| 摘要 |
The present invention teaches a process for making ready-to-eat, shaped rice products having a texture comprised of visible, fully-cooked rice grains joined together; said process utilizes three rice-cooking steps. In the first rice-cooking step, the rice grains are only partially-cooked inside the cooker at temperatures above 175 F. The still-cooking, partially-cooked rice grains together with some adhering cooking water are discharged from the cooker before the centers of the grains are fully-cooked and while the grains are still flowable. In the second rice-cooking step, said rice grains continue to cook in an enclosed conveyor with their own retained heat and water at temperatures above 175 F while the retained water from the grains' surfaces is absorbed into their centers. An important aspect of the present invention is that the rice grains become fully-cooked at about the time they are formed into shaped units. In the third rice-cooking step, the shaped rice units comprised of visible, joined, fully-cooked rice grains are moved into fat fryers or hot-air ovens and are cooked at temperatures above 300 F to firm their textures and evaporate some of the grains' moisture before the fully-cooked grains become over-hydrated and burst.
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