Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Animal derived material is an ingredient other than extract...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-06
2004-03-02
Corbin, Arthur L (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Animal derived material is an ingredient other than extract...
C426S646000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06699520
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention generally relates to bacon chips or bacon patties and to the manufacture and preparation of such bacon-originating products. More particularly, chips or patties are prepared which are disks of a desired profile, whether circular, oval, rectangular, or other desired plan shape, which disks are cooked into a finished product suitable for incorporation into packaged meals, sandwich components, pizzas, packaged snacks, and the like. The disks are made from ground, processed bacon ends or pieces which are mixed with ground uncooked meat trimmings and a brine solution, which meat mixture is shaped, frozen and sliced into the disks which are subsequently cooked into the bacon chips, patties and the like.
Bacon products originating from pork belly cuts have long been used in food products such as sandwiches, meals, side dishes and the like. Traditionally, these take the form of elongated strips which are sliced from a cured pork belly. While great strides have been made in recent years in order to achieve more uniformity in certain bacon strips, sizing variabilities and inconsistencies still occur, and it is not possible to closely control the shape of the strips or to vary their shape or size to any substantial extent. Weight and size control of precooked whole and partial bacon strips is very difficult because of the originating natural shape of the belly and because the cook level can vary greatly from strip to strip, and even within the same strip. Such inconsistencies are due, in part, to variable fat content, size, and in some instances thickness. These parameters can vary depending upon the source of each particular strip. In addition, the traditional elongated strip shape is not always suitable for all applications, limiting the usefulness of these traditional bacon products, or requiring size-reduction and/or assembly steps in preparing a final desired food product.
Because of these limitations, there has been a desire to be able to provide a precooked bacon product which delivers the true cooked flavor and texture of bacon in a shape and size which can be particularly advantageous for use in meal, sandwich and snack products and the like. In the past, approaches have been taken in order to address these types of needs and desires. Gibson U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,496 describes a method of making a bacon-containing food product. This patent utilizes bacon ends and combines bacon end pieces with additions that are high in protein content and high in albumin content, which combination is shaped into a form suitable for cooking. Requiring a high-albumin component makes such products less than suitable for providing true cooked flavor and texture of bacon. Depner U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,337 describes a sausage product for simulating bacon having two separate components, one being a lean meat appearing component, and the other a fat-appearing component. With this approach, the fat-like component serves as a binder for the lean meat component. The resulting sliced product has an elongated strip shape of a simulated bacon, a non-meat originating binder being included.
According to the invention, suitable bacon chip, bacon patty and the like is provided in cooked form without requiring a binder such as albumin. Products are provided which deliver the true cooked flavor and texture of bacon in a small chip or patty format which is sized and shaped as desired. They incorporate ends and/or pieces of processed, cured bacon which are traditional byproducts of bacon processing and slicing carried out during industrial-scale bacon packaging operations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Cooked bacon disks are prepared from a meat mixture which has ground processed bacon ends as its primary component. This meat mixture also includes a substantial quantity of an uncooked ground meat trimmings binder and a brine solution. Included is a process which incorporates bacon ends or pieces of bacon bellies which have been processed from uncooked bacon bellies by curing, cooking and smoking and chilling. These processed ground ends or pieces are mixed with uncooked meat trimmings having a fat percentage between about 5 and about 60 weight percent, together with a brine solution to form the bacon meat mixture, which is shaped and frozen so as to provide a sliceable shaped meat stick. This stick is then sliced so as to form a plurality of slices which are then cooked into bacon disks which can take the form of bacon chips, bacon patties, bacon pizza topping and the like having a geometric shape which need not be that of a conventional, natural bacon strip. The present products can take on shapes including circular, oval, rectangular and the like.
It is accordingly a general object of the present invention to provide improved products having the cooked flavor and texture of bacon in a small chip or patty format.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved process and product produced thereby, which process shapes a meat mixture having at least 50% by weight of ground processed bacon ends.
Another object of the present invention is to provide improved cooked bacon products in the form of chips which are generally disk-like and which are suitable for inclusion within packaged meal products.
Another object of this invention is to provide improved cooked bacon patties which are suitable for use as sandwich components.
Another object of the present invention is to provide small chips suitable for use as a bacon pizza topping or for use as a packaged snack item.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from and clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The term bacon disks is used generally herein to include relatively thin, cooked bacon products including bacon chips and bacon patties. The former are especially thin and well suited for use as components of meals, sandwiches, packaged snacks, pizza toppings and the like. Bacon patties are typically thicker and are more suitable for use as a cooked sandwich meat. The patties have a less crisp, more chewy consistency, combined with a lighter colored appearance, whereas the chips are crispy and darker in color. A chip type of product will have a thickness, prior to final cooking, of about {fraction (1/12)} to about {fraction (1/16)} of an inch, whereas the patties are of a thickness of between about ⅙ and about {fraction (1/10)} of an inch prior to final cooking.
The other primary shape parameter of the bacon disks are surface shape and size. A common shape is circular, this shape being typical of disks made by transversely slicing the bacon product which has been formed by stuffing into a casing. Other bacon disk shapes are readily obtained by appropriately shaping the meat material with a suitable shaping means, such as a mold, non-circular casing, forming device and the like. Shapes in this regard include oval, rectangular, square and other shapes such as those which are multi-faceted or shaped so as to conjure up a particular brand or character. It will be understand that reference to a bacon disk, unless otherwise noted, encompasses these shapes and thicknesses, even though specific reference generally may be made to circular chips or patties.
In the preferred embodiment which is illustrated, ends and pieces are used which are low-value byproducts from the preparation and slicing of natural bacon slices. As generally recognized in the bacon industry, bacon ends and pieces typically are non-standard slices or docked butt ends having dimensions less than that needed for a standard bacon slice or strip. Other non-standard slices include those having dark tissue or a seed appearance, or other undesirable characteristics.
These ends and pieces are size reduced, for example ground and/or diced, so as to overall reduce the size of these bacon ends and pieces. Typical size reduction is by grinding through a plate having an opening size of between about ⅛ inch and about ½ inch. A
Choate Gregory K.
Paulos William T.
Cook Alex McFarron Manzo Cummings & Mehler, Ltd.
Corbin Arthur L
Kraft Foods Inc.
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