Patent Application
20110311685
The present invention relates to food products and more particularly to a bread and batter encrusted portion of food, for example cheese, that is configured in a twist along its longitudinal length.
It is known in the art to provide filled cheese products and that the filled cheese products can be fried either in a pan fried method or in a deep fried method. It is also known to bread food products, such as cheese, with a batter coating and then par fry and/or freeze the food product.
It is also known that heating, for example, by deep frying, can cause a cheese filling to “blow out” from the batter coating if the food product is fried for longer than three minutes. It is also known that the batter coating typically amounts to 30% or more of the final food product weight in order to prevent a cheese blow out. A cheese blow out, as known in the art, is of the cheese melting within the encrusted batter during the frying process with the cheese flowing out of the encrusted batter into the cooking oil. Such action not only results in an unusable food product but also contaminates the cooking oil.
In order to enhance the market appeal of the food product of the present disclosure, it should also be inexpensive to prepare to thereby afford it the broadest possible market. Finally, it is also an objective that all of the aforesaid advantages and objectives be achieved without incurring any substantial relative disadvantage.
The disadvantages and limitations of the background art discussed above are overcome by the present disclosure.
There is provided a food product including a portion of cheese configured in an individual, elongated, substantially cylindrical, multi-dimensional shape. A batter and bread coating is uniformly encasing the portion of cheese. The coating is composed of a plurality of ingredients suitable for heating without a cheese blowout and comprising at least 55%, by weight, of the food product, wherein the coating is composed of at least two different batters. The multi-dimensional shape includes a twist along the longitudinal length of the portion of cheese.
There is additionally provided a food product including a portion of cheese configured in an individual, elongated, substantially cylindrical, multi-dimensional shape. The portion of cheese is encased in a batter and bread coating extending the length of the portion of cheese and composed of at least two different batters and with the coating further composed of a plurality of ingredients suitable for heating without a cheese blowout. The multi-dimensional shape may include a twist along the longitudinal length of the portion of cheese. The coating may further include a natural wheat flour that has been heat treated and a portion of cheese may be mozzarella which may include a food ingredient dispersed in the portion of cheese.
There is also provided a method of making a food product. The method includes providing a quantity of cheese and grinding the cheese. The ground cheese is extruded to create an elongated substrate. The elongated substrate is shaped into an individual, elongated multi-dimensional shape that further includes a twist along the longitudinal length of the quantity of cheese. The uniform coating is applied to the multi-dimensional shape and a clear coat layer is sprayed on the coated shape. The coated layered shape is frozen with a quick freeze process and packaged as individual quick frozen coated shaped food products. In another embodiment the step of applying the coating further includes applying a first batter to the shape, the first batter including an amount of wheat gluten. Applying a first pre-dust to the batter coated shape and applying a second batter to the batter coated shape. The second batter includes the wheat gluten. Then applying a second pre-dust to the batter coated shape and applying a third batter to the batter coated shape. The third batter includes the wheat gluten and finally applying a breading to the batter coated shape. A further embodiment may include a step of par frying the coated shape before spraying the clear coat layer.
The food product of the present disclosure is also of inexpensive to enhance its market appeal and to thereby afford it the broadest possible market. Finally, all of the aforesaid advantages and objectives are achieved without incurring any substantial relative disadvantage.
These and other advantages of the present disclosure are best understood with reference to the drawings, in which:
Before describing exemplary embodiments of an encrusted cheese twist food product several comments are in order. The food service industry typically looks for new, unique cheese appetizers to add to their menu. There are hot dips that are served in a bowl that chips or bread are dipped into and consumed as appetizers, prior to a meal. Typically, cheese appetizers which are fried for a very short time (1 minute, 30 seconds) in the fryer have a fragile coating system. Also, cheese appetizers shaped with sharp corners or curved pieces are difficult to maintain their fry tolerance during the fry process. Further, cheese appetizers with a multi-dimensional shape is difficult to apply a consistent and uniform coating to the cheese substrate. It is also known in the industry that bite-size cheese encrusted food products are provided however the preparation is different than as described below.
