Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Basic ingredient is starch based batter – dough product – etc.
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-05
2001-02-13
Tran, Lien (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Basic ingredient is starch based batter, dough product, etc.
C426S094000, C426S451000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06187364
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an alimentary product, particularly a pasta product, which includes a filling, and more particularly to a lasagne product, which is prepared and provided for cooking for preparation of a meal.
Conventionally, lasagne are made from sheets of pasta which, cooked or un-cooked, raw or dehydrated, are layered with sauce between the layers, arranged in a baking tray. Depending on the size of the tray, each pasta layer may be constituted of one or more sheets of pasta abutting or slightly overlapping. Normally, the sauce is tomato, béchamel or cheese sauce, meat and tomato sauce or a combination thereof. The layered product is then baked in an oven.
Frozen lasagne are available as a ready meal. Such products are prepared in the tray in a conventional oven or by microwave heating in a microwave oven.
A continuous lasagne production process is disclosed in our European patent EP 0 643 915 B1. In this process, strands of pasta are continuously extruded and layered with sauce so as to form lasagne. The continuous strands of lasagne are subsequently cut into lasagne of suitable size. The lasagne may be inserted into trays which provide support for storage, freezing and re-heating or baking etc. Alternatively, the lasagne may be individually frozen and then packed.
In general, when a lasagne is made by layering pasta and sauce or other filling in a tray, the sauce or other filling constitutes the bottom layer of the lasagne. In the continuous production of lasagne the bottom layer of the lasagne is a pasta sheet. For certain cooking or heating methods this may be undesirable as the pasta may tend to adhere to the tray or surface on which it is heated or baked. Furthermore, cooking or heating of said bottom pasta sheet will differ from the heating or cooking of pasta sheets abutting sauce or other filling giving a harder texture of the bottom pasta sheet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has surprisingly been found that it may be possible to provide an alimentary product comprising pasta and a filling, e.g. a lasagne, with an edible coating and that this coating may limit the adhering of the pasta to a cooking surface such as a baking or cooking tray, etc. For example, a sauce-coated lasagne according to the invention, may provide an easy-release product that does not stick to the cooking or baking tray in which it is heated or cooked.
Furthermore, it has been found that by providing an alimentary product comprising pasta and a filling, e.g. lasagne, the life of the product may be increased due to the preserving effect of the encapsulation. Thus, it has been found that the encapsulation may serve both the purpose of prolonging the life of the alimentary product and improve the cooking properties.
In addition, it has been observed that it may be possible to provide such an edible coating by immersing or dipping said product, e.g. a non-baked lasagne, into a liquid coating base before freezing it. The immersing or dipping may be done without any substantial escape of the filling from the filling/pasta laminate of the lasagne.
Accordingly, the invention provides an individually frozen alimentary product comprising pasta and a filling, said alimentary product includes an edible coating substantially encapsulating the pasta and filling, the coating being effective to reduce attachment between the alimentary product and a cooking surface.
The alimentary products comprising pasta and a filling are, e.g. products such as lasagne, ravioli, tortellini, cannelloni, etc., or other products wherein pasta and a filling is combined, for example, products wherein a filling is encapsulated in a pasta sheet or wherein the pasta forms an open casing for the filling or wherein the pasta sheets are layered with the filling.
The present invention also provides a process for making an alimentary product comprising pasta and a filling, comprising the steps of providing an alimentary product comprising pasta and a filling, substantially encapsulating the pasta and the filling in an edible coating which is effective to reduce attachment between the alimentary product and a cooking surface, and then the encapsulated product is frozen. Additionally, the pasta and filling product may be frozen and then coated and further frozen.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the edible coating is made from a liquid coating base. It is applied onto the product by immersing the product into the liquid coating. The liquid coating base is advantageously a sauce, preferably a sauce selected from the group consisting of cheese sauce and béchamel sauce with or without milk, tomato sauce and vegetable sauce, or a combination thereof. The sauce may or may not comprise pieces of meat, fish or vegetables, etc. Other sauces are sauces based on meat or fish stock or gravy. Consequently, it is possible to provide an edible coating of a sauce which is conventionally used for pasta products such as lasagne and cannelloni. The advantages of the invention may therefore be obtained without changing the taste and the recipe of the pasta product.
Conveniently, the pasta in the alimentary product is blanched pasta. However, it is possible that the pasta may be raw or dehydrated. The cooking time of the lasagne may have to be adjusted accordingly.
Generally, an amount of 100 to 400 grams of liquid coating per kilo of the alimentary product (i.e., from 10% to 40% liquid coating by weight) is sufficient, with about 200 to 400 grams per kilo (i.e., from 20% to 40% liquid coating by weight) being preferred, more preferred 300 to 400 grams (i.e., from 30% to 40% liquid coating by weight). For a 40 to 60 grams alimentary product the coating constitutes from 30 to 40% of the total weight of the product. It will be apparent that the amount of coating necessary for providing a suitable encapsulation will depend on the geometry of the product.
In order to obtain an appropriate adhering of the liquid coating base the viscosity thereof is preferably less than 2 cgr. Bostwick (60 sec at 15° C.). A preferred cheese sauce has a viscosity of 10 cgr Bostwick (60 sec at 60° C.). The freezing of the alimentary product fixes the coating.
Conveniently, the coating is from 0.5 to 5 mm thick, preferably from 1 to 3 mm thick. For certain embodiments of the invention it is preferred that the coating is 2 to 5 mm thick, more preferred 3 to 5 mm thick.
The method of providing an alimentary product according to the present invention may be particularly suitable for providing coated segments of alimentary products. Such coated segments of alimentary products may advantageously be prepared in accordance with the method of preparation described in our co-pending European patent application (and its counterpart U.S. application Ser. No. 09/092,167.) with the title “Alimentary Product With Pasta Layers” and filed on the same date as this application (European and U.S.), and the contents of the European application and of the U.S. application Ser. No. 09/092,167 are incorporated herein by reference for disclosure of preferred ways of preparing meals from coated alimentary products according to the invention. For preparation in pan, such as is disclosed in the noted European application (and its noted U.S. counterpart application) application, the weight of the lasagne segment is preferably from 20 to 80 grams, preferably from 40 to 60 grams.
It may be desirable to provide the upper surface of the segments with a browning or gratin. For this, the upper layer of lasagne is e.g. coated with a cheese or cheese sauce and passed beneath a grill or another type of heating element. Instead of such an upper cheese sauce or as a compliment thereto, a grated cheese topping may be provided. Furthermore, colouring agents may be used to enhance the colour of the top surface of the lasagne.
A particularly suitable way of providing the edible coating is by immersing the pasta with filling in a liquid coating base. This may advantageously be done by passing the product on a perforated conveyer through a batter applicator. It has been foun
Nestec S.A.
Tran Lien
Vogt & O'Donnell, LLP
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