HUT73332A - Method of manufacturing a food product - Google Patents

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a process for the production of meat products, in particular white meat products, which have highly desirable appearance, texture, taste and cooking properties.

The benefits of marinating in flavoring and softening meat are well known. However, in cases where the meat is already soft (especially white meat or fish), the effect of marinating on the texture (texture) of the meat may be detrimental. This disadvantage of marinating is particularly evident when producing meat products consisting of individual pieces or parts of meat and other food ingredients, since such muscle tissues are more prone to mechanical damage or to exposure to solutions by reducing their size. Such foods may be considered as composite or multiphase systems consisting of a lump or meat phase and a continuous or matrix phase.

A further disadvantage associated with marinating meat particles in processed meat products is that the marinating effect may be contrary to the requirements for a coherent, stable product matrix or continuous phase.

As a result, utilizing the benefits of marinating in processed meat products is problematic, even if the disadvantage of altering the internal fibrous state of the muscle tissue does not occur.

By solving the above problem, we are able to take advantage of the marinating and simultaneously create an adherent matrix in processed meat products without the detrimental effect on the internal fibrous structure of the sensitive meat.

US-A-5188854 discloses a process wherein large portions of frozen fish are mixed with a binder such as surimi pulp and formulated into a seafood analogue product.

US 3285753 and US 3413127 disclose a process for making shaped poultry products. Salt is applied to the surface of the boned and cut poultry and the pieces are mixed for a period of time during which a certain concentration of salt-soluble protein is formed on the surface. Poultry pulp is ground together with salted pieces and pressed into molds.

EP-A-0355472 discloses a process for marinating meat, consisting of overnight maturation and rotation under vacuum or rotation after injection.

The present invention relates to a process for the manufacture of a foodstuff comprising a lumpy meat phase and a continuous phase, the process comprising a marinating process which simultaneously produces an adhesive matrix, wherein the marinade penetration into the lumpy meat phase is limited. is that

i) bringing the pieces of meat to a temperature of -2 ° C or less so that at least a portion of the water in the pieces is present in the form of ice;

ii) adding the marinade;

iii) optionally adding a carrier to absorb the marinade;

iv) optionally increasing the viscosity of the mixture, and

v) stirring the mixture for a total of 4 to 15 minutes to disperse all of its ingredients and minimize any dissolution of the meat protein.

The lumpy phase contains discrete pieces of meat, while the continuous phase provides flavor and juiciness through the addition of marinade, which at the same time forms an adhesive matrix which makes the product cohesive and stable. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to combine and transform these two-phase ingredients into products that protect the individual fibrous structure of the muscle pieces from damaging texture changes.

To achieve this goal, two or more of the following conditions, preferably all three, must be met:

(a) the temperature of the pieces of meat must be so low that at least part of the water contained in the pieces of meat is present in the form of ice. A temperature range of -2 ° C to -20 ° C, preferably -4 ° C to -6 ° C, is suitable in this regard. This low temperature limits the mobility of the marinade and reduces its diffusion into pieces of meat. Preferably, the proportion of water in the form of ice is about 35% of the total water content.

(b) A carrier is added to the pieces of meat to reduce the effect of the marinade on the meat by the effect of the carrier competing with the meat for the available moisture. Suitable carriers include any material capable of absorbing the marinade that is competitive with food, such as a collagen source such as shredded skin; pre-shredded muscle, plant fibers; soy derivatives; proteins such as casein or whey proteins; polysaccharide material such as marine hydrocolloids and pectins, and mixtures thereof.

(c) The mixing times are short, only sufficient to disperse the ingredients, and the total mixing time is typically 4 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the batch. This reduces the time it takes for the marinade to diffuse into the muscle and minimizes the effects of friction and mechanical forces on the meat caused by dissolved salts.

These three conditions deliberately limit the marinade to the surface of the pieces of meat, thereby limiting the extent to which the marinated protein is soluble in the pieces of meat.

Preferably, if only two of the aforementioned conditions are used, one of the conditions fulfilled is the administration of the carrier.

An additional condition may be used if desired. This means that the viscosity of the mixture is preferably increased. Increasing the viscosity limits the penetration of the marinade into the pieces of meat and contributes to the subsequent assembly (merging of parts) of the meat product.

