtle heating and mixing, so in ordinary dishes (for small groups), Cooking is a so-called show of the skill of a chef. He cooks based on intuition and experience, and tries to obtain scrambled eggs of a certain quality. On the other hand, mass production, such as lunch, requires a cooking process that does not rely on humans, that is, intuition or experience, and mass production of scrambled eggs with consistent quality is maintained unless there is a certain degree of recurrence by manual operation. Is difficult to do.

Therefore, the present inventors have developed a novel idea that stirring and heating of a raw material liquid containing egg liquid or kneading and heating of a protein denatured product are performed by a line mixer.
Invented a method and an apparatus for continuously producing scrambled eggs that can be continuously produced and have high product reproducibility. In addition, there has not been a technical idea of processing a raw material that is converted from a liquid to a solid using a line mixer, and a new method and apparatus for continuously producing scrambled eggs in which all processes are performed in-line (closed system) are also new. It is.
According to the present invention, in a mass production line of scrambled eggs, what has conventionally been performed based on experience and intuition by batch processing, by setting each condition in the production line in advance, a uniform scrambled property It is easy to obtain a large number of eggs in a short time, and the production efficiency is greatly improved. In addition, since all the steps are performed in-line, it is very sanitary, and further, labor saving and labor saving are achieved.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described. First, a preferred production process according to the present invention is a process in which various additives are blended into whole egg solution, a process of preparing raw materials, a process of transferring the blended solution to the next process, and a process of directly injecting steam into the transport solution. It consists of a heating and kneading (mixing and heating, dispersion mixing and heating) step for mixing and protein denaturation of the transfer liquid, and a staying step for allowing denaturation to proceed with residual heat. In place of these steps, CIP (cleaning in place) is appropriately performed. A cleaning step is performed. The CIP cleaning step is a step of cleaning by flowing a chemical solution into the pipe without disassembling the pipe. The heating and kneading step and the staying step are performed by using a kneading line mixer (dispersion mixer) such as a static mixer. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a preferred apparatus is a mixing tank 1 from the upstream side.
a, 1b are a raw material transfer pump 4 via a pipe and a three-way valve 3;
In parallel. A raw material transfer pump 4 is connected to the upstream side of the kneading line mixer 5 via a pipe, a three-way valve 7, a flow meter, and the like. Further, a steam supply source 8 is connected to the upstream side of the kneading line mixer 5. On the other hand, the downstream side of the kneading line mixer 5 is vertically
It is connected in series to a holding tube (another line mixer) 6 comprising the static mixers 6a and 6b. The cleaning pump 13 connected to the cleaning tank 1c is connected to the three-way valve 7 installed between the raw material transfer pump 4 and the kneading line mixer 5. The cleaning pump 13 may be connected to the upstream side of the raw material transfer pump 4, or may be connected to another position.

The raw material liquid may be whole egg liquid, or may contain various prepared liquids or solids such as powders, and the components are appropriately selected according to the product. The raw material transfer pump 4 is preferably a sanitary type pump that is easy to clean and has a quantitative property, and is, for example, a mono pump. The kneading line mixer 5 is preferably provided with a raw material liquid and a steam injection section upstream thereof and a static mixer section provided with a mixer element downstream thereof, and kneading and heating are performed simultaneously. The steam to be injected is preferably saturated steam having a temperature of 98 to 103 ° C. and a flow rate of about 100 to 300 kg / hr.
A steam pressure of about 0.3 to 0.5 MPaG (gauge pressure), which is easily available, is sufficient. The supply of steam is performed so that the inside or outside of the holding tube 6 or its vicinity is at about 100 ° C. The holding pipe 6 generates a predetermined back pressure, and temporarily discharges the scrambled egg-like substance (intermediate product), preferably for about 2 seconds, and then discharges the same. Due to the residual heat of the steam, the protein denaturation proceeds moderately with kneading. Further, as a configuration of the holding tube 6, it is preferable that the two static mixers 6a and 6b are erected and arranged parallel to each other, but the longitudinal direction thereof is parallel to the direction of gravity or inclined at a predetermined angle (for example, 0 to 45 degrees). ), And can be provided at a right angle or an angle close to a right angle (for example, 45 to 90 degrees) with respect to the longitudinal direction and the direction of gravity, and are appropriately installed according to the space of the installation place. be able to. In addition, when the holding tube 6 is installed with the longitudinal direction parallel or substantially parallel to the direction of gravity, space saving can be achieved. In the case where the holding pipe 6 is formed in multiple stages, it is preferable to increase the diameter of the downstream mixer. The finishing condition (product properties) of the scrambled eggs can be adjusted by changing the number, shape, and size of the mixer elements in the kneading line mixer 5 or the static mixer constituting the holding tube 6. The number of static mixers constituting the holding tube 6 may be one or more. Further, by detecting the temperature inside the holding pipe 6 and controlling the steam supply state (for example, steam flow rate, speed, temperature, etc.) based on the detected temperature, the scrambled eggs having the desired properties can be more stably formed. Obtainable. According to the method and apparatus according to the invention,
Not only scrambled eggs, but also various kinds of cooked egg products such as roasted eggs can be manufactured. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide raw materials for croquettes and other raw materials for frozen processed foods. In particular, those which change from a liquid state to a solid state can be suitably manufactured.

