JPS6017496B2 - Food product manufacturing method and manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to food processing, and more particularly to food preparation.

For example, the traditional method for cooking many foods, such as potato chips and French fries, is to submerge them in a vat containing a heated frying medium.

One method of processing potato chips is to control the cooking time in the medium by rotating an impeller in a vat to control the speed of movement of the product. There are many problems and limitations with this type of prior art installation. for example,
The atomized oil droplets and water vapor from the vat are carried away through the chimney, resulting in a significant loss of oil and heat energy. In practice, in order to minimize contamination of the contents of the vat by free fatty acids in the oil aqueous, steps were sometimes taken to prevent oil droplets from returning to the vat. Therefore, operating costs are increased due to the loss of oil and the loss of fuel consumed commensurate with the amount of thermal energy wasted through the chimney. The excess oil carried away through the chimney also poses an air pollution problem. Furthermore, in cooking methods according to the prior art, the quality of the frying medium and the quality of the product are reduced due to the presence of excess oxygen in the cooking chamber. Additionally, relatively high quality materials are required to produce suitable end products using processing methods that utilize existing equipment. Processing potato chips with a high sugar content produces a dark or discolored final product. To reduce discoloration, thinly sliced potatoes are often soaked in boiling water prior to frying to remove sugar or lower the sugar content. Therefore, there is a need for a food processing method and food processing apparatus that can solve the above problems. A general object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved processing method and apparatus for processing chip-type food products, such as potato chips.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a food processing method and a food processing apparatus of the above character in which frying medium can be recovered and saved and thermal energy can be recovered and fuel saved.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a processing method and processing apparatus of the above character that minimizes air pollution by reducing the amount of frying medium effluent produced.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a processing method and processing apparatus having the above characteristics, in which the time required to process a product is shorter than in conventional methods, and the product production speed is relatively high. be.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a processing method and a processing apparatus of the above characteristics, in which the appearance and color of the food product obtained is improved relative to the quality of the material substance.

It is possible to produce high-quality potato chip products using relatively imperfect materials that do not require exposure. Yet another object of the present invention is to pre-cook the product in a humid atmosphere to reduce exposure to an oxygen atmosphere, thereby minimizing deterioration in product quality, and to prevent the pre-cooked product itself from being heated in the oven. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing method and a processing apparatus having the above-mentioned characteristics so as to be useful as a floor.

To summarize, in the processing method and processing device according to the invention, a vat is used which contains a hot frying medium, ie oil, and which generates oil droplets upwards into a pre-treatment chamber formed by a hood.

Feed material, for example sliced and washed potatoes, moves along a pair of overlapping perforated conveyors located above the vats in the chamber. The material moving on the conveyor comes into contact with an atmosphere consisting of oil, air and water vapor. A conveyor speed controller is provided to control the zero speed of movement of the material so that the material is in contact with the atmosphere for the maximum amount of time required for pre-cooking before being placed in the vat. Energy is saved as the water vapor condenses on the material in the pre-treatment zone and heats the product through the latent heat of condensation. Oil is saved by contacting and depositing oil droplets on the material in the pre-treatment area and returning the oil to the interior of the vat. The movement of the product through the hot oil inside the vat is controlled by a rotating impeller or other device to optimize the cooking time. The above objects and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following specification, which describes in detail the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2A and 2B of the accompanying drawings, there is shown an apparatus designated by reference numeral 10 for carrying out the method of the invention in the cooking process of potato chips.

Although herein specifically described is the processing of potato chips, for example, fried into French fries, seasoned, cut into whole pieces or sliced, or into a predetermined form, such as extruded or pre-manufactured products. It goes without saying that the invention can also be applied to process other food products cut into shapes. The device 10 is mounted on a suitable foundation 13
It has an elongated upwardly closed container or vat 11 supported by the container.