Such an increase in viscosity is particularly desirable if the initial temperature of the pieces of meat is from -2 to -4 ° C.

There are several different ways to increase the viscosity, including:

(1) cooling the mixture after mixing, for example by adding CO ₂ as a cooling agent. The temperature of the mixture is preferably lowered to -6 to -8 ° C.

(2) The marinade may contain starch or other ingredients to increase the viscosity. Preferably, the starch has a gelatinization temperature (about 55-75 ° C) similar to the denaturation temperature of the meat protein, such as native starches, such as potato starch or other root starches. The addition of starch is particularly advantageous because the starch is capable of absorbing meat juice which is released during cooking. Furthermore, when the pieces of meat are derived from white meat (such as fish or poultry), the starch contributes to the whiteness properties of the matrix.

The carrier may be added to the pieces of meat before or after the marinade or may be added as part of the marinade.

The marinade can be added:

(a) first as a dry mixture followed by addition of a liquid, or (b) as a solution.

When the marinade is added to the pieces of meat and the carrier as a dry mixture, the ingredients are first blended for a period of time sufficient to disperse the dry mixture only. Each component of the marinade may be added individually to enhance its effect. For example, the salt may be added and mixed first, then the other ingredients of the marinade may be added and the mixture mixed again. The liquid is then added and the mixture is mixed again for a period of time sufficient to disperse the ingredients. Each blending step is typically 1 to 9 minutes, and the autumn blending step is 4 to 15 minutes.

In particular, this process allows a local concentrated effect of the marinade dry mixture on the surface of the pieces of meat.

The liquid is usually water, but other liquids such as milk, whey, juices and the like may be used.

Marinad contains salt and other typical marinad ingredients.

The salt component is preferably sodium chloride, but other salts may also be used, such as phosphate salts such as sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, tetra-potassium pyrophosphate, potassium tripolyphosphate and mixtures thereof. The salts are used to solubilize the meat proteins. Due to the conditions used, this protein solubilization is limited to the surface of the pieces of meat.

The lump phase comprises pieces or slices of animal tissue or substitute material thereof. Any suitable piece size may be used provided that such pieces are substantially intact and larger in size than the fiber bundle. There is no upper limit for this size, for example, a whole chicken breast or fish fillet can be used. Typically, however, the size of the pieces is 20 x 10 x 10 mm. The animal tissue is preferably poultry, fish meat and mixtures thereof. Meat substitutes may be, for example, structured plant proteins, such as soy protein or fungal protein, which have a nutritional function similar to animal tissue.

The lump phase may contain, in addition to the animal tissue or a substitute thereof, any ingredients which may be present in the meat products, such as salt, spices, fat, preservatives, colorings, flavorings and water.

* · ·

The amount of animal tissue in the product is preferably 10-90% by weight, more preferably 20-80% by weight, most preferably 30-70% by weight.

Preferably, the particulate phase and the continuous phase are used in a weight ratio of about 20: 1 to 1:10, more preferably 15: 1 to 1: 2, most preferably 8: 1 to 1: 1.

The invention is particularly relevant to food products containing white meat, such as poultry and / or fish meat. The reason for this is that white meat is generally soft and tender, which makes it particularly susceptible to structural damage by processing and the mechanical action of dissolved salts. Further, the process of the invention provides a matrix which may be white.

The invention has the following additional advantages:

(a) marinating the pieces of meat with minimal preparation of the ingredients, avoiding marinating processes such as pre-injection, rotation, kneading and the like, which, by their mechanical action or by promoting the diffusion of the solute, promote alteration of the muscle's own fibrous structure;

(b) quick marinating and low temperature promote rapid processing and hygiene.

The following examples illustrate the invention.

Example 1

A chicken product containing the following ingredients is prepared as described below:

Chicken product ingredients

Weight% based on total product

Chicken breast meat (particle size = 20 x 20 x mm)

Finely chopped chicken skin

MARINE

Marinad composition

dextrose

milk-white

E450A and E450B phosphate salts

Nazi

Citric acid

flavoring

Water

% Of total marinade

16.2

13.5

2.7

4.3

0.3

0.3

100% supplement

The chicken breast pieces (20x20x10 mm) are placed in a twin, connected shovel mixer. The temperature of the chicken pieces is between -2 and -4 ° C. Add the marinade and mix the ingredients for 4 minutes. Subsequently, finely comminuted skin is added to the carrier and the ingredients are mixed for 2 minutes. The mixture was then cooled to -6 ° C by injection of CO _{2 for} 90 seconds.