The encrusted cheese twist food product 10 disclosed herein provides a unique combination of cheese and other ingredients that has a random, back of the kitchen appearance with a battered and breaded coating that serves as the carbohydrate carrier and is the edible device that can be also used as a device to dip into sauce. The preferred cheese is a mozzarella, but other types of cheeses can be used. The food product 10 is configured for deep frying for not longer than two minutes, but the recommended time is between 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, at 350° F. in deep fry oil without a cheese blowout and resulting in a very crunchy, sturdy food product 10.
Referring now to the
The batter and bread coating 20 includes a plurality of ingredients suitable for heating not longer than two minutes without a cheese blowout or with the coating 20 losing its integrity or shape. One ingredient may be a heat treated natural wheat flour, for example as provided by Siemer Specialty Ingredients. The heat treated wheat flour provides texture and extended frying stability for the food product. Another ingredient is wheat gluten. It is found that a high amount of wheat gluten in the coating 20 provides enhanced texture and extended fryer stability to the coating 20.
The portion of cheese 12 can include a variety of food ingredients which are dispersed in the portion of cheese 12. The food ingredient 22 can be selected from a group consisting of pork, beef, turkey, chicken, fish, vegetable, flavors, seasoning, condiments, stabilizers, and a combination of any two such food ingredients as determined by the manufacturer.
The food product is configured to be heated to cook the coating 20 and melt the cheese matrix 12 encrusted by the coating 20. The preferred method of heating the food product 10 is by deep frying for not longer than two minutes, for example between 1 minute and 1 minute 30 seconds, at 350° F. in frying oil. However it should be understood that the final preparation of the food product 10 can also be accomplished in a conventional, convection, impingement, and speed ovens as determined by the end user. It should be understood that if the end user heating is other than deep frying, as explained above, then during the manufacture of the food product 10 the coated food product is par fried at a par fry station 54 at 400° F. for approximately thirty seconds. The par frying, depending on the portion of cheese 12, may be within the range of 20-45 seconds prior to the freezing step as will be described below.
Referring now to
From the grinder apparatus 34, the ground cheese is moved to an extruder apparatus 36 which extrudes the cheese into a portion of cheese 12 and may include food ingredients 22 as determined by the manufacturer. The recipe for extruding the cheese with the food ingredients vary and may include several different types of food ingredients 18 as described above. The extruding and blending of a quantity of cheese with food ingredients 18 creates elongated tubular shape. The extruder apparatus 36 may include a multi-lane extrusion device with a forming plate 70 positioned in front of and aligned with the extrusion device 36.
The shaping apparatus 38 forms the portion of cheese 12 into a random twist 16 shape along the longitudinal length 18 of the individual elongated multi-dimensional shape 14. The shaped cheese portion 12 now is in a form of a twist 16 single serving food product 10. It should be understood that a plurality of individual cheese matrix twists can be formed with an appropriate amount of the cheese matrix provided to the extruder apparatus 36.
The shaping apparatus 38, see
The orifice 72 is configured to impart a twist along the longitudinal length 18 of the cheese substrate 15. As the extruder apparatus 36 pushes the cheese substrate 15 into the shaping apparatus 38, the cheese substrate enters one end of the orifice and exits another end. The longitudinal length 18 of the cheese matrix 15 will be determined by the manufacturer. A preferred embodiment will have an approximate length of between 4.5 and 5.5 inches (11.43 to 13.97 centimeters) overall and an approximate outside diameter of 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters (0.59 to 0.98 inches).
