Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
, cQ70~!
4~3~
The presen-t invention relates to the manu~ac-ture of a
~rozen ~ood product that. comprises a foodstuf~, for example
~ fish, mea-t, poultry or frui-t, enrobed in a coa-ting tha-t
_ i~corporates ba-tter.
; 5 ~any conventional food products are prepared and sold
in the form of portions that are coated wi-th batter or
- l~ith a layer of batter that is itsel~ coated wi-th breadcrumbs
- or a granular compositiou resemblin~ breadcrumbs. Co~ve~tionally,
tne former are known as "battered" food products a~d the
latter as "breaded" Yood products. Generally, such coated
food products are marketed in a substantially uncooked state
and the consu~er prepares them for consumption -by, for
e~ample, deep or shallow frying. Although such coated food
products can be sold to the consumer as freshly prepared l-tems,
in general they are preserved for retail distribution by
deep ~reezing. Eereinafter the expression "coated food
product" will be used to refer to any such battered or
breaded food product, and the material tha-t is enrobed by
the coatlng will be referred to as the "foodstuf~".
Traditionally it has been found necessary to heat-set
the batter in the coating after it has been applied to the
foodstuff: heat-setting imparts to the coated food product
sufflcient cohesion and robustness for the coated food
product to be handled during subsequent operations, such as
packaging, prior to deep Yreezing and ensures that the batter ~-
remains stable and cohesive if the coated food product
subsequen-tly thaws.
Conventionally, heat-setting o~ the batter is performed
by frying the coated food product briefly in ho-t oil. For
example, in a conventional process for producing fish fingers,
~ ~ _
- . . . .
~ cQ~02
,, .
-~ 10~4433
~-. individual fish stic~s (prepared by sal~ing a block o~ ~rozen
~ish) are ba-ttered and breaded, and then ~ried at 180C ~or
30 to 40 seconds be~ore being packed and re-~rozen.
Heat-setting ~ the bat~ter by ~rying has several inherent
disadvantages. Oil is absorbed during ~ryi~g and this tends
-~ to produce an un~ecessarily high level of oil in the coated
food produc-t. Moreover, it is o~ten necessary to discard
some or all o~ the oil because it undergoes thermal de~radation.
Hence, frying is e~pensive because the high grade oil must
be replenished continuously, and the equipment required :
tends to be expensive as the oil must be heated, filtered
and circulated and oil v~pour must be trapped. Despite .
. .
these disadvantages,it has been accepted hitherto that there
.; ~ .
~as no practical alternative to frying as a means ~or heat-
setting coated food products, and such ~rying has been in
i use on a ~ery large scale.
The in~ention pro~idas a ~ood manu~acturing process
in which a coating incorporatin~ a heat-settable batter
is applied to a frozen portion of a foodstuff, and the
batter is set by steam. - ~ -
i The settlng o~ the-b~tter in the coating can be aceompllshed ~: .
by passing the coated food product through-a chamber containing ;~
a stea~ a~mosphere. Either dry saturated steam at atmospheric ~:
pressure or superheated steam at a temperature o~, for example,
220C, can be used; i~ desired, the coated ~ood product can
initially be exposecl to dry sa-tura-ted steam and -then exposed
to superheated steam. Any condensation that remains on the
coated food product after steaming can be removed subsecluently
if necessary by drying, ~or example by exposing the stea~ed
~ood product to a current o~ hot air at a -temperature O~J
- 3 -
~ ` cQ702
.: ' '' '
4433
; fol- e~ample, lS0 to ~00C. - Pre~erably t~lle coatetl
~ood product is e~posed -to -the stecam for ~ -
period of time tha-t is su~icien-t
to set the batter but insufficien-t to cause any
significant coo~ing or overhea-ting of the foodst-uff
ithin the coating. Because the coated food produc-t
is to be preserved by freezing the heat input into --
the coa-ted food product should be kept to a minimum to
facilitate the subsequent cooling. The actual period of
` 10 time for which -the coated food product must be exposed to
the steam will depend upon the dep-th of the coating on
the foodstuff.
Immediately following the steaming step, a coated food
product of -the invention may not be as handleable as an
i5 analogous coated food product that has been fried. If
necessary, the handleability of a coated food produc-t of
-the invention can be improved by freezing the coated ~ood
product immediately after steaming.
Although in general coated food products of the type
to which the invention relates are cooked by the consumer by
~ryi~g, certain coated food products are occasionally grilled
by the consumer. For example, fish fingers are sometimes
grilled ratker-than fried. The oil absorbed by a conventional
coated food product during the frying step involved in its
- 25 manufacture facilitates grilling by the consumer. Accordingly
it may be desired that a coa-ted food product of the invention
should contain a certain al~ount of cooking oil so that it too
can be grilled by the consumer. This can be achieved by
spraying -the coa-ted food product wi-th cooking oil, either
before or af-ter steaming. Typically an oil level of about
,
c~702
1~5~433
3 to 4C~/o by ~eight of the coated food product will be suf~icient
to ensure adequa-te grillin~ properties.
It will be appreciated that when marketed a coated
food product prepared in accordance with the inventio~ will
not necessarily have the same appearance and texture as would
a conventional coated lood product the coating of which has
been set by fryin_ ~owever, after final cooking by the
consumer, a coated food product of the invention will be
similar in appearance and texture to an analogous conventional
food product after cooking.
Inherently,`the process of the invention has the
advantages over a conventional process involvinO frying
that there is less utilisation of expensive cooking oil and
no need ~or the expensive equipment associated with frying.
The invention is described ~ur-ther in the followin~
E~amples.
E~PLE i
deep frozen mass o~ ~illetted fish~ for example cod
` blocks, i9 sub-divided into individual fish sticks by sawing.
The fish sticks are allowed to warm up to -10 C, a~d are
then coated l~ith a heat-settable batter using conventionaI
apparatus, and then coated with a conventional breading
composition. The coated fish sticks are passed through a
chamber containing dry saturated s-team, the passage -throll~h
the chamber of eacih fish stick taking just sufficien-t time for
-the hat-ter -to be set. ~ typical e~posllre time is 15 seconds
using steam at lO0 C. On leavin~ -the chamber, the coa-ted
fish s-ticks are sprayed l~i-th groundnut oil so that they are
e~enly coated wi-th abou-t -1% by l~eight of -the oil, ancl a-re then
imlDedia~tely -transferred to a batch blast free2er before being
packed. `
-- 5 --
c~702
1~5~433
Typical coated fish sticks prepared according to this
E~ample have -the following composition.
Inuredient /0 by weight
Fish stick 64.6
5 Coating (batter plus breading) 25.9
Steam condensate 5.6
Sprayed oil 3.9
An appropria-te heat-settable batter formulation is:
Ingredient % by wei ht
:~ - 10 Potato starch 39.8
Precooked potato starch 1.6
Salt 4.0
Monosodium glutamate 1.3
- Wa-ter 53~3
E~Y~IPLE 2
Cod blocks are subdivided into individual fish ~'steaks"
by sawing. The s-teaks are deglazed with steam ~or 3 to 5
seconds, ducted with -fine grain rusk, and coated wIth an
aerated of "puff" batter using conventional equipment. ~he
coated fish steaks are steamed ~or 60 seconds using steam
at iO0C, packed and re--frozen.
~ An appropriate batter formulation is:
- Ingredient /0 by weight
Wheat flour 38.8
25 Rice ~lour 1.9
Baking powder d.2
Spray-dried whole egg 1.9
- - Carbo~Yymethylcellulose 0.28
~lavouring 1,98
Wa-ter 50~94
- .
. - ~