The chicken product is then pressed into a product form, coated with pasta and pretzel, baked at 175 ° C for 90 seconds and cooked in a 215 ° C oven for 3.3 minutes to bring the chicken core temperature to 75 ° C. The product was then frozen at -20 ° C. When cooked at 220 ° C for 15 minutes, the wood product is a juicy product that has the appearance of intact flesh and has a natural fibrous structure and a positive marinated taste.

It is clear that no harmful changes have been made to the fibrous structure of the breast meat.

Example 2

Frozen blocks of skinless raw broiler chicken breast 200 x 100 x 50 mm frozen in a conditioning cold store at -4 to -6 ° C and cut into 200 x 10 x 5 mm slices. Within this temperature range, the ice content of the meat, as determined by calorimetry, is 35% of its total water content.

Immediately blend cold, cold-frozen meat slices with a dry marinade mixture containing the following ingredients:

Tome%

Native Potato Starch, Extra (Rochelle) 72.43

Sodium Caseinate EMHV (DMV) 11.14

NaCI8,32

Dextrose and flavoring8.11

The above dry ingredients are blended with cold meat slices in a lab-size paddle blender for 45 seconds at a speed of 60 rpm.

During this time, the dry ingredients are evenly distributed on the wet surface of the muscle slices and form an adherent network of starch, caseinate, dextrose and flavoring, and a solution of muscle proteins in solution from the immediate surface of the muscle.

- 11 - The dissolution of muscle proteins is facilitated by the high effective salt concentration of water directly available on the muscle surface and is limited to surface effects due to the short mixing time, negligible temperature change and subsequent reduction of the salt concentration by addition of water.

To the meat slices with the mesh formed by the marinade ingredients, water was cooled to + 2 ° C for 30 seconds with stirring, followed by another 30 seconds of stirring. After the addition of water, the following final marinated meat mixture is obtained:

% w: w

Sliced broiler breast 80.0 Water 16,30 potato starch 2.68 Sodium caseinate 0.41 Nazi 0.31 Dextrose and flavoring 0.30

The addition of water partially hydrates the marinade mesh and forms a white continuous matrix phase which adsorbs all available fluids.

At this stage, the meat and marinade mixture is in a free-flowing state, comprising essentially intact muscle slices and a hydrated continuous matrix of plastic consistency of low viscosity, which does not cause muscle tissue damage by friction. This contrasts with the extremely viscous nature of conventional binders or fillers, such as those based on cereal materials, such as biscuits, or the inherent frictional effects of extensive extraction of soluble muscle proteins.

The marinated meat mixture is pressed into patties and coated with the usual pasta and bread crumbs. The coated product is baked in vegetable oil at 180 ° C for 3-4 minutes to reach a core temperature of 75 ° C.

The pre-baked products were blown-frozen at -30 ° C, packaged and stored at -20 ° C, and evaluated after equilibration for 2 weeks.

The products are cooked from the frozen state to a core temperature of 75 ° C and evaluated according to a method that includes the evaluation of 27 specific organoleptic characteristics evaluated by a sensory panel of experienced judges under controlled conditions of sample repetition and taste. .

An analysis of the organoleptic data shows that the products are juicier and more fibrous, less dense, dense and elastic than products containing similar amounts and types of meat with the usual non-meat ingredients.

The overall texture of the marinated products is less gelatinous than when potato starch alone is used as a carrier for marinade and less gelled or gum-like than marinade samples containing salt, flavorings and sodium caseinate.

Similarly, the products are less satisfactory when the meat temperature is above -1 ° C, or when conventional marinating is carried out by diffusion of the marinade into the muscle tissue, or when the marinades are used without the use of immobilizing carriers.

The appearance of the meat-based core of marinait products is very fibrous, with a very white color, with little difference between the intact muscle and the wet continuous phase at the surface of the muscle slices. The ingredients of the marinade do not penetrate the muscle tissue other than directly on the surface.

The product contains very little free liquid, but moisture can easily be squeezed out by pressure.

