IE45790B1 - Process for the preparation of bacon analogue and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of preparation of a product similar to the streaky bacon and the product thus obtained. One can use pig, beef animal, others meats, poultry, fish or plant proteins, only or mixes some to constitute a crushed mixture of thin appearance and a crushed mixture of fatty appearance, these mixtures being able to be added with traditional products of coloring, aromatization and safeguarding and extruded sections jointly through a sector, to produce a plate presenting of the interlaced layers of fat and thin imitating the streaky bacon. Application to the production of a product imitating the streaky bacon. [FR2399215A1]

Description

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a process to form a bacon analogue and related meat products and the product formed thereby.

The only bacon analogue available prior to this invention, is a sausage meat type of product formed in a slab and sliced in a shape similar to the conventional bacon slice or vegetable protein simulated bacon strip.

However, it is obvious from the looks and taste of these products that they are not bacon and that they do not resemble bacon except for the shape of the slice.

It has long been desirable to produce a bacon analogue which will have the appearance and taste similar to bacon but which can be formed from products other than pork bellies and which can maintain a consistent lean/fat ratio.

The present invention overcomes these disadvantages by providing a bacon slab analogue which can be sliced in the usual way and which is similar in appearance and taste to a natural bacon slice, when fried.

According to the present invention a process of forming a bacon analogue and the like comprises the steps of preparing a comminuted fat component as hereinafter defined of edible material selected from pork, beef, other meats, poultry, fish and vegetable protein, preparing a comminuted lean component as - 2 45790 hereinafter defined selected from pork, beef, other meats, poultry, fish and vegetable protein, passing the fat component under pressure through a die and extruding the lean component under pressure at selected locations within said die to form a slab in which the orientation of the fat and lean components simulate the orientation of the fat and lean portions of a natural bacon slab, and processing the resultant slab.

A preferred embodiment of the invention may utilize conventional curing, seasoning and preserving materials within the mixture. With the process of the invention a bacon analogue may be produced in which the proportion of lean meat to fat can be controlled as desired.

The invention also includes a consolidated, composite meat product comprising an extruded slab having interleaved comminuted fat and lean components compressed and bound together, the fat component consisting of edible material selected from pork, beef, other meats, poultry, fish and vegetable protein, and the lean component being selected from pork, beef, other meats, poultry, fish and vegetable protein.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:Figure 1 is a schematic front elevation of one example of a slice of 20 bacon analogue; and Figure 2 is a schematic front elevation of a slice of bacon analogue showing a different arrangement of fat and lean meats.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

Dealing first with the illustration, reference character 10 illustrates a bacon slice analogue of substantially rectangular configuration having a portion 11 thereof formed from a comminuted fat mixture and having areas of lean meat 12 formed therein, said areas of lean meat also being formed from a comminuted lean meat mixture. - 3 45790 In this specification and in the claims, fat, fat mixture, fat appearing mixture or fat component includes pure fat or meats with a high fat content or a mixture of various meats and fat which is in an uncooked and/or cured condition prior to thermal treatment. Lean, lean component, lean mixture, lean appearing mixture or lean meat is a mixture of predominantly lean meat with or without fat addition and also in an uncooked and/or cured condition prior to thermal treatment. It should also be noted that the fat and lean components can be formed from any meat, poultry, fish or vegetable protein alone or in any desired combination.

It should be observed that the areas of lean appearing meat may be varied as to size, quantity and shape as desired and the configuration shown is for explanatory purposes only and is not to-be considered limiting.

In the preparation of the meats, fat meats are designated as such which form the fat appearing layers during the extruding of the slab resembling a pork belly and these fat layers are indicated by reference character 11 as hereinbefore described.