[0016]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a continuous scrambled egg manufacturing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. First, the overall configuration will be described with reference to FIG. From the upstream side, the mixing tanks 1 a and 1 b are connected in parallel to the raw material transfer pump 4 via a pipe and a three-way valve 3. The raw material transfer pump 4 is connected to the kneading line mixer 5 via a pipe, a three-way valve 7, a flow meter, and the like. The kneading line mixer 5 is connected in series to a holding pipe 6 composed of two static mixers 6a and 6b standing upright through a pipe. Also, a cleaning liquid (CIP) tank 1
The cleaning pump 13 is connected to the cleaning pump 13c.
Is connected to the three-way valve 7. The steam supply source 8 is connected to the kneading line mixer 5 via a steam filter 12 or the like. A temperature sensor 50 is attached to a pipe between the two static mixers 6a and 6b, and the temperature sensor 50 is electrically connected to a controller 51. The controller 51 is connected to a kneading line mixer 5 via a control valve 52. Control the steam supply.

Next, details of each mechanism constituting the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. Mixing tanks 1a, 1b are agitators 2a, 2b
After adding the whole egg solution, the raw material solution is prepared by adding skim milk powder, soybean oil, seasoning amount and salt in a timely manner while stirring the whole egg solution with the stirrers 2a and 2b. After mixing, continue stirring until the start of production. In this way, by providing the same two mixing tanks and using one of the mixing tanks while using the other as the raw material supply source, continuous supply of the raw material liquid is possible. The blending tanks 1a and 1b may be kept at 35 to 40 ° C. by attaching a heater or the like as needed.
As the raw material transfer pump 4, a sanitary type pump that is easy to clean and has a quantitative property was used.

The kneading line mixer 5 includes a Noritake cooker (trade name, model NST-D65-3IDF (V))
(See FIG. 2). On the upstream side of the kneading line mixer 5, an injection section 111 into which the raw material liquid is injected along the axial direction and steam is injected at a predetermined angle in the axial direction, and on the downstream side of the main body, the raw material liquid and steam are injected. A static mixer 112 for kneading is arranged. The steam supplied from the steam supply source 8 accumulates in the header 23, a predetermined steam is supplied to the kneading line mixer 5 by the control of the on-off valve 25, and further into the holding pipe 6 (two static mixers 6a and 6b). Inflow. The kneading line mixer 5 corresponds to a dispersion mixer disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-37703, and details of its configuration and operation are described in page 2, column 4, line 18 to page 4, column 7, column 7. 19th line and 1st
As shown in the figures, this description is incorporated herein.

As the holding pipe 6, two static mixers 6a and 6b are erected and arranged in parallel with each other (the flow direction of the upstream static mixer 6a is upward, and that of 6b is downward). The mixing elements provided in the static mixers 6a and 6b are arranged such that a torsion blade-shaped element is twisted in the torsion axis direction (the longitudinal direction of the pipe).
Are joined together. Retention time of the raw material liquid or scrambled egg-like substance (intermediate product) by this holding tube 6 (kneading and protein denaturation proceed)
Thus, the back pressure in the pipe is secured.

