Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Imitated – simulated – ornamental – three-dimensional product...
Patent
1989-07-24
1991-03-12
Corbin, Arthur L.
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Imitated, simulated, ornamental, three-dimensional product...
426641, 426646, A23L 1311
Patent
active
049992040
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improved reconstituted meat product and more particularly to a reconstituted meat product which may be severed to produce steak-like pieces.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many efforts have been made in the past to agglomerate together small meat pieces to produce a reconstituted meat product having the qualities of a piece of primal meat. Primal meat generally has longitudinally extending muscle fibres. In the formation of steak-like products it is normal to cut across these longitudinally extending muscle fibres. In the formation of reconstituted meat products it has been proposed previously to orientate the fibres of the meat particles in a given direction and then to cut across the direction of those fibres in an effort to produce a product approximating that of natural primal meat (see for example Australian patent specification 19235/70 and 29961/71). These efforts have been unsuccessful in that the meat products so formed fail to show the coherence exhibited by natural meat products though they do have desirable fibrous properties. In order to cause these products to cohere adequately it has previously been proposed either to add binders of various types to the reconstituted product such as salt, or to encase the reconstituted product in a natural or synthetic skin to hold the product together (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 3852487). These binders have improved the cohesion of the comminuted meat pieces together, however they often impart their own adverse properties to the finished product or detract from its appearance. Thus salt is now considered to adversely affect health and is preferably avoided in large amounts. Similarly, large quantities of finely ground meat emulsion binder included in reformed meat products can give the product an unnatural colour and/or texture. Thus at the date of this invention it was known to produce textured products without good adhesion and to produce reasonably well cohered products without texture. It was not, however, possible to produce a product having both desirable qualities simultaneously.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present inventor has realized that by forming a reconstituted product of meat particles which are elongated in form and by arranging those meat particles in a substantially helical array through the meat product one may achieve a product having good physical coherence and a natural textured appearance even though the structure of the reconstituted product is from a theoretical point of view quite different from that of natural meat.
The present invention accordingly consists in a meat product comprising a plurality of meat pieces agglomerated together, characterized in that the meat pieces are elongate in form and arranged in a substantially helical array through the meat product.
It should be pointed out at this juncture that each piece of meat will be made up of a number of meat fibres and the fibres of the meat pieces do not themselves need to be arrayed in any particular way but rather the meat pieces should be elongated or stretched out such that in the meat product they are arranged in a substantially helical array.
The meat product is preferably formed in a cylindrical shape having a longitudinal axis. The meat pieces are preferably arranged in a substantially helical array around that longitudinal axis. If the meat product is to be formed into steak-like pieces these steak-like pieces are preferably cut from the cylindrical meat product at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the meat product such that the meat pieces in the steak-like article will themselves traverse that article in a substantially helical fashion. The helical array of the meat pieces is believed to substantially improve the coherence of the reconstituted meat product as compared with any previously known reconstituted meat product.
It will be recognized that the products according to this invention do not need to be cylindrical or circular in shape. Other shaped products may be readily produced and ar
REFERENCES:
patent: 3852487 (1974-12-01), Van Werven et al.
patent: 4387111 (1983-06-01), Mullender
patent: 4820535 (1989-04-01), Gibson
patent: 4821635 (1989-04-01), Logan
Corbin Arthur L.
Tendapak Technologies Pty. Ltd.
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