The vat is a reservoir of heated cooking medium, i.e. frying medium.
It is suitable for accommodating 5 people. The frying medium can be any suitable animal fat or fully or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, such as cotton oil, soybean oil, olive oil, peanut oil, coconut oil, or a mixture of the animal fats and vegetable oils mentioned above. It can also be used. The oil is heated by an external heat exchanger (not shown), which can be heated by a suitable device such as a burner using steam, gas or a fuel such as fuel oil. The heated frying medium from the heat exchanger is forced by a suitable pump, not shown, through piping 14 into the upstream end of the vat, and the return oil flow is directed through a pipe connected to an outlet at the downstream end of the vat. through and return to the heat exchanger. The bottom wall of the vat slopes downward toward the downstream end to aid oil flow. The oil is pumped along the vat, preferably at a rate of 15 kites to 27.5 skins per minute.
50-9 mpm). An elongated dome-shaped hood 17 is mounted above the vat and defines a preheat chamber or area 18. The lower end, that is, the head end is attached to the frame 12, and the upper end is attached to the frame 12.
Bracket 22 with the rod end attached to the opposite side of the hood
The hood is supported by a pair of vertically extending hoisting jacks attached to and 23. The jack can be raised or lowered by a suitable mechanical device (not shown) to perform inspection or maintenance work indoors. A pair of cylindrical vents 24 and 25 are fitted at opposite ends of the hood to exhaust waste steam, droplets and air from the chamber, and the vents can be vented to an exhaust washer if necessary. It is connected to a common chimney 26 configured to supply Control dampers 28 and 29 are rotatably mounted at the lower end of each flue to selectively control the velocity of the exhaust flow. The raw material is conveyed to the apparatus 10 by an endless belt 32 slanting upward from the slicing cleaning tank 34 into the interior of the housing 33.
supplied to

The cleaning tank includes the slicing device 36 and the supply V-supply hopper 3.
Accept the thinly sliced material from 7. The slices 30 travel upwardly from the wash tank through the closure 43 into the hood 17 and into the preheating or pretreatment zone 18 . The interior of the preheating chamber 18 is used to move the slices 30 along a path of travel above the vat and through an atmosphere consisting of water vapor and oil droplets rising upwardly as indicated at 38 from the heated frying medium. A conveyor device is installed.

When the thin slices of moro are heated, the water vapor evaporates. The conveyor device has an upper horizontal endless conveyor 39 consisting of a perforated belt, for example a mesh-like or flat wire-structure. Conveyor 39 is driven by rolls 40 mounted laterally across the downstream end of the hood. The roll 40 is driven by a suitable electric motor 41 in a direction to move the upper run of the conveyor and the material products along a path of travel 42 towards the downstream end of the hood. The conveyor 39 is wrapped around an idler roll 44 which is positioned to receive the slices of cleaning agent that fall by gravity from the discharge end of the supply conveyor 32. The side twill portions of the upper and lower runs of the conveyor 39 are made of angle iron 4 fixed to frames 48 and 49 which are mounted inside the preheating chamber above the vats.
6 and 47. From the discharge end of the conveyor 39, the material falls onto the upper run of a lower horizontal endless conveyor 51, which consists of a perforated belt, for example of mesh or flat wire.

The lower conveyor is driven by rolls 52 driven by a motor 41 to move the material along a path 53 through the atmosphere and back towards the upstream end of the hood. The discharge end of the lower conveyor 51 is wrapped around an idler roll 54, and the side green portions of the upper and lower runs of the lower conveyor are supported by angle irons 56 and 57 fixed to frames 48 and 49. A suitable speed control device 58 is provided to selectively control the speed of one of the conveyors so that the residence time during which the material contacts the atmosphere of oil droplets and water vapor inside the chamber 18 is reduced to the oil in the vat. can be optimally adjusted for the desired residence time prior to immersion.

