WO2004105507A1

WO2004105507A1 - Microwaveable raw food product comprising a suspending agent

Info

Publication number: WO2004105507A1
Application number: PCT/GB2004/002259
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bill Scott; James Donoghue
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-05-30
Filing date: 2004-05-26
Publication date: 2004-12-09
Anticipated expiration: 2005-11-30
Also published as: GB2417666A; GB2417666B; GB0312386D0; GB0524493D0

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a microwaveable raw food product, comprising the steps of: (a) mixing a suspending agent with a heated aqueous media to form a viscous solution or suspension; and (b) mixing at least one raw ingredient into the 10 viscous solution or suspension to form the microwaveable raw food product. The invention further relates to a method of manufacturing a cooked product; the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a raw microwaveable product produced by the methods of the invention; and (b) heating the product in a microwave oven for a period of time sufficient to cook substantially all of the raw product.

Description

MICROWAVEABLE RAW FOOD PRODUCT COMPRISING A SUSPENDING AGENT

Field of the invention

This invention relates to methods of manufacturing raw microwavable food products, food products prepared by and methods manufacturing cooked products.

Background to the invention

Microwave cooking of foodstuffs is well known. Microwave cooking of food and beverages has been practiced for a long time, in particular on smaller foods stuffs having relatively large surface areas to volume ratios, and into which microwaves during cooking may extend entirely.

Many people cook unrefined single foodstuffs such as eggs, vegetables and the like in a microwave without any prior preparation or additives.

Many foods manufactures also provide microwaveable meals in which pre-cooked ingredients are combined together and packaged in a suitable container ready to be either inserted directly into a microwave and reheated or transferred to a suitable vessel in a user's home and then reheated in a microwave. In each case, the foodstuff is pre-cooked, and the microwave cooking simply re-heats the pre-cooked foodstuff, with the cooking time adjusted to ensure total heating of the food-stuff all the way through the product.

Many pre-cooked foods which are arranged to be re-heated in a microwave comprise a liquid suspension element in the form of a sauce, in which a thickening agent has been added. However, upon re-heating the product by a home user, the thickening agent tends to come out of suspension in the product and migrates or falls towards the bottom of the container in which the product is located and/or the bottom of the product. Thus a situation tends to arise wherein the product is re-heated but a sticky and gelatinous mass forms towards the bottom of the product, leaving the upper areas of the product more fluid and solid free. Not only can this be aesthetically displeasing, but the taste characteristics will vary from region to region in the products, sometimes leading to the more fluid or viscous regions becoming unpalatable. Furthermore, if the thickening agent and other solids come out of suspension and migrate towards the bottom, the more solid region towards the bottom of the product may become burnt .

The likelihood of solids falling out of suspension in raw products is even greater than in pre-cooked products. One reason for this problem is that thickening agents and other solids which are suspended within uncooked food products may need heating to provide a thickening effect and/or react to other ingredients to thicken the food products. Microwave cooking can exacerbate the migration of solids from raw suspensions, and thus lead to unsatisfactory microwave cooked products, having the same undesirable characteristics or worse characteristics of those described above for pre-cooked products.

It would therefore be advantageous to provide a method of manufacturing a raw microwaveable food product, which may then be cooked in a conventional microwave oven, and in which solids suspended within the food product do not substantially fall out or migrate of suspension. It would furthermore be advantageous to provide a microwaveable food product which could be subjected to freezing before or after cooking in a conventional microwave oven, and which does not exhibit migrational fallout of solid matter from suspensions within the food product during freezing and/or cooking.

It is therefore an aim of preferred embodiments of the present invention to overcome or at least mitigate at least one problem of the prior art, whether expressed herein or not .

Summary of the invention

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method of manufacturing a microwavable raw food product, comprising the steps of: (a) mixing a suspending agent with a heated aqueous media to form a viscous solution or suspension; and

(b) mixing at least one raw ingredient into the viscous solution or suspension to form the microwaveable raw food product .

The suspending agent may be any suitable agent which, effects thickening, emulsifying, viscosity enhancing or gelling of the mixture to form the viscous solution or suspension. The suspending agent may be a solid, liquid, gas or microorganism.

Suitable solids include gums, such as guar gum, xanthan gum, agar, carrageenan, locust (carob) bean gum, pectin, alginates, ghatti gum, konjae gum, tragacanth, psyllium powder, or husks, colophany resin, enzymes and peptides, for example.

