Apparatus for producing a restructured food product
AssigneeFryday Corporation
InventorsJaxon O. Hice, Gerald J. Webb
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for producing a restructured food product from small forms thereof, by comminuting such small forms to provide a fluent paste, injecting the paste under high pressure into mold cavities where the paste is rapidly heated while it is confined within the mold cavity and maintained at an elevated pressure, whereby a restructured food product is formed which has generally the same characteristics and qualities of the original food product and which retains the organoleptic properties of the original products that are frequently lost in conventional food processing methods.
Claims13
Apparatus for producing a restructured food product from small pieces of said product, said apparatus comprising:
- (a) means for comminuting said small pieces of said food product to form a paste having a fluent consistency;
- (b) molding means having opposed surface portions that have a high thermal conductivity and that form a mold cavity therebetween;
- (c) injection means for forcing said paste into said mold cavity under a high pressure until the mold is filled with said paste;
- (d) operating means for maintaining said paste within said mold cavity at an elevated pressure above a predetermined level;
- (e) heating means associated with said molding means for maintaining said mold-forming surface portions at an elevated temperature that is sufficient to rapidly and uniformly cook said paste while said paste remains at or exceeds said elevated pressure;
- and
- (f) means for causing said cooked product to be removed from said mold cavity.
Apparatus for producing a restructured food product from small pieces of said product, said apparatus comprising:
- (a) means for comminuting said small pieces of said food product to form a paste having a fluent consistency;
- (b) molding means comprising a pair of facing platens, at least one of said platens having at least one cavity formed therein, and said platens being movable into and out of abutment with one another with said cavity disposed therebetween;
- (c) injection means for forcng said paste into said mold cavity under a high pressure until the mold is filled with said paste;
- (d) operating means for maintaining said paste within said mold cavity at an elevated pressure above a predetermined level;
- and
- (e) heating means associated with said platens for imparting a sufficient amount of heat to said paste within said mold cavity to rapidly and uniformly cook said paste while said paste remains at or exceeds said elevated pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.