Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Soup – sauce – gravy or base
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-07
2001-01-09
Nessler, Cynthia L. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Soup, sauce, gravy or base
C426S516000, C426S524000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06171634
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to frozen culinary products and their preparation and particularly to products having a formulation which includes gelatinized starch and more particularly to products which have a formulation which includes gelatinized starch and a fat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,235 (Duckworth M./CAMPBELL FROZEN FOODS) describes a deep-frozen culinary product of the creamy soup type which can be consumed after microwave heating and which is obtained by mixing oil, starch, maltodextrin and water, heating the mixture until partial swelling of the starch is obtained, packaging in individual containers and freezing.
European Patent Application Publication No. 0,713,650 (SOCIET{acute over (E)} DES PRODUITS NESTL{acute over (E)}) describes a device for the manufacture of aerated frozen products of the ice cream or sorbet type comprising a twin screw rotating in a jacketed barrel cooled by circulating a cryogenic fluid, and conduits for injecting gas are provided in a middle region of the barrel.
German Patent Document No. 290251 (VEB KERAMISCHE WERKE) describes a process for cooling a culinary product which is pasty or in puree form with the aid of a device comprising a transporting screw with a hollow axis rotating in a jacketed barrel, a cryogenic fluid circulating in the axis and the barrel, the product being cooled in this device to close to its freezing point and then being cut into pieces before being frozen.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a deep-frozen creamy culinary product having a particularly unctuous texture after defrosting and an industrial process which is particularly efficient for manufacturing such a product.
To this effect, the deep-frozen culinary product according to the present invention has a water content of 60-85% by weight and comprises, in % by weight, 4-12% fat, 6-30% hydrated pregelatinized starch and 2.5-4% dehydrated pregelatinized starch.
In the process according to the present invention, a mixture comprising starch, water and fat is treated so as to pregelatinize and/or swell the starch, dehydrated pregelatinized starch is added thereto, the mixture is continuously frozen to a temperature of between −8° C. and −3° C., it is cut and/or it is formed into pieces and/or portions which are deep-frozen.
The product according to the present invention has a particularly unctuous texture in the mouth after defrosting. Surprisingly, it has a malleable texture after a relatively short microwave heating, especially after about 30-120 s and as soon as it has reached a temperature of between about −5° C. and 0° C.
The present process allows the efficient industrial manufacture of deep-frozen creamy culinary products of the sauce or mousse type presented in the form of pieces and/or portions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the product of the present invention, the fat may be an animal or vegetable edible oil such as a groundnut, sunflower, olive, palm or butter oil, or a solid fat which is spreadable at room temperature such as butter or margarine, or mixtures thereof, for example.
The starch may be obtained from any dietary starchy material, especially from a cereal such as wheat or maize, or from a tuber vegetable such as potato or yam, for example.
The hydrated pregelatinized starch may be a native or chemically or physically modified starch which has been pregelatinized or precooked and/or swollen in boiling water, for example, and is subsequently entrained into the composition of the present product.
The dehydrated pregelatinized starch may be a native or chemically or physically modified starch which has undergone pregelatinization or precooking followed by dehydration, for example.
The present product may comprise, in addition, in % by weight, up to 10% milk solids-not-fat, up to 60% vegetable pulp, up to 5% egg white or yolk solids, up to 5% spice and salt, for example.
The present product may be an overrun product which exhibits a percentage overrun (increase in volume relating to the nonwhipped mass) of about 40-120% by volume, for example.
In the present process, a mixture of starch, fat and water is treated so as to gelatinize and/or swell the starch. A mixture can thus be treated such that it incorporates only a portion, especially a portion of oil, of the fat allowed for in the final product, it being possible for another portion of this fat, especially a butter or margarine portion, to be added to the mixture after this treatment.
If the starch is native or modified but not pregelatinized, this treatment can be carried out by heating at a temperature greater than the starch gelatinization temperature, especially a temperature of 80-100° C., for a period of time which is sufficient to obtain the gelatinization of the starch, especially for 2-30 min, for example.
If the starch is pregelatinized and dehydrated, this treatment can be carried out by simple stirring of the mixture at room temperature, especially at 15-35° C., for a period of time sufficient for the starch to swell by reabsorbing a quantity of water comparable to that which it lost during its dehydration after pregelatinization, especially for 2-30 min, for example.
Dehydrated pregelatinized starch is added to the treated mixture. This dehydrated pregelatinized starch may be a native or chemically or physically modified starch which has undergone pregelatinization or precooking followed by dehydration, for example.
This dehydrated pregelatinized starch may be added to the treated mixture in a sufficient quantity, especially in an amount of 2.5-4% by weight, in order to confer on the present product the desired final viscosity which it will be able to acquire during defrosting, for example.
The mixture can be continuously frozen with the aid of an apparatus capable of mixing and transporting the mixture on and along a surface cooled by circulation of a cryogenic fluid, and provided with a device for injecting gas for the overrun, such as a scraped-surface heat exchanger or an extruder for the ice cream industry, for example.
The mixture is frozen to a temperature of between −8° C. and −3° C., namely a temperature where the mixture is still malleable and formable.
The mixture can be caused to acquire overrun during the freezing by injecting into the mixture an inert or noninert gas such as air, oxygen, nitrogen and/or carbon dioxide gas, up to a percentage overrun of about 40-120% by volume, for example.
During the continuous freezing stage, the structure of the gelatinized and/or swollen starch may be at least partially destroyed by a shearing stress exerted on the mixture during its mixing and transport on and along a cooled surface. The loss of viscosity which may result therefrom is counterbalanced by a gain in unctuosity, which adds to the smoothness in the mouth conferred by the fat.
A loss in viscosity can also be compensated for by the addition of dehydrated pregelatinized starch at the beginning of the freezing process, it being possible for this starch to escape shearing stress during the freezing due to the fact that it is not swollen or impregnated with water at the beginning and that it does not have time to swell during the freezing process, but it being possible for this starch to subsequently develop viscosity during defrosting of the product, or during its regeneration (hot sauce).
The mixture thus frozen can be continuously discharged in the form of a tube or a ribbon which can be cut and/or formed into pieces and/or portions with the aid of a cutting device such as a cutting wire and/or a forming device comprising moulding cells or individual or collective packagings of the desired shape, for example.
The pieces and/or portions can then be deep-frozen, especially in individual or collective packaging, to a traditional deep-freezing temperature such as a temperature of less than or equal to −20° C., for example.
The present product may be defrosted in any manner known to the housewife.
However, the present product is particularly well suited to micr
Marjanovic Nicolas
Morand Alfred
Moreau Jean
Nessler Cynthia L.
Nestec S.A.
Vogt & O'Donnell, LLP
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