Process for preparing substitutes of young fishes and extruding-cutting machine for forming them

0001The present invention relates to the field of the preparation of food products imitating by their appearance, smell and taste, natural products. More particularly, the present invention aims to obtain an imitation of young fish such as fry, for example fry d<img file="EP0823218A1_D0001.tif" />garfish, or elvers.

0002It is a fact that the catch of young fish is currently decreasing, and that this fishing is likely to<img file="EP0823218A1_D0002.tif" />be strictly limited in order to preserve the maintenance of the species. This is the case with the fishing of certain young fish whose consumption is popular, for example the fry of garfish or glass eels. At the same time, the cost to the consumer, which is already particularly high, will become prohibitive.

0003To overcome this problem, there are substitute products, based on surimi and / or<img file="EP0823218A1_D0003.tif" />Triturated fish extracts, with suitable ingredients added (eg starch, salt, sugar, flavor extracts, glutamates, dyes, ...). However, these products remain very far from the fish that<img file="EP0823218A1_D0004.tif" />they seek to imitate, in particular their appearance and their conformation remain far removed from the physical characteristics of natural fry.

0004The<img file="EP0823218A1_D0005.tif" />The invention aims to obtain food products as close as possible to natural fry in all areas, so that the confusion between the two types of product is almost total.

0005To achieve this goal,<img file="EP0823218A1_D0006.tif" />invention is based on the formation of<img file="EP0823218A1_D0007.tif" />a multilayer strip by joint extrusion from several pastes, and on a "flexible" cutting of this band.

0006More specifically,<img file="EP0823218A1_D0008.tif" />The subject of the invention is a process for the preparation of surimi-based young fish substitute and / or fish-meat, comprising a step of mixing this base with ingredients taken from at least one of<img file="EP0823218A1_D0009.tif" />starch, l<img file="EP0823218A1_D0010.tif" />albumin, l<img file="EP0823218A1_D0011.tif" />water, l<img file="EP0823218A1_D0012.tif" />oil, extracts of<img file="EP0823218A1_D0013.tif" />aroma, sugar, salt, glutamates and dyes, characterized in that this step is repeated to obtain at least two pastes of different color and / or consistency by choice of the additional ingredients and their proportions, in that this first step repeated is followed by<img file="EP0823218A1_D0014.tif" />a step of compaction of the pasta to form a multilayer strip, each layer consisting of a paste, the compaction being obtained by compression of the pasta, and<img file="EP0823218A1_D0015.tif" />a step of repeated cutting of said band by cutting edge sweeping elastic support.

0007According to a preferred embodiment, the process carried out on a production line by suitable means is completed by a precooking step in a salt water and heated at high temperature, for example at about 80 ° C., followed by<img file="EP0823218A1_D0016.tif" />a step of draining, then drying in an atmosphere of<img file="EP0823218A1_D0017.tif" />hot air and brewed, and a conditioning stage.

0008The<img file="EP0823218A1_D0018.tif" />The invention also relates to an extruder which makes it possible to produce elongated elements similar to fry, from pasta based on surimi and / or fish meat fed under pressure, for example under aqueous pressure in water pipes.<img file="EP0823218A1_D0019.tif" />food.

0009Such a machine, hereinafter referred to as a slitter extruder, essentially comprises at least two compartments.<img file="EP0823218A1_D0020.tif" />series of extrusions, in which the pastes delivered under pressure are passed in parallel<img file="EP0823218A1_D0021.tif" />feeding from compression means, to form layers of dough.

0010Each compartment has an output that communicates successively to the same containment housing. This containment housing has a thickness that increases with each compartment outlet, to integrate a new layer of dough from this compartment so as to form a single strip of multilayer paste.

0011The housing has a bottom in the plane of which an elongated cutout is scanned externally to the housing by at least one cutting element. This cutting element bears elastically against the plane of the cut to separate the multilayer strip into elongate elements. The shape of the cut is adapted so that the elongated element has the desired shape, having the characteristics of the fish model to be imitated, for example a rostrum or a rounded belly.

0012According to a particular embodiment, the cutting extruder comprises a cylindrical support rotated about its axis, on which are disposed multiple cutting elements regularly distributed parallel to the<img file="EP0823218A1_D0022.tif" />axis of this support. The distance between<img file="EP0823218A1_D0023.tif" />axis of rotation of the support and the cutting plane is adjusted so that the cutting elements periodically come, during the rotation of the support, resilient support against cutting. The rotational speed of the support and the extrusion speed are proportionally adapted so that the cut strip has in section a circular or slightly flattened section, according to the reference model.

0013According to an exemplary embodiment, the cutting extruder comprises two compartments d<img file="EP0823218A1_D0024.tif" />extrusion to provide two layers corresponding for example to the belly and back of the<img file="EP0823218A1_D0025.tif" />fry, the pasta being respectively light gray and dark gray by addition of<img file="EP0823218A1_D0026.tif" />a suitable dye, for example<img file="EP0823218A1_D0027.tif" />squid ink.