Suitable micro-organisms include bacteria such as lactobacillus strains, including lactobacillus lactis, lactobacillus deibruectii, lactobacillus amidophilis, lactobacillus casei and the like, and bifidobacterium strains such as bifidobacterium bifidum, bifidobacterium langum and the like.

Suitably the aqueous media is water.

When the suspending agent is a non-biological agent, suitably it is mixed with the aqueous media, at or near boiling point of the aqueous media.

When the suspending agent is a biological agent, such as an enzyme, peptide or micro-organism, suitably the suspending against is mixed with the aqueous media, with the aqueous media at an elevated temperature which does not denature, degrade, deactivate or kill the biological agent .

Mixing the suspending agent and aqueous media may be performed by any suitable method, such as stirring, agitating or sonicating for example. Suitably the viscous solution or suspension formed in step (a) is a gel and the suspension agent is a gelling agent.

Preferably the suspending agent is mixed with the aqueous media at a w/w ratio between 0.1:100 and 10:100, more preferably between 0.5:100 and 5:100 and most preferably between 1:100 and 3:100, w/w.

There may be a step between steps (a) and (b) of cooling the mixture to a desired temperature, preferably ambient temperature .

Alternatively, the mixture may be cooled below ambient temperature, for example in a refrigerator.

Further ingredients may be added to the aqueous media during mixing in step (b) . Suitable optional ingredients include saccharides, thickening agents and the like, for example. Suitable saccharides include monosaccharides disaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides . Suitable polysaccharides include starch and maltodextrin for example. Suitable thickening agents include flour, such as corn flour for example. Starch may of course act as thickening agent as well as being a polysaccharide.

Step (b) may comprise mixing a plurality of raw ingredients into the viscous suspension.

Suitable raw ingredients which may be mixed into the viscous solution or suspension during step (b) include one or more raw ingredients preferably selected from the following groups:

(a) herbs and spices; (b) vegetables and fruits;

(c) beans, pulses, cereals, rice and flour;

(d) fish, meat, game, poultry and seafood;

(e) milk and milk products; (f) water and aqueous media;

(g) salt and pepper;

(h) thickening agents.

Preferably step (b) comprises mixing at least one ingredient from groups (d) and (h) into the viscous solution or suspension more preferably at least one ingredient from group (d) , (e) and (h) , and most preferably at least one ingredient from groups (a) , (d) ,

(e) and (h) .

Of course, any suitable combination of ingredients and group of ingredient from group (a) - (g) , or any other suitable food ingredient, may be combined and mixed into the viscous solution or suspension to provide microwaveable raw food products of differing styles, cuisines and consistencies, for example.

The method may comprise of step(c) of freezing the microwaveable food product . By "freezing" we mean lowering the temperature of the product sufficiently to involve solidification of substantially of all the ingredients in the product, especially any water or aqueous media present .

Thus preferably step (c) comprises lowering the temperature of the product to 0°C or lower, preferably no more than - 5°C, more preferably no more than -10°C and most preferably no more than -15°C. It has been found that by firstly creating a viscous solution or suspension of the suspending agent and aqueous media then mixing in raw ingredients, a microwaveable raw product is formed in which the ingredients of the product are uniformly suspended throughout the product, and which remain uniformly suspended until freezing and subsequent thawing and/or cooking of the product . Thus a freezer stable, uniform product is provided comprising raw ingredients. Furthermore, the product can be microwaved and still retain uniform suspension of substantially all of the ingredients within the product, due to the provision of a viscous suspension of suspending agent in aqueous media.

The production of the viscous solution or suspension before mixing in raw ingredients enables the raw ingredients and especially any thickening agents, to be retained throughout the product during cooking without the thickening agent falling out of solution or suspension during cooking .

In especially preferred embodiments of the method of the first aspect of this invention, the method comprises the steps of:

(a) mixing a prescribed quantity of the suspending agent to a prescribed quantity of heated aqueous media, to form a gel; and

(b) mixing at least one thickening agent and one raw ingredient selected from raw meat, raw fish, raw poultry raw game and raw shellfish, into the gel to form the microwaveable raw food product. According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a raw microwaveable food product produced by the method of the first aspect of the invention.

