Butchering – Crustacean – Shrimp processing
Patent
1990-08-09
1992-05-12
Little, Willis
Butchering
Crustacean
Shrimp processing
452 8, 452 15, A22C 2902
Patent
active
051122693
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a method for shelling crustaceous shellfish, especially shrimps and prawns, where the shrimps after having been boiled and cooled, are being heated and then exposed to a pressure reduction and are transported to strike against a surface of solid material so that the shells cf the shellfish are separated from the meat, and an apparatus intended for performing the method, where the apparatus comprises one pressure-tight sealable chamber provided with at least one valve, said chamber having an opening near the bottom for discharge of crustaceous shellfish and where in the connection with the apparatus there is furnished at least one in proportion to the direction of movement of the shellfish tilted rebound plate for separation of the shellfish's meat and shells.
Such a method and such an apparatus are known from DK patent application No. 2149/87 where the shellfish in a process plant after boiling and cooling, during which the shellfish absorb a large amount of water, are transported through a heating tun and after which they fall down into funnels, whose outlets lead to a vacuum chamber. Between the outlets and the chamber there are membrane valves which are opened and closed in a laid down stroke so that the shellfish in small amounts at a time fall down into the vacuum chamber. The liquid, or the meat juice, in the heated shellfish is brought to the boiling point by the vacuum treatment so that the shells are loosened from the meat and when the shellfish inside the chamber hit the rebound plates or similar, the shells are knocked off the meat of the shellfish. Then the meat and the shells fall down into a transport liquid which is sucked out through the bottom of the chamber. In a later process the shells are separated from the meat in a wind separation unit.
However, because of the vacuum treatment in connection with the liquid transport from the chamber, the meat looses part of the meat juice, which reduces the meat's quality of taste.
The purpose of this invention is to provide a procedure for shelling shellfish, such as shrimps, during which juice and taste from the meat is lost in a much lesser degree without the process thereby being slower and thus more expensive to utilize.
According to the invention, this is obtained by a procedure of the sort as stated in the introduction, a procedure which is distinctive because of the fact that the shellfish in portions in a pressure-tight chamber at the same time are being heated and exposed to an increase of pressure by the chamber having induced one or more warm and pressurized gases and/or wet steam, upon which the pressure reduction and the movement towards the surface of solid material is provoked by opening a valve in the chamber opposite the surface.
By using the procedure according to the invention, excess pressure is being used causing the gases in the chamber to penetrate the surface of the shellfish at the same time as juice and absorbed liquid from the boiling is being heated right under the shell. During the following equalizing of the pressure, the liquid and the juice boil coinciding with the shellfish being flung against a surface of a rebound plate, which stands in the path of the shellfish's movement out of the chamber. By using the method according to the invention, meat and shells may hereby be lead away without using a transport liquid.
It is preferred to perform the procedure as stated in claim 2, where the temperature of the steam and/or the gases is between 110.degree. and 150.degree. C., and where the volume of their absolute pressure ranges from 1.5 to 5 bar, equivalent to an overpressure of 0.5 to 4 bar. The stay in the pressure-tight chamber can hereby be reduced to less than 10 seconds.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the procedure is performed as mentioned in claim 3, where, in the pressure-tight chamber within max. 0.1 second by the use of dry saturated steam, a static overpressure is built up to a volume between 2.1 and 3.1 bar. Hereby an exceptional efficient shelling of the shellfish is obtai
REFERENCES:
patent: 2785435 (1957-03-01), Lapeyre et al.
patent: 3230578 (1966-01-01), Marvin et al.
patent: 4255834 (1981-03-01), Lambert
patent: 4313241 (1982-02-01), Comparetto
patent: 4951356 (1990-08-01), Delplanque
Petersen, deceased Frede H.
Sorensen Kaj A.
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