The basic formula is pork, beef, or other meats, poultry, fish, or vegetable protein, or a mixture of any of the foregoing, curing pickle, monosodium glutamate and liquid smoke. As an example, pork containing some lean is ground through a fine plate in a conventional mixer and the pickle, monosodium glutamate and liquid smoke is added. The resulting mass is mixed for approximately 8.5 minutes and if pork fat is included in the formula this is now added and the resultant massmixed for approximately a further 2 minutes.

It should be noted that in order to also obtain maximum protein extraction during the mixing step, the temperature of the mix must be high enough to perform this task but not too high to create smearing. The fat meats are then transferred from the mixer to a vacuum silent cutter which is conventional in operation. The temperatures of these meats are taken and the amount of dry ice is calculated which is necessary to drop the temperature so that a fairly stiff emulsion is formed and this amount of dry ice is added while the silent cutter is slowly rotating. - 4 45790 Once this temperature is reached, the interior is placed under a vacuum and the silent cutter is speeded up to chop the meats to a fine emulsion. As soon as the time iriterval for chopping is complete, a further period of time under vacuum is allowed while the silent cutter blades are stopped, to ensure all carbon dioxide and other gases have escaped from the emulsion. The vacuum is released and the fat meats are now ready for the extrusion step. If the fat meats are not being extruded immediately, they should be stored in a cooler so that they can maintain the fairly stiff emulsion desired for the extruding step. Although the example for the preparation of the fat appearing meats is for pork, beef, or other meats, the fish or vegetable protein may be substituted in all or part, with only slight modification to the procedure.

The lean meats are designated as such to form the lean meat layers 12 during the extruding of the slab resembling a pork belly.

The basic formula for the lean meats is beef, pork, or other meats, poultry, fish or vegetable protein, or a mixture of any of the foregoing, water, salt, cane or beet sugar, monosodium glutamate, liquid smoke, spices, erythorbic acid and sodium nitrite.

As an example, beef is ground through a fine plate into a mixture and the water, salt, caneor beet sugar, monosodium glutamate, liquid smoke, spices, erythorbic acid and sodium nitrite are added. While under a vacuum to remove the air, the resultant mass is mixed sufficiently to obtain a satisfactory bind not over mixed to produce too tight a bind.

It should be noted that during the mixing step of the lean meats, the temperature of the mix must be high enough to keep the lean meats rather soft relative to the fat meats so as to produce a suitable pattern during extrusion for if the lean meats are too cold, they will not extrude properly.

The vacuum is then released on the mixer and the lean meats are now ready for the extrusion step. Once again if the lean meats are not being extruded immediately, they should be kept in an area close to the temperature they were at at - 5 43790 the time of mixing. Although the example for the preparation of the lean appearing meats is for beef, pork, or other meats, poultry, fish or vegetable protein may be substituted in all or part, with only slight modification to the procedure.

The lean meats and fat meats mixtures are placed in separate hoppers of an extrusion machine, th'e details of which do not form part of this invention. Suffice it to say that th'e two mixtures are extruded through a die and past molding heads to be extruded in a ribbon like strip with the lean and fat meat mixtures being layered in shapes similar to that illustrated in the drawing and as they leave the extruding head, the ribbon of layered mixture is engaged within pans shaped to form a uniform slab after heat processing.

The filled pans are loaded onto conventional conveying equipment and are placed into a batch of continuous type smokehouses.

The product is smoked and heat processed at a schedule of increasing temperatures until an internal temperature of between 148°F and 156°F is reached with the ideal temperature being 150°F. The slabs are then removed from the pans and are allowed to cool down and finally moved into a cooler maintained at a temperature ideal for slicing the slab into strips similar to bacon.

The curing pickle used for the comminuted fat meats may of course vary depending upon the taste and looks of the final products which are required. However one suitable curing pickle which is not to be considered limiting, may be composed of approximately the following: - 8% by weight of salt % - 62 by wpight of sugar 0.52 by weight of sodium erythorbate 0.12 - 0.22 by weight of soluble spices 0.052 sodium nitrite. - 6 45730 While various parts of the pork animal can be used, it has been found that 80% lean boneless butts is an excellent ingredient for the lean meats and pork jowls and back fat mixture in the ratio of 70S jowls to 30% back fat produces an acceptable fat meat mixture.' However lean beef or other meats, poultry, fish or vegetable protein can be used as the lean meat consitutent either alone or mixed with pork and are examples of possible alternatives that can be made.

