| 摘要 |
Meat such as chicken is provided in a frozen block which is initially tempered. The block is then diced to form individual chicken pieces which are then tumbled in a marinade. The product is a pumpable slurry containing the meat pieces which is first passed through a heat exchanger (1) to substantially equalise the temperature of all the pieces in the slurry. The slurry is then spread across a heated plate (2) through which steam is circulated to sear the base of the slurry of food products which causes the base to set and coagulate forming a lower set region (3). A mat (4) of seared food products with a set lower region (3) is then delivered onto a transfer conveyor (5). Various pre-cooking operations may be performed on the mat (4) of food products as it is led along the transfer conveyor (5). The mat (4) is then transferred onto a mesh conveyor (10) of a cooker (11). Because the mat (4) has a set base it sits freely on the mesh without losses occurring through liquid run-off through the mesh. The base of the mat of food products is only heated sufficiently to set or coagulate the base. Thus, the mat (4) can be efficiently and thoroughly cooked as it passes through the cooker (11). After cooking, the mat (4) may be broken up into individual pieces which may be frozen. <Figure 10> |