0014According to another exemplary embodiment, the cutting extruder also comprises a particular internal extrusion compartment, which enters the other compartments and passes through the outlets of these compartments, until the exit of the last compartment to the plane of cutting. A different color paste is introduced under pressure into the inner compartment. This internal compartment makes it possible to integrate a layer in the form of a washer in the multilayer strip, and therefore in each cut element. This puck accounts for the eye of the fry.

0015The containment housing may be successively formed of partitioned chambers, each chamber connecting a compartment outlet to the cutting plane. This housing can also include only a single room, without partitioning.

0016D<img file="EP0823218A1_D0028.tif" />other features and benefits of the<img file="EP0823218A1_D0029.tif" />The invention will appear on reading the detailed description which follows, relating to exemplary embodiments. These examples, given in a non-limiting way, are set out with reference to the appended figures which represent, respectively:<ul id="ul0001" list-style="dash" compact="compact"><li>FIG. 1, an example of implementation of the method according to<img file="EP0823218A1_D0030.tif" />invention on a production line;</li><li>FIG. 2, a partially cutaway view of<img file="EP0823218A1_D0031.tif" />an example of a cutting extruder according to the invention that can be used in the process according to<img file="EP0823218A1_D0032.tif" />invention, and</li><li>Figure 3, the cutting base from the outside of the cutting extruder, in an alternative embodiment.</li></ul>

0017In Figure 1, the main steps of the preparation process according to the invention are illustrated through their implementation in a production line. The represented installation has the following main workstations:<ul id="ul0002" list-style="dash" compact="compact"><li>I: formation of fry substitutes;</li><li>II: precooking the products formed;</li><li>III: draining pre-cooked products;</li><li>IV: drying of the drained products.</li></ul>

0018The forming step I is preceded by a step of mixing a surimi base and / or fish flesh. In this kneading step, it is expected to obtain two pasta intimately mixing this base with ingredients from the following non-exhaustive list: starch, albumin, water, oil, flavor extracts, sugar, salt, glutamate and dyes. The ingredients and their proportions are chosen to obtain two pastes of color and consistency as close as possible to the fry that one seeks to imitate. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated, two pastes are prepared in two kneaders, from thawed surimi blocks, the remaining temperature, at all stages of the pasta production, between -5 and + 8 ° C. Two colors of pasta are obtained, one dark gray for the manufacture of the back of the fry, the other light gray for the manufacture of his belly.

0019The composition of these two pastes differs, not only to give a different color but also a different consistency, the dark gray paste being firmer and more elastic than the light gray paste. The difference in color is obtained by using a different dye or the same dye in different proportions in the two pastas, and the different consistency is obtained by varying the proportions of the various ingredients, in particular starch, albumin and glutamates. These pastes can be made from the following examples of preparations:

First preparation

:

0020<tables id="tabl0001" num="0001"><table frame="all"><tgroup cols="2" colsep="1" rowsep="0"><colspec colnum="1" colname="col1" colwidth="78.75mm" /><colspec colnum="2" colname="col2" colwidth="78.75mm" /><tbody valign="top"><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">White fish chairs</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">55 %</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Water</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">23 %</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Seaweed extract</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">3.5%</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Potato starch</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">8 %</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Powdered albumin</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">6 %</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Salt</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">1.2%</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Sugar</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">1.8%</entry></row><row rowsep="1"><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Natural dyes</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">1,5%</entry></row></tbody></tgroup></table></tables>

Second preparation

0021<tables id="tabl0002" num="0002"><table frame="all"><tgroup cols="2" colsep="1" rowsep="0"><colspec colnum="1" colname="col1" colwidth="78.75mm" /><colspec colnum="2" colname="col2" colwidth="78.75mm" /><tbody valign="top"><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Blue whiting (Alaska Pollock)</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">57 %</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Water</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">25 %</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Oyster extracts</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">2.5%</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Pea starch</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">7.5%</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Salt</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">0.8%</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Sugar</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">1.2%</entry></row><row><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Vegetable oil</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">4 %</entry></row><row rowsep="1"><entry namest="col1" nameend="col1" align="left">Natural dyes</entry><entry namest="col2" nameend="col2" align="char" char=",">2 %</entry></row></tbody></tgroup></table></tables>

0022The pasta is then directed, without being mixed, in servo hoppers of a multi-entry extruder 1 raised on a frame 1a, disposed at the training station I. It is also possible to provide a third feed hopper. the extruder to bring another cuttle ink preparation to coat the dough for making the back of the fry with a thin black filament.

0023The extruder 1 makes it possible to compact the various pastes by joint compression in order to obtain a multilayer strip, the formed strip being cut at the outlet of the extruder. Repeated cutting is performed by cutting elements and able to sweep the output of the extruder in elastic support against it. A cutting extruder, more particularly adapted for use in this installation, is described below.

0024The strip is thus cut into elements which are ejected, by the elastic force of the cutting elements, to the precooking station II. At this station, the fry-shaped elements are conveyed individually on a treadmill 2 which is immersed in a water heated to a temperature which may vary between 80 and 90 ° C. The water is salty, with a salt content varying between 2 and 10%, and the speed of the belt 2 is set so that the products conveyed can remain a few minutes at this station, for example between one and four minutes.

