Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Basic ingredient lacteal derived other than butter...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-22
2001-01-23
Pratt, Helen (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Basic ingredient lacteal derived other than butter...
C426S523000, C426S573000, C426S586000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06177117
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of formulating the cream cheese filling component of a cheesecake which retains consistency in the desired structure and appearance of the baked cheesecake product throughout the year in spite of significant seasonal variations in the starting components or ingredients. This method is especially directed to the dry bake method or process of cheesecake production. The method recognizes and accounts for seasonal variation in the composition of the ingredients, especially the cream cheese, over the year. By carefully controlling the protein to fat ratio in a narrow range, high quality cheesecakes (i.e., without significant blisters, cracks, or other defects) can consistently be made on a commercial scale using the dry bake method or process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Two main commercial processes are typically used by bakers to produce cheesecakes. In the wet bake process, steam is introduced into the oven to provide a high relative humidity. Using this method, cheesecakes can be produced having relatively few cracks; the upper portion of the cheesecake does not obtain the desired golden and smooth surface. Using the dry bake process, a resulting golden and smooth surface can be obtained; such a surface, however, may be subjected to a significant amount of cracking and other surface defects.
Cream cheese is prepared from milk with the addition of supplemental amounts of cream to form the cream cheese curd. The cream cheese filling of cheesecake includes non-fat dry milk, water, and cream, in addition to a significant amount of cream cheese. The assignee of this invention has undertaken to prepare cheesecakes on a commercial scale using essentially 100 percent of a high quality cream cheese (i.e., Philadelphia Cream Cheese™), as opposed to a blend using such a high quality cream cheese in combination with a significant amount of other products (including cream cheese). Generally, products resulting from dry baking a cheesecake using essentially 100 percent of a high quality cream cheese, although yielding an excellent tasting cheesecake product, often suffered from cracks on the surface of the cheesecake, which often significantly penetrated into the body of the cheesecake, and other defects (e.g., blisters and the like). Furthermore, such baked cheesecakes often had significantly lower centers (as compared to the outer portion); this so-called “stadium effect” is considered a defect. These cosmetic defects detract from consumer acceptability of the product, especially when the cheesecake is to be sold “as is” (i.e., without a topping which would tend to hide or mask the defects). As a consequence, cheesecakes having cracks, stadium effects, or other cosmetic defects are often discarded, leading to waste, increased manufacturing costs, and decreased profitability.
The protein content, as well as other components, in dairy liquids used in the manufacture of cream cheese, and thus in the cheesecakes using such cream cheese, varies through the course of a year in a seasonal cycle. These variations are likely due, at least in part, to the distribution of nutrients available to dairy cows during the year and, perhaps, hormonal and other cyclic changes affecting dairy cows. Moreover, these variations in protein levels (as well as other components) can be modulated by local weather conditions, bread of cows in the herd, and the like. Nevertheless, bakeries conventionally employ a single standard recipe for preparing the cheesecake batter and do not, therefore, adjust for seasonal changes in the dairy products used. Rather, bakeries normally use changes in the baking process (e.g., temperatures, time, and the like) to correct for the seasonal variations. Such process modifications, of course, require skilled bakers and, in many cases, considerable trial and error. Even in the hands of a skilled baker, considerable losses occur.
There is therefore a need to provide a method of preparing a cheesecake filling that reduces or eliminates the incidence of cracking on the surface and in the body of the cheesecake upon dry baking. There is also a need to provide a method that eliminates or substantially reduces unacceptable stadium effects. There is furthermore a need to account for seasonal variation in the components, especially the protein content, of the dairy ingredients used in preparing cheesecake batters in a way that standardizes the composition of the batter throughout an annual cycle. These needs should be met, of course, while still retaining, and even increasing, the overall texture, taste, and organoleptic characteristics of a cheesecake filling that the consuming public finds acceptable and pleasing. As one of ordinary skill in the art will realize upon considering this specification, the methods of the present invention realizes these objectives and allows the production of superior cheesecakes regardless of the seasonal variations of the components used.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method of preparing a cheesecake filling is provided that significantly and consistently reduces or eliminates the appearance of cracks and other defects on the surface and/or in the body of the filling upon baking. The method furthermore significantly and consistently reduces the occurrence of the stadium effect to within acceptable limits. These advantageous attributes are provided while still retaining the overall texture, taste, and organoleptic properties that the consuming public finds acceptable and pleasing. Indeed, because this methods allows the production of cheesecakes using only high quality cream cheese, the resulting cheesecakes are generally superior to other commercially available cheesecakes. Moreover, by allowing the cheesecakes to be prepared using only a single, high quality cream cheese, avoids the need to stock two or more cream cheese products and the need to blend the cream cheese products. The method includes the steps of: (1) providing a cream cheese curd containing from about 6.0 to about 8.0 percent protein, from about 33 to about 37 percent fat, and from about 52.5 to about 55 percent moisture; (2) blending the cream cheese curd with cream and non-fat dry milk to prepare a cream cheese blend having a protein/fat ratio in the range of 0.182 to 0.186, wherein the cream cheese blend contains about 70 to about 90 percent cream cheese curd, about 5 to 25 percent cream, and about 0.5 to about 2.5 percent non-fat dry milk; (3) preparing a cheesecake filling including the cream cheese blend, eggs, sugar, flour, milk, and flavorings; (4) introducing the cheesecake filling into a cheesecake crust to provide an unbaked cheesecake; and (5) dry baking the unbaked cheesecake to provide the baked cheesecake. More preferably, the method includes the steps of: (1) providing a cream cheese curd containing from about 6.1 to about 7.6 percent protein, from about 34 to about 36 percent fat, and from about 52.5 to about 55 percent moisture; (2) blending the cream cheese curd with cream and non-fat dry milk to prepare a cream cheese blend having a protein/fat ratio in the range of 0.182 to 0.186, wherein the cream cheese blend contains about 70 to about 90 percent cream cheese curd, about 5 to 25 percent cream, and about 0.5 to about 2.5 percent non-fat dry milk; (3) preparing a cheesecake filling including the cream cheese blend, eggs, sugar, flour, milk, and flavorings; (4) introducing the cheesecake filling into a cheesecake crust to provide an unbaked cheesecake; and (5) dry baking the unbaked cheesecake to provide the baked cheesecake. Preferably, the cheesecake filling contains about 63 to about 68 percent cream cheese blend, about 8 to about 15 percent eggs, about 1 to about 5 percent milk, and about 10 to about 20 percent flavorings (e.g., vanilla or lemon at about 0 to about 1 percent) and other ingredients (e.g., flour at about 1 to about 4 percent and/or sugar at about 10 to about 15 percent). More preferably, the cheesecake filling contains about 65 to about 67 percent cream cheese blend, about 14 to about 15 percent eggs, a
Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
Kraft Foods Inc.
Pratt Helen
LandOfFree
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