The raw microwaveable product may be located in any suitable packaging. Preferably the raw microwaveable product is packaged in plastics packaging and is more preferably packaged in plastics packaging which has been vacuum sealed, or vacuum packed. The plastics packaging may be located in a sleeve, preferably a plastic or cardboard sleeve, or a mixture thereof.

Preferably the raw microwaveable product is cooked in its packaging. The packaging is preferably water-tight sealed or partially sealed in order that during microwave cooking, steam produced from heated water within the product is retained in the packaging, thus contributing to cooking of the product .

Suitably the packaging comprises indicia thereon preferably comprising instructions to a user on how to heat and/or cook the product .

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a method of manufacturing a cooked product; the method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a raw microwaveable product produced by the first aspect of the invention; and

(b) heating the product in a microwave oven for a period of time sufficient to cook substantially all of the raw product . The period of time of step (b) will vary depending on the ingredients present in the raw product produced by the method of first aspect of the invention and the power of the microwave oven, but may generally be between 30 seconds and 1 hour.

Suitably steps (a) comprises providing a portion of the raw microwaveable product of a size or amount sufficient to fit into a domestic microwave oven.

Examples

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how embodiments of the same may be put into affect, the various aspects of the invention will be described by way of example only.

Example 1

A raw microwaveable food product is prepared by the following method.

1 gram of a suspending agent comprising a 50:50 w/w mixture of guar gum and xanthan gum is rapidly stirred into 100 grams of water at or near its boiling point (100°C) to form a gel. Optionally, to the stirred mixture, 20 grams of maltodextrin is added, again at or near the boiling point of the stirred mixture.

The stirred gel mixture is then allowed to cool to ambient temperature, preferably 25°C or less. As the mixture cools, the guar gum/xanthan gum suspending agent acts as a gelling agent to form a viscous water based gel before and during cooling. The amount of guar gum/xanthan gum suspending agent is such that a gel forms which is viscous enough such that further ingredients added to the gel will be substantially retained in the area of the gel to which they are added, but substantially fluid enough such that ingredients may be added to the gel and mixed into the gel to any desired region.

To the prepared gel, desired ingredients are then added and mixed into the gel by stirring, in order to evenly distribute the desired ingredients throughout the gel.

In this embodiment, cream, a thickening agent in the form of corn flour, raw onion, raw tomatoes, milk powder, white wine, pesto, olive oil, raw red peppers and desired herbs and spices are added to the gel. All the ingredients are mixed into the gel until they have been evenly distributed. Chunks of raw chicken are then added and mixed evenly.

34Og of the raw microwaveable food product prepared in this manner is placed in a suitable container for packaging which comprises a plastic container. The container is sealed so that it is airtight, and then stored in any desired manner. The manner of storage will depend on the product, but may include refrigeration, freezing or storage at ambient temperatures.

When the product contains raw fish, meat, poultry, game or shellfish a preferred manner of storage is freezing.

Preferably the raw microwaveable food product is frozen to less than 5°C, and preferably less than 15°C in order to ensure minimal growth of bacteria through the latter time of the storage.

The manufacture of the raw microwaveable food product by the method of the invention provides products which can be frozen to temperatures as low as or lower than minus 15°C, and in which the suspended solid components of the composition do not substantially migrate or drop out of mixture towards the bottom of the product or container in which it is located.

When it is desired to cook the raw microwaveable food product, the container is taken out of storage and either the container placed directly into a conventional microwave oven or the container transferred to a suitable microwaveable container. The container may comprise a film covering, which may be pierced before placing the container in the microwave oven. Cooking the product in its packaging, whether sealed or pierced, provides an opportunity for steam produced from microwaved water in the product to contribute to cooking the other ingredients in the product. The 340g of raw microwaveable food product is then cooked in the microwave oven for a prescribed period of time, preferably until the food products have been cooked substantially there through. For 34Og of the raw product of Example 1 the cooking time may be 1% minutes in a 600W microwave from chilled storage or 10 minutes in a 600W microwave from frozen storage. For higher power microwaves the cooking time will decrease accordingly. The food may then be removed from the microwave and container for serving, or may be left in its packaging, or placed in a separate container for further storage, including freezing. Alternatively the raw microwaveable food products may be removed from its storage container and transferred to a suitable container for conventional oven cooking or any other conventional cooking techniques.

