Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to sauces for
cookin~ meat, poultry and seafood products and
more particularly to improved sauces which will
combine with broth.and fat exuded by the meat,
poultry and seafood during cooking, thereby pro-
ducing an attractive and flavorful cooked product.
Background of the Invention
During the cooking of meat products such
as pork and beef, poultry products such as chicken,
and seafood products such as fish, among others (all
of which are hereinafter collectively re~erred to in
the specification and in the claims as "meat"3, it
` is common to find that broth and liquid fat are
released by the meat and collect in -the cooking
container. The broth, being of an aqueous nature,
can be readily combined with a yravy or a sauce, but
the fat is not readily miscible and tends to collect
in pools in the container. In the absence of a
cooking sauce, the liquid fat does not present a
serious problem to the cook for the meat can be
readily removed from the pools of fat or, alter-
natively, the fat can be decanted from the cookiny con-
tainer. However, when a sauce has been used to prepare
the meat and it is desired to serve the sauce, the
presence of pools of fat is undesirable, not only
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because of the unappetizing appearance, but be~ause
the unsightly fat is difficult to separate from the
sauce.
The Invention
We have discovered that when a food grade
emulsifier and one or more water-soluble thickening
agents are incorporated into a cooking sauce, an
effect can be obtained whereby any fat released
during cooking will be incorporated without agitation
into the sauce to yield an appetizing and at-tractive
product.
The emulsifier of choice is leci-thin;
however, other emulsifiers such as hydroxylated
lecithin, polysorbates and glycerol esters may also
be used. Lecithin is a commonly used food additive
which is useful, for example, as an emulsifier, as a
viscosity reducing agent and as a wetting and release
agent. When used as an emulsifier in a sauce, it
is added to emulsify a fat or oil already present in
the sauce so that an improved texture or consistency
can be obtained. In most cases, agitation is required
to achieve emulsification and, when heated, the emulsion
-tends to break down causing separation of the components
Furthermore, unless a fat or oil is initially present in
the sauce, it has heretofore been considered as un-
necessary to include any emulsifier since no useful
purpose would be served.
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Water soluble -thickening agents are
available in many forms and are commonly referre~
to as gums. Gums are defined by the Chemical
Rubber Company "Handbook of Food Additives"~ 2d
Edition 1972 at page 297, as "polymeric material
that can be dissolved or dispersed in water ~o
give a thickening and/or a gelling efect~. These
additives are commonly used to provide texture or
bulk to a sauce. Examples of such agents which are
effective in the present invention are modified
- starch, sodium caseinate, soy isolates, and pectin-
containing materials such as tomato paste.
The present invention gives unexpected
results, for no agitation is required and heating
does not hinder the combination of the fat with the
sauce. We have found that the emulsifier an~ the
thickening agent(s) interact with one another ~o
give this desirable result. Thus, if either the
emulsifier or the thickening agen-t(s) is eliminated
from the sauce and the sauce is cooked with an
appropriate meat product, the fat released during
cooking will not be absorbed and unsightly pools
of fat will result.
To practice our invention, a sauce having
the desired flavor and consistency characteristics
is prepared to contain from 0.01 to 5 weight percent
of a food grade emulsifier, and from about 2 to 50
weight percent of one or more thickening agents~
When lecithin is the emulsifier, the preferred range
of lecithin is 0.01 to 0.3 weight percent. The
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stated percentage range of emulsifier is applicable
when the sauce initially contains essentially no
fat or oil. However, in sauces which do contain
fat or oil, the amount of emulsifier added to practice
our invention is in excess of that amount of emulsifier
which is normally used or required to emulsify the fat
or oil present in the sauce. The sauce is placed in
contact with the meat, preferably by pouring the
sauce over the meat~ and the meat is cooked. During
cooking the fat exuded by the meat is absorbed by
the sauce to give an attractive and flavorful product
with essentially no floating pools of f~t.
Examples of our invention are as follows:
EXAMPLE 1
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The following ingredients are blended
together us:ing agitation:
Ingredient Wt. %
Water ~o.o
Peppers 40.0
Tomato Paste 10.0
Vinegar 4.0
Sugar 2.0
Modified Starch 2.0
Dried Onion 0.75
Salt 0,5
Spice 0.5
I,ecithin 0.25
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The mixture is heated to boiling and simmered for
20 minutes. One pound of the sauce is poured over
2.5 pounds of cut-up chicken in a glass baking dish,
the dish is covered and the chicken is cooked for
one hour at 375F. The 2 to 3 ounces of fat normally
exuded by 2.5 pounds of chicken is found to be com-
bined with the sauce, leaving essentially no ~loating
fat.
EXAMPLE 2
The following ingredients, excluding the
corn syrup, are blended together using agitation:
Ingredient Wt.
Corn syrup 27.0
Tomato paste 20.0
Pepper 20.0
Vinegar 12.5
Water 12.5
Salt 3.0
Dried onion 2.5
Modified starch 2.0
Lecithin 0.25
Spice 0.25
The mixture is heated to boiling, the corn syrup is
added and the mixture is simmered for 20 minutes. One
pound o~ sauce is poured over one pound of ground
beef which is crurnbled and spread in a baking dish.
The fat content of the beef is approximately 25~ by
weight. The container is covered and the beef is
cooked for one-half hour at 375F. to give a product
which contains essentially no floating oil.
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EXAMPLE 3
Ingredient Wto
Water 50,0
Tomato paste 30.0
Peppers 15.0
Salt 2.4
r~odified starch 2.0 ~.
Spice 0.35
Lecithin 0.25
The mixture is heated to boiling and simmered for 20 min-
utes. One pound of sauce is poured over 2.5 pounds of
cut-up chicken in a glass baking dish, the dish is covered
and the chicken is cooked for one hour at 375F. yielding a
product with essentially no floating fat.
EXAMPLE 4
The following ingredienks are 'olended together with
agitation:
Inyredient Wt %
f
Water 60.0
Mushrooms 20.0
Soy sauce 10.0
Modified starch 5.0
Oriental vegetables4.6
Spice n. 3
~ecithin 0.1
The mixture is heated to boiling and simmered for 20 min-
utes. One pound of sauce is poured over 2.5 pounds of
cut-up chicken in a glass baking dish, the dish is covered
and the chicken is cooked fo~ one hour at 375F. The
product obtained contains essentially no floating oil.
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Our invention is not restricted solely to ~he
descriptions and illustrations provided above, but
encompasses all modifications envisaged by the following
claims.
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