Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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THIS INVENTION relates to a process for preparing a 1sh
product, and to the product of the process.
According to the present invention there is provided a
process for producing a reformed, layered, fish product from
minced fish comprising building up a block from at least two
sheet~ of minced fish so that the sheets form layers of the
block, at least one of the sheets havlng previously been cooked
on at least one surface thereof, and at least one cooked
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surface being located between adjacent layers o the block.
The process preferably includes the step of rolling the;~
minced fish into a compressed layer, and cooking the compressed
layer on one side, cutting the compressed layer into sheets,
and thereafter building up the block. Alternatively, the
layer can be cooked on both sides.
The process can comprise building up the block from a
plurality of sheets of minced fish ln such manner that the
sheets form Layers of the block, sufficient of the sheets
having previously been cooked to permit the sheets to be ~
arranged with at least one cooked surface located between each
layer of the bIock and the adjacent layer. ~ ~ ;
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By "minced flsh" ls meant the fish ~lesh recovered by
flesh/bone separator machines from sources such as flsh
species which are caught when trawling but are not popular
with consumers, fish flesh remaining on bones of fish which
have been filleted, small fish, and damaged fish. The term
also includes shredded fish. The fish used can be of any
edible species, and is, after mincing, preferably free of
skin, bone and other inedlble fractions of the ~ish.
In order to obtain a desired consistency for forming the
sheets from the minced ish, the mince may be mixed with
edible modifying additives such as suitable chlorides,
phosphates, vegetable gums and esters. The modifying
additives should be present in tolerable quantities for food
products, and the preferred additives are alkali metal
chlorldes such as potassium chloride and particularly sodlum
chloride, and a phosphate binder. The phosphate binder is
conveniently a poly~hosphate. Sodium tripolyphosphate may be
used, or commercial mixtures of polyphosphates including
condensed phosphates such as tripolyphosphates and longer
chain phosphates, as well as orthophosphates and meta-
phosphates may be used.
The usage level for sodium chlorlde is llmlted by the
flavour threshold. The sodium chloride may form between 1%
and 3% on a ~eight baqis of the mixture, pre~erably between
1~ and 2.5~ and more preferably be~ween 1% and 1.5~. The
preferred usage level for the phospha-te ls between 0.3% and
0.5% on a weight basis.
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The prGcess may include, in order to improve the ~lavour
and keeping qualities of the product, the addltion o further
conditioning additives such as monosodium glutamate, sodium
citrate, anti-oxidants, and the like.
The additives may be mixed with the flsh in the dry
state or alternatively the additives may be dissolved in
water prior to addition, the water making up about 10% of the
finished product by weight.
The process mav thus include the step of mixing the ish
;~ and additives, and said mixing ~ay be done by means of a
suitable mixer such as a tumble mixer, planetary mixer or the
like, adapted to provide adequate dispersion of the
additives in the fish. Mixing should be continued until the
mixture takes on a glossy appearance and is sticky to the
touch.
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In order to obtain layers of fish giving a desirable
flaky texture in the final product, the mlnced fish mixture
may be rolled out to a thicknes~ of about 3 mm. This
;~ thickness may, if desired, be varied to vary the texture~
obtained in the final product. Thus thick sheets will give a
; product resembllng coarse fish and thln sheets will give a
product resembling a fish of~ finer~texture. ~
Cooking the surface or surfaces of the sheets is by heat
treating one or both sldes of the sheets, conveniently one
side as thi~; facilitates contlnuous productlon. Sufficient
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fish is achieved when said surface(s) have a white cooked
appearance and are not sticky to the touch, and it is not
necessary to cook the sheets rlght through.
On a small scale the process may be carried out by
rolling the minced fish mixtw^e between sheets of polythene
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or ~re~proof paper. The rolled out sheets are then placed on
a lightly greased flat hot surface for about ~ minute.
The block built up from the sheets of minced fish may be
compressed and/or frozen, prior to subsequent cutting of the
block into a variety of consumer products.
The inventlon extends also to a reformed layered fish
product whenever produced accordlng to the process described
above.
The preferred process will now be described, by way of
example, with referenae to the accompanying drawing which i9
a schematic flow diagram of a plant suitable for carrying out
the process of the present invention.
