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...
Utility Patent
1998-09-30
2001-01-02
Brouillette, Gabrielle (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...
C426S129000, C426S315000, C426S392000, C426S642000, C426S645000, C426S647000
Utility Patent
active
06168822
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to a process for preparing meat products and, more particularly, to preparing a steak product typically made of ham having a bone placed in the center of the steak. More particularly, it is directed to a method for manufacturing such a product to simulate a natural product.
Bone-in steaks are a popular consumer food item and are served by many restaurants because of economy, efficiency, and ease of preparation. They are much preferred over the traditional way of preparing bone-in steaks wherein the center of a cured bone-in or semi-boneless ham is cut out and served. There are disadvantages in preparing and serving the product in this manner since there can be waste in the remaining portion of the steak because there is an insufficient amount of meat remaining to form additional servings of conventional size and configuration.
To meet the demand for an improved method of producing smaller sized but conventionally configured steaks, a process has been developed that includes separating the femur bone from a green bone-in ham and then processing the ham muscle in a conventional manner. A femur bone is then repositioned in the muscle, and the formed food product is then stuffed into a fibrous casing, cooked and smoked producing a uniformly shaped and sized ham product with a centered bone. It is then sliced into a bone-like ham steak portion of a consistent thickness, weight, and appearance.
This process has been an effective way of providing popularly sized and configured steaks for restaurants and the like, however, stuffing the product into fibrous casings before cooking is not entirely effective in removing air holes and voids in the product and binding the bone to the muscle and achieving a true whole muscle appearance. It is to this deficiency that the present invention is directed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The bone-in ham steak of the present invention is produced by separating the femur bone from a green bone-in ham and then processing the whole ham muscles in a conventional manner. The center segments of the femur bones are cut into shorter, more uniform lengths, and the lengths are then aligned and placed on the top of the bottom or outside ham muscle. Additional processed ham muscle is then positioned over the aligned bone segments, and the entire composite product is positioned in a hermetically sealed cook-in bag on a cook-in packaging machine. Approximately 0.5 percent lean meat is left on the femur bone to enhance bone adhesion to the ham muscle. The encased combination of bone and ham muscle is then cooked and smoked, producing a uniformly shaped and sized ham product with a centered bone. It is then sliced into bone-in ham steak portions of consistent thickness, weight, and appearance.
From the foregoing brief summary of the invention, it can be seen that a primary objective of the present invention is to provide a method for forming a ham steak with a uniformly centered bone and a true whole muscle appearance.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide a method to manufacture bone-in ham steaks in controlled portion sizes.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a ham steak in which the center, shank, and butt portions of the ham can be used.
Yet still a further objective of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a bone-in ham steak wherein some muscle is left on the bone to improve bone adhesion to the ham muscle and the bone is cured to further encourage bone adhesion to ham muscles.
Yet still a further objective of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing bone-in ham steaks that have a whole muscle appearance.
Yet still another further objective of the present invention is to provide a bone-in ham steak which is cooked and chilled in a form, fill, and seal packaging machine, is thereafter removed from the package, and thereafter cold smoked and chilled.
Thus, there has been outlined in summary form the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, obviously, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways.
It is also to be understood that the phraseology and terminology herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting in any respect. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the concept upon which this disclosure is based and that it may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the invention. It is also to be understood that the abstract is neither intended to define the invention or the application which is measured by the claims nor to limit its scope in any way.
This summary and these objectives of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages, and the specific objectives obtained by its use, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3363395 (1968-01-01), King
patent: 4303452 (1981-12-01), Ohira et al.
patent: 4378379 (1983-03-01), Liesaus
patent: 4948610 (1990-08-01), Goglio
patent: 5344660 (1994-09-01), Stevison et al.
Davidson Dwight
Henley Jesse
Reicks John Alphonse
Brouillette Gabrielle
Kilpatrick & Stockton LLP
Mai Hao
Sara Lee Corporation
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