0025At station III, the precooked products are drained by passing through a grid conveyor belt 2a, a stirring of air at ambient temperature being carried out above the carpet, using fans 3.

0026At the drying station IV, the drained products obtained are conveyed, always on a conveyor belt 2b, under UV lamps 4 (diffusing an ultraviolet light). The atmosphere is bathed in heated air using ventilated hoods 5 arranged above the UV lamps 4.

0027At the end of this production line, the fry substitutes are packaged in preformed trays, after weighing, to be preserved and sold, either in fresh products or in frozen products.

0028The invention also proposes a slitter extruder machine making it possible in particular to give an impression to the dough or pasta usually obtained from surimi-based mixtures, imprints which give the product an aspect as close as possible to the appearance of the fish which he seeks to imitate (coloring according to realistic proportions, together forming an inseparable unit, imitating<img file="EP0823218A1_D0033.tif" />eye). Such a machine is particularly, but not exclusively, suitable for the process of preparation and the production line which have just been described.

0029Figure 2 schematically illustrates a partially cutaway view of an exemplary cutting extruder according to the invention. The cutting extruder 6 consists of two servo hoppers 7, 8, two extrusion compartments, respectively 9 and 10, arranged one after the other, supply pipes, respectively 11 and 12, between the hoppers and the compartments, compartment outlets, respectively 13 and 14, a containment housing terminated by a flat cutting bottom 16, a cutout 17 disposed in the flat bottom 16, d<img file="EP0823218A1_D0034.tif" />cutting elements 18, advantageously secured to<img file="EP0823218A1_D0035.tif" />a cylindrical support 19 rotated.

0030In operation, the pastes 20 and 20 'are conducted in parallel with the feed hoppers 7 and 8 to the extrusion compartments 9 and 10 in the supply pipes 11 and 12, under an aqueous pressure exerted by compression means ( not shown). The outlets 13 and 14 of the compartments 9 and 10 are of rectangular shape so as to successively supply a layer of paste, C1 and then C2, to the confinement housing 15, with which it communicates by their outlet to form a band B. The housing 15 thus has a thickness which increases with each compartment outlet, to integrate a new layer of dough.

0031In this embodiment, the dough layers are not in contact in the housing and remain partitioned to the flat cutting bottom 16 in separate chambers Ch1 and Ch2. The band B is thus formed of multiple but separate layers. In this cutting base, a piece P is fixed. In the room P, is arranged the cutout 17. The position of the piece P is adjusted so that the pastes 20 and 20 'coming from the containment box 15 can pass through the cutout 17 in predetermined proportions, for example in a substantially equal thickness.

0032The cutting elements 18 come into elastic support against the plane of the cutout 17, that is to say that these cutting elements come against the cutting plane by bending slightly. To do this, the cylindrical support 19 of the cutting elements 18 is rotated about its axis X'X by motorized means (not shown). The cutting elements 18 are evenly distributed on the cylinder 19 and are removably attached to be replaced. The distance between the axis of rotation X'X of the support 19 and the cutting plane 16 is adjusted so that the cutting elements 18 come successively in elastic support against the cutout 17 during the rotation of the support 19. This arrangement allows on the one hand to obtain a regular cutting of the band B, avoiding the appearance of "edges" along the cut element, and on the other hand allows to eject the successively shaped elements.

0033It is advantageous to<img file="EP0823218A1_D0036.tif" />adapting the rotational speed of the support and the extrusion speed controlled by the compression means as a function of the flow rate required for the packaging, so that the cut elements from the multilayer dough strip have a circular section or slightly flattened.

0034According to an alternative embodiment, the cutting extruder may comprise a substantially cylindrical internal extrusion compartment 21, which passes into the other compartments 9 and 10, and the outlets 13 and 14 of these compartments, until the last compartment outlet. or to the cutting plane 16 as shown. A different color paste is introduced under aqueous pressure into the inner compartment 21, obtained from the cuttle ink. This inner compartment has a circular section adapted to integrate the multilayer film strip a filament-shaped layer between the two layers. This filament gives, during the cutting by the<img file="EP0823218A1_D0037.tif" />cutting element 18, a disk-shaped trace, showing the imprint of the eye.

00353 shows, from the outside, the bottom of the blank 16 in this embodiment. In this view, it appears the part P with its cutout 17, the partitioning K between the chambers Ch1 and Ch2 of the confinement box, and the circular end of the compartment 21.

0036The invention is not limited to the embodiments described and shown. It is for example possible to add a third compartment in series, containing a preparation based on squid ink, the output of which would be less than the thickness of the outputs of the two output compartments described above. This third layer is placed on the dark gray layer and allows to coat the back of the fry substitute with a light black filament.

0037Furthermore, the containment housing can be designed in one piece, without partitioning, so that each successive layer comes into contact with the strip formed pasta already arranged in layers. Moreover, the skilled person may provide means for fixing the removable cutting piece P, so as to have other cutting pieces in which other cutting shapes are provided. It is thus possible to modify the conformation of the products obtained so as to mimic the shape of other fish. On the other hand, the cutting elements are means known to those skilled in the art, for example plastic blades of suitable elasticity.