In the drawing, reference numeral 10 generally deslgnates
a plant suitable for carrying out the process of the present
invention. The plant 10 comprises a separating station 12
whlch receives, along flow llne 1~, fish to be proces~ed. At
the station 12 the flesh is separated from the bones, skin
etc, and the flesh is minced. The resultant minced fish
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flesh leaves the separating station 12 along flow line 16 and
enters a mixing station 18. Suitable additives, as described
above, are added at the station 18 and blending takes place
until the desired consistency ls achieved. The product leaves
the mixing station 18 along flow line 20 and passes between
applicator rolls 22 and then, in the form of a layer or sheet
26, on to a heated drum drier 24.
The sheet 26 of fish flesh is removed from the drum
drier 24 at a point where the required amount of cookin~ has
taken place. Removal is effected by means of a stationary
knife 28.
The cooked sheet 26 travels on a conveyor 30 from the
knife 28 to a cutting station 32 where it ls cut lnto
appropriately sized portions 34 for packing. The portions 34
are packed in a wax-llned carton 36, one on top of the other,
with cooked and uncooked sides of adjacent sheets in contact.
The cooked surfaces will not merge with the uncooked
surfaces. This ensures that the layered effect which is
requlred in the finished product is achieved.
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The carton is then placed in a freezing mould and the
fish portions are moulded into a fish block. The block is
then frozen under pressure in a plate freezer to give a
unlform square edged frozen block suitable for later cutting.
A wide range of products may be made from the formed
block of layered, mi~ced fish. In order to make fish fingers,
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the block is cut in such a way that the layers ex-tend at
right angles to the longer axes of the fish fingers. The
cut fingers may then be battered and crumbed in the usual
way.
A further application is to cut the block into portions
which are then compressed under high pressure in moulds
having the shape of a flsh fillet or any other deslred shape,
the portions then being battered and crumbed.
A yet further application is to cut steak-sized portions
, which may be placed in foil containers and covered wlth a
! suitable sauce for later cooking.
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A particular advantage of the inventlon is that it
; provides a product which has a layered texture and flaky
- consistency which resembles fish fillets.~ The product 1s made
from m~nced fish, which otherwise is~generally unsuitable as
a consumer product, when compared wlth fish flllets. The~
process thus has the advantage that~minoed fish of relatively
low value oan be turned into an attractive commerclal~product~
of enhanced value.
1~ The applicant is aware of prior attempts to make layered ~ ~-
fish products from minced flsh. According to one process of
which the applicant is aware, minced ish containing alginate
was moulded and the surface was coated wlth a solutlon of
calcium salt. The calcium reacted w1th the alginate to form a~
protective skin and the excess calcium was washed o~f with ~
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cold water. Reformed layered fish products were made by
rollin~ out the minced fish containing the alginate and
spraying both sides with the solution of calcium salt. The
layers were then stacked lnto b].ocks and rozen for later
cutting into fish stick portions. The maln disadvantage of
this process was the difficulty o~ handliny the mince/algin-
ate mixture through the various processes of coatln~ with
calcium salt solution and washlng. The present invention on
the other hand is easy to practice and requires substantially
less control for continuous production than the abovemen-
tioned prior art method.
The applicant is further aware of other processes
whereby reformed fish products are made which include hinding
pieces of fish together in a gel made from minced fish with
various additives, or which include making extruded filaments
which are later formed into edible fish products. The minced
fish was mixed with various additives including alginates and
was extruded into calcium salt solutions to set the extruded
filaments. The said fibres were then cut into lengths and
incorporated into products such as fish fingers by mixing w1th
fillets or other off cuts. These prior art processes however
suffered from the disadvantage, compared with the present
invention, of using a proportion of minced flesh, but
requiring the addition of fillet pieces or other substantial
~iscrete pleces of fish to obtain th~ r~qulred consist~ncy
and texture.
The cooked sheet is preferably cooled prior to
being cut and stacked to form a block. This not only arrests
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tha cooking process but also reduces adhesion between layers.
Thls can be achieved, in the described embodiment, by cooling
the conveyor 30 on which the cooked sheet is conveyed from
the drum drier to the cutting station 32.
The drum drler can be of various forms. For
example, its drum can be closed at both ends and can be
heated by steam. Alternatively, the drum can be open ended
and heated by gas ietS or electrical heating elements.
In a further form of the apparatus, a stainless
steel belt is provided and the minced fish is applied to the
belt by means of an extruder to prodùce a layer of the
requisite thickness. The belt is heated from below by steam,
gas or electrical elements. It will be understood that the
steel belt replaces the drum drier 24 and the extruder
replaces the rolls 22. ~From the steel belt the cooked layer
; passes to the cutting station.
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