Method for obtaining food and delicacies for human consumption from the back portion of a chicken

Abstract

A method of obtaining a food product for human consumption from a back portion of a chicken, the food product comprising at least one scapula of the chicken, the method comprising the steps of: inserting a knife in a lengthwise direction adjacent to a spine on a first side in a widthwise direction of the spine and subsequently inserting on a second side in the widthwise direction of the spine, cutting meat under the first and second scapulae in the first and second widthwise directions; inserting the knife in the widthwise direction above the spine and subsequently cutting in a lengthwise direction between the spine and the scapulae to remove the food product comprising the scapulae from the spine.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a method of obtaining a food product for human consumption from a back portion of a chicken, which food product comprises at least one scapula of the chicken. BACKGROUND

[0002] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of obtaining a food product for human consumption from a back portion of a chicken, more preferably the food product is a delicacy, which is understood to have not been sold on the market before. In the following, the product of the present invention will also be referred to as “chicken butterfly” and “chicken cutlet”.

[0003] The product “chicken butterfly” is a product which has not been sold on the market in terms of anatomy. This is because the product has not been discovered and produced. So far, no method has been available to obtain a chicken butterfly comprising two scapulae. Chicken butterflies are not available in supermarkets or butcher shops, and upon searching for the anatomy of a chicken, no sales or references / citations of this piece of chicken are available on the internet. The inventor has incidentally discovered and created this piece of chicken meat from a back portion of a chicken, which is usually sold as ground meat. Upon further research by the inventor, a new method of manually cutting and slicing the portion of the chicken has been developed using a special cutting technique, which separates the product (chicken butterfly) from the back portion.

[0004] The term “back portion” refers to a piece of chicken comprising the back portion of a chicken. After the major edible parts of the chicken breast, wings and legs have been removed from the carcass of a chicken, the back portion and other ground meat portions remain.

[0005] In terms of anatomy, the back portion comprises the following parts:

[0006] - the front back of the chicken;

[0007] - the top of the chicken breast cavity;

[0008] - the front neck;

[0009] - the upper spine or backbone;

[0010] - the two scapulae.

[0011] The term chicken butterfly refers to the meat obtained from the back portion, wherein the bone has been removed, but the scapulae are still included.

[0012] The chicken butterfly is a unique portion, which comprises in terms of anatomy different parts of the meat of different parts of the chicken, thereby preserving the taste and flavor of the different parts of the chicken meat. In order to obtain this product, a new cutting technique has been developed, which leaves the two scapulae in the sliced portion of the chicken meat, so that the chicken butterfly is available to the consumer at any time.

[0013] (chicken butterfly products are not chicken butterflies without two scapulae).

[0014] In US 6,280,311 a method is disclosed for cutting and deboning a whole turkey carcass to create meat pieces, including the scapulae with attached meat. In a first step a cross cut is made in the back of the turkey, thereby separating the left and right scapulae; in a second step the posterior horn is grasped with one hand and the left rib scapula part is cut from the spine of the turkey carcass with a knife in the other hand; in a third step the right rib scapula part is cut from the spine.

[0015] The disadvantage of this method is that the two scapulae have to be separated first in order to be able to form a horn in the back of the turkey, in order to be able to grasp and pull out the scapula with attached meat with the hands. Furthermore, this known method can only be applied to a whole carcass and is not suitable for small parts of a chicken, such as a back part. The processing of a chicken carcass is different because of its smaller size and the large global consumption. At the slaughterhouse, high speed automated processes are used to divide the chicken meat into food products such as drumsticks, wings, etc. After or during processing of the chicken, the carcass is divided into several parts, of which the back part contains the scapulae and a part of the spine. Usually, this back part is sold as a trim, for example for the preparation of chicken soup. SUMMARY

[0016] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for cutting a back part of a chicken and to provide a chicken cutlet comprising a scapula, which can be sold as a "chicken butterfly" as a food product; it is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for cutting a "chicken butterfly" and to provide a "chicken steak" comprising a scapula.