The residence time is determined by factors such as, for example, the type of product, the type of frying medium used, and the internal temperature of the preprocessing area.
For example, if the product is potato chips, water vapor is superheated in the atmosphere of the preheating chamber to a temperature of 126.7 to 141.
At a temperature of 6°C (260-2950F), the preferred residence time is between 20 and 4 degrees Celsius.
In order to obtain the residence time as described above, the conveyor speed is determined according to the total length of the running sections of the two conveyors. Therefore, in the above example, if the desired residence time is 30 seconds and the total conveyor run length is 9.14 (3 feet), the preferred conveyor speed is 18.3/min. (Mother pm). The partially precooked material falls from the discharge end of the lower conveyor 51 and falls through the travel path 60 to the upstream end of the vat 11 where it is immersed in the heated oil grate. The material floats in the oil and travels along the travel path 61 by the oil path forced through the vat. The movement of the product within the tank is controlled by an impeller system so that it remains in the oil for an optimal cooking time before being carried away by an endless conveyor 62 with an upwardly inclined vat mounted at the downstream end of the vat. can be removed. The impeller device is
A plurality of wheels 63 spaced apart along the length of the bat and rotatably mounted on transverse shafts rotating together in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1 by means of suitable motors not shown. and 64. Each impeller supports a plurality of laterally extending vanes or paddles 66 and 67 that extend downwardly below the oil surface to continuously immerse the product and maintain forward movement of the product at a selected speed. can be done. Change the rotation speed of the paddle depending on the length of the part to achieve the desired cooking time. For example, the product is thinly sliced potato chips and the length of the bat is 7.3 skins (
24 feet), the impeller is rotated so that the cooking time for immersion in the oil is about 2 minutes and 7 seconds. This cooking time is substantially shorter than the cooking time of 2/2 seconds to 2/29 minutes using devices according to the prior art. The reduction in cooking time achieved by the present invention can increase overall efficiency. The product moving out of the final impeller 64 is transferred to an immersion conveyor 68 which is operated and submerged in oil to advance the product from downstream into the upper run of the sloping removal conveyor 62.
It comes into contact with the lower running part of the engine and floats along with the oil.

The conveyor 62 is operated to transport the products upward from the store. A hanging door or baffle 70 is suspended from the lower end of the hood 69 to limit the size of the upper oil entrance and to limit the flow of air into the preheat area. The product falls from the conveyor 62 onto the upper run of a horizontal transfer conveyor 71 mounted below an optionally disposed salt applicator 72. The salt applicator supplies salt downwardly to deposit it on the product being conveyed through the transfer conveyor, which then passes to a further conveyor, not shown, for packaging. Next, the usage and operation of the apparatus of the present invention will be explained using an example in which the food product is potato chips.

The frying medium selected in this example was heated at 190% inside the external heat exchanger. is cottonseed oil heated to 0 (3750 F) and pumped through tube 14 to vat 11 at a flow rate of 15.2 skins per minute (5 mpm). The impeller is integrated into 1
．． It is rotating at a speed of 78 pm. 0 raw materials,
After being sliced into thin slices in the slicer 36 and washed inside the tank 34, they are deposited on the upper running section of the joint conveyor 32.

The temperature of the thin slices at this point is 10 to 26.7℃ (
50 to 800F). The product material is transferred to the first moving path 4.
It falls onto the upper running section of the conveyor 39, which is moving along the road 2. Next, the product material is transferred to the return movement path 52.
It falls onto the upper running part of the lower conveyor 51 where it is moved along the vat and discharged into the heated oil in the vat. The water vapor and air trapped in the oil droplets are heated to zero, and the oil passes through the entrance of the conveyor and rises upwards to form mist-like droplets.
The oil droplets come into contact with the slices and are deposited on the slices, and the water vapor also condenses on the slices. The latent heat of the water vapor condensate is transferred to the product and begins cooking. As the slices move on the conveyor, they are heated to a temperature sufficient to evaporate some of the water they contain, and the water vapor condenses on the slices as they enter the chamber. The water vapor in the indoor atmosphere at the bottom of the pair of conveyors ranges from 126.7 to 146.1°C (260°C
The temperature of the effluent exiting through the chimney is approximately 87°F. Zu○ (19
00F). Due to the increased humidity inside the pre-treatment atmosphere, less oxygen is available and therefore less oxidation and deterioration of the oil and product during the cooking process. The oil that adheres to the product in the preheating atmosphere is retained on the product until the product reaches oil grade.

