Cooking and shrink wrapping delicatessen prod. esp. hams - with cooking stage after wrapping is sealed but before shrinking

(54) Process for the preparation of all cooked cured and charcuterie products.

(5l) International classification (Int Cl.³).

@ Deposit date........................

(53) (^ 2) ^ j) Priority claimed:

(^ ï) Date of public availability of the request ............

A 23 L 1 / 31.3 / 10.

April 1981.

BOP I - <Lists »n ° 41 dated 15-10-1982.

Qj) Applicant: THIRODE Pierre Henri, residing in France.

(72) Invention of: Pierre Henri Thirode.

(73) Holder: Idem (Q) (74) Agent: Cabinet RG Dupuy and JML Loyer,

14, rue La Fayette, 75009 Paris.

D

Sale of booklets at IMPRIMERIE NATIONALE. 27, rue de la Convention - 75732 PARIS CEDEX 15

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of all cooked salting and delicatessen products, and more particularly, but not limited to, hams, shoulders, ham knuckles, etc.

It relates in particular to a new process for the preparation of such products sold in packaging, using a shrink film and under vacuum.

The usual previous process, to obtain such a result, consists in: baking the product in a mold - in cooling it - in demolding it and putting it in film by making the vacuum - then in shrinking the film by heat by subjecting it to the action of hot water.

A first important drawback of this process lies in the fact that in the phase between the release from the mold and the placing in the vacuum bag, there is necessarily pollution and that there is no advantage for the subsequent conservation due to the placing in cooking temperature.

A second drawback lies in the fact that the cooking being carried out in the phase preceding the shrink wrap, a large part of the meat juice is lost, which takes away from the product most of its organoleptic advantages.

The process according to the invention proposes to eliminate the drawbacks of the previous process and to bring appreciable new advantages.

In particular, the following four advantageous objectives are achieved:

- There is no pollution of the product between cooking and packaging, thanks to the fact that a sort of vacuum pasteurization of the product is carried out after packaging.

- The product can be sold under vacuum in an excellent external presentation. We will see in the following description that in fact the product is presented in a regular and uniform layer of jelly distributed over its entire surface.

- All the organoleptic advantages are preserved in the product since, as will be understood below, all the juices are preserved in the meat, the final cooking phase taking place only after the meat has been placed in its airtight packaging .

- Finally, the regularity of the process can allow working at constant weight, that is to say that the weight of a finished part can be predetermined.

The process according to the invention is essentially characterized by the fact:

- a first incomplete cooking phase is carried out, however sufficient to shape the product in its mold,

- unmold the product and place it hermetically in its final packaging in shrinkable plastic film, preferably under vacuum.

- that a second cooking phase is carried out so as to obtain complete cooking of the product inside its packaging,

- unmold the product with jelly not evenly distributed all around,

- And that one then proceeds to a retraction under conditions such that the jelly in the molten state is distributed regularly and uniformly all around the product for the production of an enveloping layer of suitable presentation and marketing.

In practice, in the first phase of cooking, for example a ham, the cooking at the core will be limited to about 60 °, to form the ham, by the fact of a partial coagulation, by exuding the brine which has not not tied during the prior salting time.

In the second cooking phase, the product is annealed again under the usual cooking conditions, that is to say 65 to 70 ° at heart and at an ambient temperature of about 65 to 100 °.

It is easily understood that after this second cooking phase the product which cooked in its packaging allowed a certain amount of jelly to exude during cooking, and that after demolding, this jelly is distributed in a completely non-uniform manner around the product, hence an unsuitable presentation and marketing. This is why the fourth phase of the process then takes place, which can be presented in the following alternative:

- Or we shrink the packaging film while the jelly is still in the molten state, in order to obtain, as we have exposed, the uniform coating layer around the product ,

- Or else after demolding, the jelly has solidified and it must then be melted either beforehand or simultaneously with the shrinkage phase of the packaging film.

In both cases, it is the shrinkage of the hermetic film which ensures the uniform, regular and uniform distribution of the jelly all around the product.

It goes without saying that one can, without departing from the scope of the present invention, make any modification to the embodiments which have just been described.

Also, if the process described is more particularly intended for the preparation of cured and cured products, it is also possible to envisage applying it to other products, such as poultry, fish, meat and products. analogues.

Similarly, if it has been planned to carry out the operations of the process in a mold, provision could also be made to carry out these operations outside of a mold, for example according to the so-called technique: ham with a cloth.