Home-style meat product and method of producing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9848631-B2
Application number	US-61424909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2009
Priority date	Nov 7, 2008
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for producing irregular slices of meat from meat products. Further, a method of mass-producing a home-style meat product with an irregular appearance includes combining whole muscle meat with a mixture having no phosphates and a limited amount of salt. Further, the whole muscle meat mixture is loosely stuffed into casings such that void space is permitted between the individual whole muscles. Once the whole muscle meat has been cooked and cooled, the meat may be sliced on a variety of slicing equipment to create a home-style meat product with an irregular appearance.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of mass-producing a home-style meat product having an irregular appearance, the method comprising:
combining pieces of boneless whole muscle meat with a mixture having salt, the mixture comprising less than 2% salt, by weight, the mixture having no phosphates;
mixing the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat and the mixture;
curing the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat and the mixture;
loosely stuffing the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat and the mixture into casings to form loosely stuffed casings, the loosely stuffed casings comprising void spaces formed between the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat;
closing the loosely stuffed casings such that the void spaces remain between the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat in the closed casings;
thermally processing the loosely stuffed casings to produce a prepared whole muscle meat product;
cooling the prepared whole muscle meat product; and
slicing the prepared whole muscle meat product with a circular knife assembly having a plurality of circular blades on a rotatable shaft and positioned in a direction generally parallel to a feed direction of the cooled prepared whole muscle meat product, the circular knife assembly is positioned downstream of an initial knife assembly such that the circular knife assembly forms a second cut into the prepared whole muscle meat product to produce individual pieces of the home-style meat product that are non-uniform in shape and have surfaces with different textures thereby providing the home-style meat product with an irregular appearance,
wherein the void spaces are configured to, during the thermal processing, facilitate moisture expulsion from the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat, inhibit individual boneless whole muscle meat pieces from binding together, and create irregularities in the hone-style meat product,
wherein the individual pieces of the home-style meat product exhibit the natural grain structure of the whole muscle meat.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the mixture includes less than about 1% salt, by weight.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising injecting the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat with the mixture by advancing the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat through an injector.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein curing the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat and the mixture occurs for between about 24 and about 48 hours.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein thermally processing the loosely stuffed casings comprises cooking the loosely stuffed casings for approximately six hours, at more than 155° F.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein cooling the whole muscle meat product comprises showering the whole muscle meat product with cool water at a temperature between approximately 34° and 38° F. for about 30 minutes to decrease the temperature of the whole muscle meat.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein cooling the whole muscle meat product comprises showering the whole muscle meat product with cool air at a temperature between approximately 18° to 25° F. for about seven hours to decrease the temperature of the whole muscle meat.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein slicing the prepared whole muscle meat product comprises:
rotating a plurality of prepared whole muscle meat products using an impeller having a plurality of inwardly extending paddles, the plurality of prepared whole muscle meat products exceeding the plurality of paddles;
directing one of the prepared whole muscle products toward a slicing blade during rotation of the impeller by lodging the one of the whole muscle meat products against one of the paddles and against the impeller using centrifugal force from the rotation of the impeller;
urging the one of the prepared whole muscle meat products against the slicing blade using the one of the paddles to cut a slice of meat from the one of the prepared whole muscle meat products; and
dislodging the one of the prepared whole muscle meat products from against the one of the paddles using others of the plurality of whole muscle meat products, so that the prepared whole muscle meat product has a different orientation with a subsequent urging against the slicing blade for creating randomly sized slices of non-uniform home-style meat product.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the home-style meat product produced has a mean variance surface irregularity value of above 61.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the home-style meat product produced has a mean variance surface irregularity value of greater than about 70.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the home-style meat product produced has a mean variance surface irregularity value of greater than about 75.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat loosely stuffed into casings are intentionally configured to differentiate from one another in texture and appearance.

13. The method cif claim 12 wherein the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat loosely stuffed into casings have surface irregularity values of at least 58.6.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the casing into which the mixture is stuffed comprise a pre-stuck casing permitting expansion of the product and permitting loss of water.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the mixing of the pieces of boneless whole muscle meat and the mixture occurs for about 30 minutes or less.

16. The method of claim 5 wherein thermally processing the stuffed whole muscle meat products comprises cooking the loosely stuffed casings at an air temperature in the range of approximately 180° F. to approximately 210° F.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermal processing in a total product weight loss of about 22% to about 28%.

Assignees

• Painter Cory
• Kusmider Edward A
• Humke Sarah
• Hurm Matthew
• Sammel Lauren Michele
• Kraft Foods Group Brands Llc

Inventors

• Painter Cory
• Kusmider Edward A
• Humke Sarah
• Hurm Matthew
• Sammel Lauren Michele

Classifications

• A23L13/40

  containing additives (tenderising meat by using additives A23L13/72) · CPC title

• A23L13/60 Primary

  Comminuted or emulsified meat products, e.g. sausages; Reformed meat from comminuted meat product · CPC title