The deposited amount of oil is therefore not carried away through the chimney, but is recovered. The thin slices that fall onto the oil grade are carried downstream by the floating oil.

Since the speed of the impellers 63 and 64 is less than the oil flow rate, the impellers restrict the movement of the product so that the cooking time in the vat is 2 minutes and 7 seconds. At the same time, the downward motion of the impeller continually submerges the slices so that they are saturated and brought into even contact with the oil. The slices are then directed rearward by the dip conveyor 68 and stacked on the removal conveyor 71 which deposits the slices on the conveyor 71 of the salt applicator. The potato chips are then carried away by a conveyor for packaging. The following operational data and measurements were obtained by processing potato chips using the method and apparatus described above.

The device according to the present invention has a power efficiency of about 12
% higher product production capacity. According to the invention, oil loss was reduced by about 5.5%. The chimney temperature of equipment not using the present invention is 127. yo (2650F), while the chimney temperature of the escaping gas was 87.8°C (1900F). Measurements of chimney effluent showed that when the present invention was used, there was 4.5% less oil vapor inside the chimney than when the present invention was not utilized. The present invention also reduces the cooking time in oil by 9.3% and reduces the free fatty acid content in the oil by almost 40%. Reducing the free fatty acid content in the product allows for a longer shelf life. Although in the disclosed construction the pre-cooking unit and pre-treatment area are located above the vat, constructions in which the pre-cooking unit is remote from the cooking machine are also encompassed by the principles of the invention.

Furthermore, it is also possible to use a conveyor with a single running section in the pre-treatment area. Although the embodiments described above are currently considered preferred embodiments,
Of course, many variations and modifications can be devised by those skilled in the art, and all such variations and modifications are within the spirit and scope of the invention and are intended to be included within the scope of the claims. It goes without saying that there is.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an apparatus incorporating the present invention. 2A and 2B are enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional views of a portion of the counterfeit shown in FIG. 1, illustrating the method according to the invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 3--3 in FIG. 2A. 11...Vat, 17...Hood, 18...Preheating chamber (preheating area), 39...
... Upper conveyor, 51 ... Lower conveyor, 6
2... Special conveyor. ':SoC-GoJ:/2-/NisoC. Z-Ribunno

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method of cooking food in a frying medium, the method comprising: placing the product material in a pre-treatment zone in an atmosphere consisting of droplets released from the melting of the frying medium and water vapor; condensing water vapor to partially cook the product material by the latent heat of the condensate, placing the partially cooked product material into a heated liquid bath of a frying medium to cook the product, and placing the partially cooked product material into a heated liquid bath of a frying medium to cook the product; A method characterized by taking out from. 2 A method of cooking food in a heated frying medium bath, in which the frying medium generated in droplets from the bath is recovered, the method comprising: in a pre-treatment zone through which the frying medium droplets generated from the bath pass; partially cooking the product in said pretreatment zone by conveying the food ingredient along a path of travel, depositing droplets on the product; A method characterized in that it consists of the steps of: introducing the frying medium deposited in the bath into a bath; cooking the product in the melt; and removing the cooked product from the bath. 3. a vat containing a heated reservoir of frying medium that generates droplets of frying medium, and a member communicating with the vat forming a pretreatment chamber having an atmosphere of droplets, air, and water vapor; a conveyor for moving the product along a travel path through the atmosphere while depositing and condensing droplets and water vapor, respectively, on the product and partially cooking the product by the latent heat of the condensate; Apparatus, characterized in that it is configured to direct the partially cooked product into a frying medium in a vat to cook the product, and further comprising a device for removing the cooked product from the vat.