When using pork or other meats, poultry, fish or vegetable protein for the lean meats the curing of the mixtures should be from 1 to 3 days depending upon the ingredients of the mixtures. No curing period is required when beef is used in the lean meat mixture.

The comminuting of the raw mixture does not destroy the connective tissues so that when cooked, excellent binding is achieved and when sliced and fried, this binding is maintained and as mentioned previously, the slicing is facilitated if the cooked or smoked slab is cooled prior to the slicing taking place. It has been found that between 24°F and 28°F is a convenient temperature for the slicing and enables the slices to be consistent and also they can be handled readily and easily.

The slices have an uncooked appearance remarkably close to bacon and are consistent in terms of percentage lean to percentage fat and in the distribution of the lean throughout the slice.

With liquid smoke being used in the mixture, the flavour is equivalent to bacon when cooked and the fryout is substantially less than bacon and the fried appearance substantially better inasmuch as the slice does not twist or curl but fries flat probably due to the higher lean content.

While the drawing shows one arrangement of lean and fat components, nevertheless it will of course be appreciated that these can be varied and in fact islands of lean can readily be inserted into the fat layers by changes to the extruding equipment.

Claims (12)

C LAI1IS

1. A process of forming a bacon analogue and the like comprising the steps of: preparing a comminuted fat component as hereinbefore defined of edible material selected from pork, beef, other meats, poultry, fish and vegetable e f f

2. A process according to Claim 1 in which the steps of preparing a comminuted fat component and a comminuted lean component consist of passing the raw material through a comminuting machine and adding conventional flavour, colour, and preservative materials and then blending the mass to form a cohesive mixture. 15

3. A process according to Claims 1 or 2 which comprises the additional step of slicing the resultant processed slab into slices.

4. A process according to Claims 1, 2 or 3 which includes the additional step of adding a suitable curing pickle to the fat component and to the lean component prior to forming the slab. 20 5. A process according to any of the preceding claims which includes the step of maintaining the temperature of the prepared fat component and of the prepared lean comoonent so that the fat component is of a thicker consistency than the lean component to facilitate the extrusion thereof.

5. Compressed and bound together, the fat component consisting of edible material selected from pork, beef, other meats, poultry, fish and vegetable protein, and the lean component being selected from pork, beef, other meats, poultry, fish and vegetable protein. 5 protein, preparing a comminuted lean component as hereinbefore defined selected from pork, beef, other meats, poultry, fish and vegetable protein, passing the fat component under pressure through a die and extruding the lean component under pressure at selected locations within said die to form a slab in which the orientation of the fat and lean components simulate the orientation of the fat

6. A process according to any of the preceding claims which includes the 25 additional step of removing the majority of gases such as air and carbon dioxide from the components prior to the formation of the slab.

7. A process according to Claim 4 in which the curing pickle comprises a mixture of water, salt, sugar, sodium erythorbate, spices and sodium nitrate. 8. - 8 48790 the internal temperature of the slab from between 148°F to 156°F and then cooling the slab sufficient to facilitate slicing thereof.

8. A process according to any of the preceding claims in which the processing 30 of said slab comprises the step of passing the slab through a smokehouse and raising

9. A consolidated, composite, meat product comprising an extruded slab having interleaved comminuted fat and lean components as hereinbefore defined 10. Simulated bacon slab.

10. A meat product according to Claim 9 wherein the extruded shape is a 10 and lean portions of a natural bacon slab, and processing the resultant slab.

11. A process of forming a bacon analogue or the like substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

12. A consolidated, composite meat product substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.