An exemplary embodiment of an orifice 72 is illustrated in
The individual cheese twist food products 10 are moved to a coating station 40 where a first batter 42 is applied with a first batter machine 43 to each food product twist 12. Movement is typically provided by a suitable metal transfer conveyor 74 or belt conveyor. The first batter 42 includes a high amount of wheat gluten and an amount of sodium alginate. After the first batter 42 is applied, a first predust 44 is applied with a first breading machine 45 to the batter coated twist. The first predust 44 typically is composed of fine cracker crumbs sifted over the batter coated twist. The second batter 46 is applied with a second batter machine 47 to the breaded twist with the second batter 46 including wheat gluten and an amount of calcium chloride. Following the second batter 46 application, a second predust 48 is sifted by a second breading machine 49 over the batter coated twist food product 10. The second predust 48 is similar to the first predust 44. A third batter 50 is then applied with a third batter machine 51 to each food product 10. It should be understood that the first batter 42 and the third batter 50 are composed of the same recipe even though they are applied at different times at the coating station 40. If heat treated wheat flour is used the amount of heat treated wheat flour that is in the batters can vary between 0.5 to 10% (by weight) of the finished food product 10 but more usually between the range of 1 and 5% by weight, but preferably the batter contains 1.8%, by weight, of the heat treated wheat flour. The final step at the coating station 40 is the application of a breading mix 52 by a third breading machine 53 on the batter coated food product 10 completing the coating 20 composition.
In one exemplary embodiment of the food product 10, the first batter 42 and the third batter 50 are the same. The batters 42, 50 are composed of milk, milk products, wheat and related grains, egg and egg products, salt, and sodium alginate. The second batter 46 differs from the other two and is composed of bleached wheat flour, wheat gluten, dried whole egg, salt, spice extract, and calcium chloride. The first predust 44 and the second predust 48 are composed of fine cracker crumbs, for example, a mixture of wheat flour, salt, and assorted flavorings and seasonings. Then a predust is applied in the first breading machine 45 and the second breading 49 respectively. The breading 52, is applied by the third breading machine 53, and is composed of bleached wheat flour, salt, and soy bean oil. In some embodiments an Italian seasoning can be included in the breading. The Italian seasoning can include a mixture of oregano, basil, marjoram, and thyme. It should be understood that various other ingredients and in different proportions can be used as determined by the manufacturer.
As illustrated in
It should be understood that several transport conveyors 74 are used to convey the cheese substrates 15 and food product 10 between the various processing stations. It is also contemplated that the entire manufacturing process 30 may be configured in a single continuous structural matrix.
After the cheese twist food product 10 is coated at the coating station 40 each of the food products are either par fried at a par frying station 54 or moved to the clearcoat spray station 56. In the par frying station 54 the coated food product 10 is immersed in a 400° F. fry oil for approximately 30 seconds. However it should be understood that depending on the composition of the cheese matrix the par frying time may vary between 20 and 45 seconds as determined by the manufacturer. The par fried coated food product 10 is moved to the clearcoat spray station 56 and then frozen in a quick freeze process 58 producing an individual quick frozen (IQF) food product 10. The individual IQF par fried coated food product 10 is then packaged at a packing station 60 and maintained in the frozen state until appropriate heating by an end user. Such par frying is done if the heating of the food product 10 by an end user is to be accomplished by a process other than deep frying, for example in a conventional oven.
If the coated food product 10 is not par fried, the coated food product 10 is moved from the coating station 40 directly to the clearcoat spray station 56 where a clearcoat spray of food grade clear coat well known in the art is applied to each individual food product 10. The clearcoat spray maintains the structural integrity of the twist shaped food product 10. The clearcoated food product 10 is then quick frozen and packaged as described above.
As discussed above, at the coating station 40 the individual cheese twist is coated in the batter, predust, batter, predust, batter, and breading process with the total coating 20 being at least 55% by weight of the final food product 10. Also, the portion of cheese 12 that is used in the cheese matrix melts at a temperature less than about 110° F.
Although the foregoing description of the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to particular embodiments and applications thereof, it has been presented for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the food product and method to the particular embodiments and applications disclosed. It will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes, modifications, variations, or alterations to the disclosure as described herein may be made, none of which depart from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. The particular embodiments and applications were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the method and food product and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the disclosure in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such changes, modifications, variations, and alterations should therefore be seen as being within the scope of the present disclosure as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled.
