US 5,853,790 AGranted

Value enhancing method for processing poultry

AssigneesThe Elevated Systems Limited Partnership, The Elevated Technology Limited Partnership

InventorJohn F. Glancy

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Abstract

A method for processing poultry which converts a commodity into a food product, provides varying levels of enhanced nutrition and flavor in the several raw poultry meat products obtained from each whole bird, provides less expensive poultry meat products than can be prepared by current processing techniques, effectively maximizes use of all of the meat available from a poultry carcass, and provides even product flow from poultry carcasses to white meat biased consumers. The method provides for the sectioning, de-boning, and cutting of a bird carcass to provide several breast meat portions and one leg meat portion each with a packet formed therein. The remainder of the meat on the poultry carcass is ground with dark meat from one leg meat portion, and varying amounts of non-meat protein enhancing and flavor enhancing ingredients to form a solidified cohesively bonded mass that is extruded onto each meat portion which after rolling retains the mass centrally therein for easy handling and even cooking.

A method for commercial preparation of poultry meat through which effective use of said poultry meat for human consumption is maximized and through which whole birds are formed into a minimum of three raw food portions, with one of said raw food portions being a dark meat food portion comprising a de-boned flavor and nutrition enhanced leg quarter, and at least two of said raw food portions being white meat food portions comprising de-boned flavor and nutrition enhanced poultry breasts, said method comprising the steps of providing a cooled processing room having its temperature maintained according to USDA requirements, a bird ready for sectioning which has leg quarters and poultry breasts, cutting means, de-boning means, grinding means, blending means, extruding means, cryogenic freezing means, a plurality of flavor enhancing ingredients, and at least one non-meat nutrition-enhancing protein ingredient;

positioning said bird, said cutting means, said de-boning means, said grinding means, said blending means, said flavor enhancing ingredients, and said non-meat nutrition-enhancing protein ingredients within said cooled processing room;
using said cutting means to separate each of said dark meat leg quarters from the remainder of said bird;
using said cutting means to separate each of said white meat poultry breasts from said remainder of said bird;
using said de-boning means to de-bone each of said dark meat leg quarters, each of said white meat poultry breasts, and said remainder of said bird to provide residual poultry meat, said de-boning of each of said dark meat leg quarters being performed so as to leave intact one continuous solid piece of thigh and drumstick muscle tissue;
using said grinding means to grind said residual poultry meat and one of said dark meat leg quarters into ground poultry meat;
using said blending means to add said flavor enhancing ingredients and said non-meat nutrition-enhancing protein ingredients to said ground poultry meat to form a seasoned ground poultry meat blend;
continuing to use said blending means to mix said seasoned ground poultry meat blend until said seasoned ground poultry meat blend solidifies into a cohesively bonded mass;
using said cutting means to cut a pocket into the remaining one of said dark meat leg quarters and said breast;
using said extruding means to place an amount of said seasoned ground poultry meat blend into each of said pockets;
rolling said dark meat leg quarters and said breast so as to retain said seasoned ground poultry meat blend within the center of each of said portions during storage and cooking;
and cryogenically freezing said portions for storage so as to maximize use of the meat on an entire poultry carcass while converting a commodity into a food product.

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Abstract

Claims17