Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Heat treatment of food material by contact with glyceridic...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-31
2003-05-06
Corbin, Arthur L. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Heat treatment of food material by contact with glyceridic...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06558724
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
Typical products
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which are treated in the fryer
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include, for example, onion rings as well as other vegetables; meats such as chicken and beef as well as fish. These food products as choice can be first dipped in a viscous batter and then covered with a layer of bread crumbs or similar coating which adheres to the batter, thus increasing the weight of the product. Unless handled carefully in the cooking operation, a portion of the breading or other coating will not adhere to the product and will fall into the cooking oil which is undersirable as discussed above. Desribed below are steps which materially reduce the amount of brad and batter material stripped from the product through the cooking operation when such products are so breaded.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A number of successfully marketed food products, chicken, beef, fish, filled dough, vegetables, etc. sometimes are prepared by coating or battering the product and covering the coating with bread crumbs or the like and frying thereafter. During the frying step in which the product is either partially or fully cooked, it is highly desirable that as much of the breading or other coating be retained on the product and that a very minimum of the coating slough off into the cooking oil. When particles of the coating break away from the product, this results in a lower production yield and the fines sloughed off contaminate the frying oil. These breading and product fines must be removed from the frying medium on a regular basis to avoid degrading the cooking oil to a point where it must be supplemented by a higher quality oil or else removed for recycling. This event places a high economic burden on control of the cooking oil as well as control on the battered and breaded product. Maintaining a balance between product yield and oil quality has been a challenge which faced food processors over a long period of time. This is true as well of the non breaded and battered products that comprises the bulk of the market.
Prior art equipment and techniques were developed in attempts to minimize the removal of breading or other coatings from the underlying food product. In the conventional hot oil cooking fryer substantial turbulence or “boil” is generated when the relatively cold uncooked food product is dropped into the hot cooking oil. This turbulence contributed to removal of portions of coatings and continued to a lesser degree as the product is conveyed through and cooked in the hot oil bath. To overcome this undesirable effect food processors turned to cooking the products in batch cookers where the relative motion between the product and the cooking oil would be quite low, although the initial turbulence or “boil” was always present. Other procedures involved cooking in ovens after applying an oil spray coating as a preparatory step to the oven cooking. Gentle handling of the coated product while cooking was a desired goal but rarely achieved to complete satisfaction for high product yields with high production output.
It is highly desirable to minimize the relative motion between the bread and battered product and the cooking medium, whether the cooking medium is cooking oil or a process cooking vapor. This is evident because a rapidly moving cooking medium is more than likely the cause of portions of the bread coating to be removed from the product which thereby reduces the yield on the one hand and produces contamination of the cooking medium on the other.
Where the choice is made to cook a breaded and batter product in cooking oil there are substantial advantages in using the minimum practical amount or volume of cooking oil. However where the product fryer has a large bath of cooking oil, the large air-oil surface and the consequent exposure of the cooking oil to air causes the oil to degrade. Replacement of the complete oil bath or make-up oil must be supplied to maintain or uphold the desired cooking oil quality. Shoed the oil degrade significantly, there will be caused an “off taste” to be imparted to the product. This must be guarded against to avoid product rejection for quality control reasons as well as to postpone the costly replacement of the degraded oil. In the prior art use of a reduced volume of cooking oil has been thought to be impractical where high product output is the goal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION AND OBJECTS
In summary, the invention is comprised of an improved fryer for treating a food product with hot cooking oil gently dispensed from above onto the food product. The food products are normally mechanically delicate. The fryer is comprised of a housing defining an enclosed cooking zone and having exhaust vents for withdrawing cooking vapors and odors therefrom. A main endless conveyor with variable speed drive is provided for transporting the food product through the cooking zone and includes a conveyor belt through which cooking oil may flow freely. A submerger conveyor may be provided arranged superimposed on the main conveyor, for submerging products which tend to float. A plurality of cooking oil inlet distribution stations are spaced longitudinally apart along said main conveyor and are arranged above the product carrying conveyor belt a distance sufficient to permit the product to pass thereunder. The cooking oil distribution stations extend substantially the full-width of the conveyor belt for treating the food products as they are carried through the fryer housing. Each cooking oil inlet distribution station includes a cooking oil reservoir of relatively small surface area exposed to the steam/air atmosphere and equipped with at least one overflow weir permitting the cooking oil to flow there over in an unbroken vertical curtain downwardly onto and over such food product carried upon the conveyor belt. A cooking oil feed conduit serves to supply each cooking oil distribution station, the feed conduit having multiple discharge openings disposed in the reservoir below the atmosphere-oil surface level so that as oil flows over as the weir in a curtain enrobing the product, the reservoir is resupplied with oil beneath the oil liquid level.
Another feature permits cooking a product while it is fully submerged in cooking oil in which application the distribution station provides for the gentle return to the fryer of the externally heated cooking oil while maintaining a substantially uniform oil temperature along the length of the fryer.
In another aspect the invention comprises an improved process for treating a food product such as one which typically carries a pre-cook coating that is fragile and easily dislodged if safeguards are not taken, comprising the steps of providing a fryer having an endless conveyor including a conveyor belt through which oil can flow freely, and providing a volume of cooking oil in the fryer, and maintaining the oil level such that the food products carried on the conveyor are not completely submerged in the cooking oil, placing such food products with the fragile coating on the conveyor at a loading station for treatment in the fryer, then moving the food products towards an unloading station while dispensing from above the conveyor and onto the product at least one smooth, flowing curtain of hot oil, and controlling the oil flow so that it flows downwardly, continuously in a curtain of oil covering coating and enveloping the food product on the conveyor sometimes referred to as an “enrobing” process—and then removing the treated food product from the fryer at the unloadig station.
A general object of the invention is to provide an improved breaded products fryer for continuously processing a breaded and battered product that is fragile by applying cooking oil to the product from dispensing stations arranged above the product such that the oil will free fall in a curtain onto the product and cook the product in an enrobing action.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved breaded products fryer of the type described wherein the volume of cooking oil utilized is substantially less than that in prior art fryers of si
Beitsayadeh Carl
Caridis Andrew A.
Murgel Leonardo P.
Silvester John
Corbin Arthur L.
Heat and Control Inc.
MacIntosh Donald N.
LandOfFree
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