(Manufacturing process) Next, a manufacturing process in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The mixed and kneaded raw material liquid is supplied to the three-way valve 3
Is switched to flow to the raw material transfer pump 4, and the raw material transfer pump 4 feeds the raw material liquid to the kneading line mixer 5 at a predetermined flow rate. Steam is fed into the kneading line mixer 5,
As it passes through the kneading line mixer 5, the raw material liquid is mixed with steam, kneaded, heated, and protein-denatured, and gradually becomes a scrambled egg-like substance (tattered, solid). Further, the ragged scrambled egg-like material is supplied to the holding pipe 6 composed of two static mixers 6a and 6b by the supply pressure of steam or the supply pressure of the raw material liquid. The scrambled egg-like substance (intermediate product) temporarily stays in the holding pipe 6 due to the back pressure generated by the holding pipe 6, and the protein conversion proceeds by the residual heat while being stirred, and mainly due to the steam supply pressure. The completed scrambled egg is continuously led out from the outlet of the static mixer 6b.

(Cleaning Step) Next, the cleaning step will be described.
After the operation is completed, the three-way valve 7 is switched and the CIP pump 8 is operated to wash the entire pipe with the CIP cleaning liquid. CI
As the P solution, an alkaline aqueous solution is preferably used.

(Production Example 1) Normally, the equivalent diameter of one grain of a scrambled egg is at least about 5 mm. First, the shapes of the kneading line mixer 5 and the holding tube 6 were set so that a raw material liquid throughput of 500 kg / hr was obtained so as to obtain scrambled eggs having such properties. That is, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), a kneading line mixer 5 and a holding pipe 6 are configured. In detail, as the kneading line mixer 5, the above-mentioned “Noritake cooker (trade name, model NST-D65-3IDF ( V))), the static mixers 6a and 6b having an inner diameter of 52.7φ and 6 mixer elements, and having an inner diameter of 72.3φ and 12 mixer elements were used, respectively. FIGS. 4A and 4B show details of mixer elements included in the kneading line mixer 5 and the static mixers 6a and 6b. 3 (A) to 3 (D), “(α)” represents FIG.
FIG. 4 (A) shows the split type mixer element, and “(β)” shows that it has the continuous type (alternating reverse screw type) mixer element shown in FIG. 4 (B). In this production example, the split-type mixer element shown in FIG. 4 (A) is disposed in both the rear part of the kneading line mixer 5 and the static mixers 6a and 6b. In the device configured in this way, about 10% are mixed in the mixing tanks 1a and 1b.
The raw material liquid mixed and mixed for one minute is fed to the kneading line mixer 5 by the raw material transfer pump 4 at a flow rate of 500 kg / hr, and the steam supply source 8 flows to the kneading line mixer 5 at a flow rate of 2 kg / hr.
20 kg / hr, pressure 0.5 MPaG, temperature 98-10
Steam (saturated steam) at 3 ° C. was supplied to obtain scrambled eggs having target properties. The residence time of the scrambled eggs in the holding pipe 6 is about 2 hours.
Seconds, and the residual pressure was 0.01 MPa. The residence time from the inlet to the outlet of the raw material pump was 10 seconds.

(Manufacturing Example 2) As shown in FIGS. 3 (B) to 3 (D), by configuring the kneading line mixer 5 and the holding pipe 6, scrambles having various equivalent diameters could be manufactured. The kneading line mixer 5 shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C has a split mixer element shown in FIG. 4A in the latter half thereof.
The kneading line mixer 5 of (D) has only the first half alternate reverse screw type mixer element. Table 1 shows FIG.
The results of Production Example 2 are shown together with the results of Production Example 1 with the configuration shown in FIG.