The method of manufacturing the raw microwaveable food product, enables the food product to then be cooked in a microwave oven as described above or any other conventional cooking techniques, without the suspended solid components migrating or falling out of suspension during cooking of the products. Furthermore, once cooked the product may be frozen, or refrozen if desired, without detrimental effect to the consistency of the product and again without the suspended components substantially migrating or falling out of suspension.

Example 2

The method described herein above for Example 1 was repeated using the same guar gum/xanthan gum composition in water in the first step of the method, and further including maltodextrin during the first step. In this example the ingredients mixed with the gel after the formation of the gel, and subsequent cooling to ambient temperature are herbs and spices, cream, white wine, raw vegetables, salt and pepper, and raw chicken.

34Og of the raw microwaveable food product obtained under the method of Example 2 is then placed in a plastics container comprising a polyester bag, which has a vacuum applied therethrough before sealing. The sealed product was then stored in a freezer for one month (for example) at minus 18°C before being removed from the freezer, the container then being placed in a microwaveable receptacle and microwaved in a conventional microwave oven.

During storage and freezing, and before, during and after cooking in the microwave oven, the product maintains essentially all solids suspended evenly throughout the product, and therefore substantially no solids migrate or drop out of suspension during any of the steps of preparation, storage or cooking.

Attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.

All of the features disclosed in this specification

(including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features . The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment (s) . The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of manuf cturing a microwaveable raw food product, comprising the steps of: (a) mixing a suspending agent with a heated aqueous media to form a viscous solution or suspension; and

2. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the suspending agent is any suitable agent which effects thickening, emulsifying, viscosity-enhancing or gelling of the mixture to form the viscous solution or suspension.

3. A method as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 wherein the suspending agent is a solid, liquid, gas or microorganism.

4. A method as claimed in Claim 3 wherein the solid is selected from a gum, husk of a natural product, colophany resin, an enzyme and a peptide.

5. A method as claimed in Claim 3 wherein the microorganism is bacteria.

6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the aqueous media is water.

7. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein, when the suspending agent is a non-biological agent, it is mixed with the aqueous media at or near boiling point of the aqueous media.

8. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the viscous solution or suspension formed in step (a) is a gel and the suspension agent is a gelling agent.

9. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the suspending agent is mixed with the aqueous media at a w/w ratio between 0.1:100 and 10:100.

10. A method as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising a step, between steps (a) and (b) , of cooling the mixture to a desired temperature.

11. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 1-9 wherein the mixture is cooled below ambient temperature.

12. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein further ingredients are added to the aqueous media during mixing in step (b) .

13. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein step (b) comprises mixing a plurality as raw ingredients into the viscous suspension.

14. A method as claimed in Claim 13 wherein the raw ingredients which may be mixed into the viscous solution or suspension during step (b) include one or more raw ingredients preferably selected from the following groups:

(a) herbs and spices;

(b) vegetables and fruits ,-

(c) beans, pulses, cereals, rice and flour; (d) fish, meat, game, poultry and seafood;

(e) milk and milk products;

(f) water and aqueous media;

(g) salt and pepper; (h) thickening agents

15. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein step (b) comprises mixing at least one ingredient from groups (d) and (h) into the viscous solution or suspension.

16. A method as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising a step (c) freezing the food product.

17. A method as claimed in Claim 16 wherein step (c) comprises lowering the temperature of the product to at least -10^°C.

18. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the method comprises the steps of:

(b) mixing at least one thickening agent and one raw ingredient selected from raw meat, raw fish, raw poultry, raw game and raw shellfish, into the gel to form the microwaveable raw food product .

19. A food product produced by the method of any one of Claims 1-18.

20. A raw microwaveable food product as claimed in Claim 19, located in any suitable packaging.

21. A food product comprising the raw microwaveable food product of either of Claims 19 or 20, cooked in its packaging.

22. A raw microwaveable food product as claimed in either of Claims 19 or 20 wherein the packaging is water-sealed or partially sealed in order that during microwave cooking, steam produced from heated water within the product is retained in the packaging.

23. A method of manufacturing a cooked product; the method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a raw microwaveable product of any one of Claims 19 to 22 or produced by the method of any one of Claims 1 to 18; and

(b) heating the product in a microwave oven for a period of time sufficient to cook substantially all of the raw product.

24. A method as claimed in Claim 23 wherein the period of time of step (b) is between 30 seconds and 1 hour.