Butchering – Mollusk – Bivalve opener
Patent
1997-11-19
2000-01-04
Little, Willis
Butchering
Mollusk
Bivalve opener
452 12, 452 14, A22C 2904
Patent
active
060103973
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to methods of processing bivalve molluscs, in particular to methods of processing involving heat treatment in which it is desirable to maintain the shells of the bivalve molluscs in a closed position.
BACKGROUND ART
Bivalve molluscs present particular difficulties for processors for reasons which are based on a number of factors. After bivalve molluscs are harvested from the sea and before they are cooked, they must generally be cleaned. For some bivalve molluscs, the process of removing byssus (or "debyssing") is also involved if the bivalve molluscs are to be acceptable to consumers. When bivalve molluscs have been removed from sea water, their storage life is limited, particularly after they have been debyssed. It is difficult to keep bivalve molluscs alive in a frozen or chilled state, but at the same time the bivalve molluscs must be kept alive until they are cooked if a high quality cooked product is to be obtained.
Accordingly, methods have been proposed for cooking and subsequently freezing the bivalve molluscs as soon as they have been removed from sea water (or shortly afterwards). When bivalve molluscs are heated, however, their shells open and their internal juices are lost. Since most of the taste and flavour of the bivalve molluscs is attributable to the internal juice, this presents a major disadvantage in cooking bivalve molluscs. It is highly preferred to cook the bivalve molluscs while maintaining the shell in a closed state so that the meat is cooked in the juices within the shell. The problems resulting from the opening of the shells are exacerbated because not only is the internal juice lost, but also the cooking medium robs the meat of much of its own flavour (bivalve molluscs are generally cooked in water or steam).
EP-A-0 242 183 describes a process for packing and treating mussels or other bivalve seafood wherein the bivalves are arranged in one or more layers in a heat-shrinkable plastics envelope. The bivalves are vacuum packed within the envelope and the envelope is preferably heat shrunk during vacuum packing. Thus, the bivalves are sealed within a plastics envelope in a closed state which allows them to be heated for partial or total cooking, followed by freezing. This process is disadvantageous because of the necessity of arranging the mussels in one or more layers within a plastics envelope or between two sheets of plastics material, and of carrying out the additional steps of vacuum packing and heat sealing the envelope or plastics sheets with the mussels inside.
Because the mussels are provided to the consumer vacuum packed in the envelopes within which they were cooked, envelopes must be prepared with individual portions of mussels inside, which slows down the process considerably and which leads to additional problems when the method is used in a mass processing facility.
EP-A-0 094 362 describes a process in which mussels are provided in a container with perforated walls and having internal perforated tubes. The container has a lid which can be screwed downwards in order to compact the mussels and inhibit them from opening. This container is placed in a pressurised cooking vessel (e.g. an autoclave) and the mussels are cooked in water or juice. The cooked mussels are frozen within the container and then removed. The juice in which the mussels were cooked is preferably frozen and supplied with the mussels as flavouring or cooking liquor (or it can be used in the preparation of mussel soup).
Although this method appears to more suitable for bulk processing of mussels than the method described in EP-A-0 242 183, the compaction achieved by screwing the lid onto the container is not sufficient to prevent the mussels from opening. This is recognised in the specification of EP-A-0 094 364, which states that the lid serves the dual purpose of partially preventing the opening of the mussels, and of immersing the mussels below the cooking water or juice.
In any event, the fact that juice is lost from the shells is considered in the speci
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patent: 4141114 (1979-02-01), Carlson
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patent: 4924555 (1990-05-01), Gifford
patent: 5261854 (1993-11-01), Eiriksson
Adams Thomas Mayne
Holland John Martin
Murphy John Joseph
Gearhies Investments Limited
Hooper Kevin C.
Lipka Robert J.
Little Willis
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