[0024]

[Table 1]

From the above, it can be seen that by changing the number and shape of the mixer elements, the properties of the scrambled eggs can be designed. The property design can also be achieved by changing the diameter of the mixer, but a method of changing the number and shape of the mixer elements is advantageous in terms of cost. In addition, it was found that as the number of the split-type mixer elements increased, a smaller scrambled egg could be obtained.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Heated egg products such as scrambled eggs and roasted eggs can be manufactured continuously. Also, since all the steps are performed in-line, the working environment is good and sanitary. Furthermore, cooking of scrambled eggs is difficult and requires intuition and skill. However, according to the present invention, scrambled eggs having similar reproducibility and similar properties can be produced in large quantities. Therefore, the method and apparatus for continuously producing scrambled eggs of the present invention are suitably applied to a mass production system of scrambled eggs for supplying group foods such as school lunches and hospital lunches, or supplying raw materials for processing.

In particular, by providing another line mixer connected via a pipe downstream of the line mixer for heating and kneading the raw material liquid, the protein denaturation is further advanced by the residual heat, and the scramble having a good texture is obtained. Eggs can be obtained easily. Further, the properties of the scrambled eggs can be designed by changing the number and shape of the mixer elements provided in the line mixer for heating and kneading the raw material liquid or another line mixer connected downstream of the line mixer via a pipe. In addition, by controlling the supply of steam according to the temperature of the scrambled egg that has temporarily stayed, a scrambled egg having the same properties can always be obtained automatically. Further, by attaching the cleaning means to the pipe of the apparatus according to the present invention, the apparatus can be easily cleaned without disassembling the pipe.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a continuous scrambled egg manufacturing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining details of a kneading line mixer shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 (A) to 3 (D) are views for explaining forms of a kneading line mixer and a holding tube applied to the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining details of a mixer element applied to the dispersion kneading mixer and the holding pipe shown in FIG. 3; FIG.
(B) shows an alternate reverse screw type mixer element.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b Mixing tank 4 Raw material transfer pump 5 Kneading line mixer 6 Holding pipe 6a, 6b Static mixer 8 Steam supply source

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Junichi Ando 3-36 Noritakeshinmachi, Nishi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi Noritake Co., Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A raw material liquid containing an egg solution is transferred to the next step via a pipe, and in a line mixer connected to the pipe,
A method for continuously producing scrambled eggs, wherein the raw material liquid being transferred is stirred, steam is directly injected into and mixed with the raw material liquid, and the raw material liquid is denatured with protein to obtain a scrambled egg-like product. 2. In another line mixer connected via a pipe to the downstream side of the line mixer, the protein-modified scrambled egg-like substance is temporarily retained, and the protein conversion is further advanced by residual heat. The method for continuously producing scrambled eggs according to claim 1. 3. In another line mixer connected via a pipe to the downstream side of the line mixer, the supply of the steam is controlled in accordance with the temperature of the scrambled egg-like material temporarily staying. The method for continuously producing scrambled eggs according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. A raw material transfer means for transferring a raw material liquid containing egg liquid to a downstream side, connected to a downstream side of the raw material transfer means via a pipe, applying steam to the raw material liquid to heat and knead the raw material liquid. An apparatus for continuously producing scrambled eggs, comprising heating and kneading means for transforming the liquid into protein and feeding the scrambled egg-like substance, which has been protein-modified by heating, to the downstream by steam supply pressure or raw material liquid supply pressure. 5. The steam supply pressure or the raw material liquid supply pressure is connected to a downstream side of the heating and kneading means via a pipe to temporarily retain the scrambled egg-like material, to promote protein denaturation by residual heat. 5. The continuous production apparatus for scrambled eggs according to claim 4, further comprising a staying means for supplying the scrambled egg-like material by the apparatus. 6. The raw material transfer means is a pump means connected to a tank storing the raw material liquid and for pumping the raw material liquid downstream, and the heating and kneading means is connected to the pump means by steam through a pipe. A line mixer including a static mixer element connected to a supply source, wherein the staying unit is another line mixer including a static mixer element connected to a downstream side of the line mixer via a pipe. The apparatus for continuously producing scrambled eggs according to claim 5. 7. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a cleaning means connected to a upstream side or a downstream side of the raw material transfer means via a valve and capable of supplying a cleaning liquid. Continuous production equipment for scrambled eggs.