HK1023039A - Culinary aid in form of a bar - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a bar-type cooking aid, a process for its preparation and a facility for the implementation of the process.

US-A-4060645 (Risler et al.) describes a dehydrated product in the form of instantly water-soluble grains that have a continuous porous texture and a smooth surface that can be obtained by extruding in a subatomic pressure enclosure a food material including, for example, fruit, vegetable or seed extracts, starches, gums or alginates, meat, fish or yeast extracts, and/or protein hydrolysates.

US-A-4946693 (Risler et al.) describes a food product consisting of a dehydrated mass in the form of powdered or flaked milk, fats, gelatinized starch, meat and vegetable extracts or protein hydrolysates, for example, and a topping of partially dehydrated pieces of pasta, meat or vegetables, for example, with this topping packaged separately.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a culinary aid in an attractive individual form with visually identifiable pieces of vegetables, meat or other filling, fat and powdery flavoring, for example, in its mass.

For this purpose, the bar-type cooking aid according to the present invention is in the form of an irregular surface bar and comprises 8-50% by weight of visual elements contained in a cement composed of 15-35% fat and 20-70% dehydrated base.

Similarly, the process of preparing a bar-type cooking aid according to the present invention includes the successive steps of mixing the visual elements with the melted fat and the dehydrated base, forming a lower of the resulting mixture, cutting and cooling.

Finally, the device for implementing the process of preparing a bar-type cooking aid according to the present invention comprises a device for mixing the visual elements with the melted fat and the dehydrated base, a device for forming a lower of the resulting mixture, a cutting device and a cooling device.

The cooking aid according to the present invention actually presents all the desired ingredients in a single attractive appearance bar due to the visual elements or identifiable pieces in its mass. The visual elements are simply cemented into it. The cooking aid has a loose structure and an ability to crumble easily which increases with the percentage of visual elements.

The process and device according to the present invention allows the preparation of this food aid in a simple manner and in a limited number of steps.

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The culinary aid according to the present invention therefore comprises 8-50% by weight of visual elements contained in a cement composed of 15-35% fat and 20-70% dehydrated base.

In this food aid, the visual elements may be dehydrated pieces of any foodstuff which may be considered as a filling.

These visual elements may in particular be pieces of one or more vegetables, fruits, herbs, meat, fish and/or crustaceans, spices and/or whole or crushed seeds, for example.

The fat may comprise at least one vegetable fat and/or one animal fat, hydrogenated or not and whether or not an antioxidant is added.

This fat should preferably be of a nature or composition that allows it to be frozen at room temperature, i.e. for example between about 20 and 30°C. Hydrogenated palm oil with a melting point of about 41 to 46°C is particularly suitable in this respect.

The dehydrated base may include foodstuffs in finely subdivided form, selected according to their ability to give the cooking aid, for example, an adequate flavour or texture.

This dehydrated base may include in particular flavouring agents such as sugars, salts, spices, fruit, vegetable or meat extracts, protein hydrolysates, yeast autolysates, Maillard reaction products or aromatic molecules, flavour enhancers such as 5'-nucleotides or glutamate and/or binders such as starches, maltodextrins, gum or alginates, for example.

Finally, the culinary aid may include technological additives such as lecithin, used to improve the plasticity of the initial mixture, for example.

To implement the method of preparing a cooking aid according to the present invention, the dehydrated base may be added to the melted fat, mixed and added to the visual elements at the end of mixing, for example.

Preferably the temperature of the mixture of the visual elements with the melted grease and the dehydrated base should be adjusted to such a value that it has plastic properties suitable for the formation of a low, without being too liquid or too hard.

A mixture lower can be formed by rolling and/or extrusion, for example, the main thing being that little pressure is applied to the mixture during the operation.

A mixture low can be formed by passing it between two or three adjacent cylinders and/or between a transfer table and one or two successive cylinders, the cylinders and/or table being preferably smooth and temperature-regulating, e.g. the temperature of the cylinders can be adjusted to a value between 35 and 50°C, and that of the table to a value between 10 and 40°C, e.g.

This can lead to a mixture drill of 5 to 30 mm thick, preferably 8 to 20 mm thick, for example.

The tape may be cut longitudinally to form strips of the desired bar width, e.g. 5 to 50 mm wide, preferably 15 to 30 mm, and then the strips may be cut transversely to obtain individual bars, e.g. 30 to 120 mm long.

In a particular embodiment of the present process, a tendency of the rod to crumble is reduced by spraying or coating with liquid grease or by re-forming the grease on the surface of the rod.

The bars can then be cooled, for example by passing them through a cooling tunnel in which air is circulated at 5-10°C.

In the installation for the implementation of the process of preparation of a cooking aid according to the present invention, the device for mixing the visual elements with the melted fat and the dehydrated base may include a blender, including a double-walled tape blender, for example.

A double-walled mixer can simultaneously serve as a device for adjusting the temperature of the mixture to an appropriate value, for example by circulating a heat transfer fluid at about 30-70°C.

The mixing device may be connected to the low-forming device by means of conveyor, preferably thermally controlled, such as a treadmill or Archimedean screw, the treadmill or screw protruding over a hopper supplying the low-forming device, for example.