3-6. Examples A and D are comparative examples

A chicken product having the same composition as in Example 1 is prepared to change some of the following conditions:

The number of the example Temperature of pieces of meat substrate Mixing time Third Low Present Short 4th Low Not present Short 5th Low Present Long 6th Tall Present Short THE Low Not present Long B Tall Not present Short C Tall Present Long D Tall Not present Long

Thus, Examples 4, A, B and D do not use finely chopped chicken skin (as carrier) in the chicken product composition, the chicken product composition contains 81% chicken breast meat and 19% marinade.

In Examples 3, 4, 5 and A, the chicken pieces were at a temperature of -4 ° C.

· · · · · *

Λ _Λ · ············

Α In Examples 6, Β, C and D, the chicken pieces are 1 to 5 ° C.

In Examples 3, 4, 6 and B, the stirring time is 12.5 minutes.

In Examples 5, A, C and D, the stirring time is 25 minutes.

After preparation, the chicken products are coated with the usual dough and bread crumbs, baked in vegetable oil at 180 ° C for 4.5 minutes to reach a core temperature of 75 ° C, and frozen for at least 2 weeks prior to evaluation.

The products were examined by a small committee of experts (blind).

We could not make a product from the comparative examples B and D because it was impossible to compress them to the desired product form.

The products prepared according to Comparative Examples A and C are shown in Examples 3-6. Compared to the products of Examples 1 to 4, they have a weakly fibrous texture.

It was clear that 3-6. The products of Examples 1 to 4 did not show any deleterious changes in the fibrous structure of the breast meat. The products were juicy, of excellent white color, with little difference between the intact muscle and the wet continuous phase adjacent to the muscle slices.

Claims (16)

A process for the production of a food product having a meat lump phase and a continuous phase comprising a marinating process which simultaneously forms an adhesive matrix and wherein the penetration of the marinade into the meat lump phase is limited by: i) cooling the meat pieces to a temperature of at least -2 ° C, in which case at least a portion of the water in the meat pieces is present in the form of ice; ii) adding marinade to the pieces of meat; iii) optionally adding a carrier for absorbing the marinade; iv) optionally increasing the viscosity of the mixture, and v) mixing the ingredients for a total of 4 to 15 minutes to disperse any added ingredients and minimize the solubility of the meat protein. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the meat pieces are used at a temperature of -2 ° C to -20 ° C. Method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the meat pieces are at a temperature of -4 ° C to -6 ° C. 4. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the carrier is a suitable collagen source, pre-shredded muscle material, plant fiber, soy derivatives, a suitable protein, a polysaccharide material or mixtures thereof. - 16 ·· * · η »« ι «•« · »» · ♦ 4 · ··· · • · · · · · · · · · · · 5. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the marinade is first added in the form of a dry blend and mixed for a sufficient time to disperse the dry blend with the pieces of meat and carrier, followed by liquid addition and mixing again for a sufficient time to disperse the ingredients. The process of claim 5, wherein each of the mixing steps is from 1 to 9 minutes. 7. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the marinade is added in the form of a solution. 8. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that a marinade containing salt is used. 9. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the viscosity of the mixture is increased by cooling. 10. The process of claim 9, wherein the mixture is cooled by injection of CO ₂ . The process according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the mixture is cooled to a temperature between -6 'C and -8 ° C. 12. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the viscosity of the mixture is increased by adding starch to the marinade. The process according to claim 12, wherein the starch is native starch. 14. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the food product is a white meat product. - 17 • ··· ···· ··· 15. A process according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the lump phase comprises lumps, poultry pieces or mixtures thereof as lumpy material. 16. A food product comprising a lumpy meat phase and a continuous phase, which is prepared by a process comprising a marinating step which simultaneously forms an adhesive matrix, wherein the marinade penetration into the lumpy meat phase is limited, wherein the process is as follows. consists of steps: (i) cooling the meat pieces to a temperature of at least -2 ° C, in which case at least part of the water in the pieces is present in the form of ice; (ii) addition of marinade to pieces of meat; iii) optionally adding a carrier for absorbing the marinade; (iv) optionally increasing the viscosity of the mixture; and (v) mixing the ingredients for a total of 4 to 15 minutes, with all the ingredients added dispersed and the meat protein solubilized to a minimum.