The low-forming device may be of the laminating and/or extruding type and may comprise two or three adjacent cylinders and/or a transfer table topped by one or two successive cylinders, e.g. the cylinders and table being preferably smooth and thermally controlled.

The cutting device may include longitudinal cutting devices including, inter alia, rotary cutters mounted on a rotating transverse axis, such cutters rotating in longitudinal slots provided in a cutting table provided as an extension of the transfer table, for example.

These knives may include self-cleaning blades which rotate at very high speeds, for example at more than 3000 revolutions per minute.

The cutting device may also include means of cutting in cross-section, including a guillotine or a waterjet cutting system.

Finally, a cooling system may be provided in the form of a cold air circulation tunnel through which cooking aids can be transported by a conveyor belt which collects them at the exit of the cutting system, for example.

The apparatus for implementing the process of preparing a culinary aid according to the present invention is described below by reference to the attached drawing in which: • Figure 1 is a schematic view of a construction of the plant.

In the configuration shown in Figure 1, this installation consists of a mixing device (1.2), a low-forming device (5-9), a cutting device (10-14) and a cooling device (15).

The mixing device consists of a double-walled (1) ribbon (2) mixer, connected to the low-forming device by means of an Archimedean screw (3) leading above a feed hopper (4).

The low-forming device is of the laminar type and consists of two contiguous cylinders (5.6) followed by a transfer table (7) topped by two successive cylinders (8 and 9).

The cutting device is provided as an extension of the transfer table after the last rolling cylinder (9) and includes longitudinal cutting devices (10) and transverse cutting devices (12).

The longitudinal cutting means include rotating knives (10) mounted on a rotating transverse axis (11). These knives rotate in longitudinal slots provided in a cutting table made as an extension of the transfer table (7).

The means of cross-section include a guillotine (12).

The 13 individual bars cut from the strips by the guillotine are dropped onto a conveyor belt (14) which carries them through a cooling tunnel (15) with cold air circulation.

The bar-type cooking aid according to the present invention is intended to be used as a seasoning for cooking any food such as meat, vegetables or pasta. It is particularly suitable for marketing as a side dish to pasta or rice, especially as an side dish to oriental pasta, in the bag itself containing these pasta. Finally, it is also suitable for preparing light bouillons enriched with a colored filling.

The culinary aid according to the present invention and its preparation process are illustrated below by examples in which the percentages are given by weight.

Example 1

A cooking aid is prepared using a similar apparatus to that shown in Figure 1, except that a flat-rolled press marketed as FORMPRESS type GP by the German firm BEPEX-HUTT is used instead of the rolling mill-type apparatus shown.

In a mixer, the following ingredients are mixed, as % by weight of the mixture: - What?

Graisse de palme hydrogénée (point de fusion 44-46°C)	30%
Sel fin	43%
Glutamate de sodium	2%
Oignon blanc en poudre	9%
Agent aromatisant conférant le goût d'une viande	3%
Sirop de glucose	1%
Carottes déshydratées (6x6x2mm)	6%
Oignon lyophilisé (3x3x3mm)	4%
Persil feuille déshydraté	2%

To make this mixture, the hydrogenated palm oil is melted and brought to a temperature of 58.5°C. The temperature of the double wall of the blender is maintained at 50°C. The tape is rotated at 12 revolutions per minute. The ingredients are thus mixed for 12 min.

The mixture is made up of a sandy but cohesive mass with a temperature of 41.5°C.

The mixture is then cut into strips of 25 mm length, then cut into strips of 35 mm length and cooled to room temperature.

The resulting cookware is a rectangular bar with an irregular surface in which the coloured vegetables stand out well against a background of pale yellow cement.

Claims (10)

1. Cooking aid in the form of an irregular surface bar and comprising 8-50% by weight of visual elements contained in a cement composed of 15-35% fat and 20-70% dehydrated base.
2. Cooking aid according to claim 1, where the visual elements are dehydrated pieces of one or more vegetables, fruits, herbs, meat, fish and/or crustaceans, spices and/or whole or crushed seeds.
3. Cooking aid according to claim 1, in which the fat contains at least one vegetable fat and/or one animal fat, hydrogenated or not and whether or not an antioxidant is added, and is frozen at room temperature.
4. Cooking aid according to claim 1, in which the dehydrated base includes foodstuffs in finely divided form.
5. Method of preparation of a cooking aid according to one of the claims 1-4, including the successive steps of mixing the visual elements with the melted fat and the dehydrated base, the formation of a lower of the resulting mixture, cutting and cooling.
6. Processed according to claim 5, in which the temperature of the mixture of the visual elements with the melted grease and the dehydrated base is adjusted to a value such that it has adequate plastic properties for the formation of a low.
7. Procedure according to claim 6, in which the dehydrated base is added to the molten fat, mixed, the visual elements are added at the end of mixing, and the temperature of the mixture is adjusted to 35-45°C.
8. Installation for the implementation of the process of preparation of a cooking aid according to one of the claims 5-7, comprising a device for mixing the visual elements with the melted fat and the dehydrated base, a device for forming a lower of the resulting mixture, a cutting device and a cooling device.
9. Installation according to claim 8, where the downhole formation device is of the laminator and/or smooth cylinder extruder type.
10. Installation according to claim 8, where the cutting device includes longitudinal and transverse cutting means.