[0017] These objects are achieved by the method according to the invention, in which in a first step a knife is inserted in the length direction adjacent to the spine on a first side in the width direction, after which the meat is cut in the first width direction under the first scapula; in a second step a knife is inserted in the length direction adjacent to the spine on a second side in the width direction, after which the meat is cut in the second width direction under the second scapula; in a third step a knife is inserted in the width direction above the spine, after which the meat is cut in the length direction between the spine and the scapula, in order to remove the food product comprising the scapula from the spine. By first inserting a knife parallel to the spine in the meat of the back part, the back part comprising the scapula is separated from the back part comprising the spine by a cut. Then, by means of the lengthwise cut, the chicken butterfly food product comprising the two scapulae can easily be separated from the back part.

[0018] Preferably, the back part comprises at least one of the following parts:

[0019] - the front back of the chicken;

[0020] - the top of the chicken breast;

[0021] - the front neck;

[0022] - the upper spine or backbone.

[0023] When the product comprises different parts of chicken, the taste and flavour are combined together, providing a more complex and better tasting food product.

[0024] Preferably, the method further comprises the steps of cutting the food product in length direction with a knife and providing two food products, each comprising one scapula of the chicken.

[0025] More preferably, the method further comprises the step of partially removing the meat in the scapula, so as to obtain a food product comprising a scapula, which partially protrudes outside the food product. This product is referred to as a chicken steak, as it resembles a red meat steak. Advantageously, the bare bone part can be used as a handle to pick up and consume the chicken steak food product. Furthermore, the chicken steak has an attractive appearance and can be consumed as a finger food.

[0026] In the chicken butterfly, two scapulae remain on the two sides of the food product; just like in the part of the meat. In the chicken steak food product, only one scapula is present, with the scapula part protruding from the food product.

[0027] The two products referred to in the present invention are not available anywhere else so far. Using special techniques and special tools, the consumer can use this unique part of the chicken butterfly and the chicken steak. This is done by special tools and special slicing techniques. The production of the food product according to the present invention can be done by hand or by a (dedicated) machine. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0028] Figure 1 The anatomy of a chicken is schematically shown and the area S is indicated, which comprises the position of the dorsal part of two scapulae;

[0029] Figure 2a The top view of Fig. 2 and the cross-sectional view of Fig. 3 show the first step of the method of the present invention; Figure 2b

[0030] The top view of Fig. 4 and the cross-sectional view of Fig. 5 show the second step of the method of the present invention; Figure 3a Figure 3b The top view of Fig. 6 and the cross-sectional view of Fig. 7 show the third step of the method of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 4a The top view of Fig. 8 and the cross-sectional view of Fig. 9 show the fourth step of the method of the present invention; Figure 4b

[0032] The top view of Fig. 10 shows a pair of chicken steaks, each having a scapula.DETAILED DESCRIPTION Figure 5

[0033] ​​Figure 1 Chicken 1 and its carcass are shown. The area denoted by S is the region of the obtained back portion.

[0034] Figure 2a The top view shows the top of section 2 of the chicken's back, which originates from... Figure 1 Region S in the back portion 2. In the back portion 2, the first (or right) scapula 3 and the second (or left) scapula 4 are shown. Furthermore, a portion of the chicken's spine 5 is included in the back portion 2. The back portion 2 is essentially composed of meat and the aforementioned bones. In the first step of the method of the invention, a knife 6 is inserted into the back portion 2 parallel to and adjacent to the spine, with the blade 7 of the knife located near the first (right) side of the spine 5. The blade 7 of the knife 6 is easily inserted because it is guided to some extent by the spine 5 during insertion. Subsequently, the knife 6 and blade 7 are used to cut the meat on the first (right) portion of the back portion 2 along the width direction (arrow) W of the back portion 2. Figure 2b middle, Figure 2a The cross-sectional view clearly shows the blade 7 located near the spine 5, cutting the meat of the back portion 2 in the width direction (arrow) W below the first (right) scapula 3.

[0035] Figure 3a The top view shows that in the second step of the invention, the knife 6 is inserted into the back portion 2 parallel to and adjacent to the left side of the spine 5, with the blade 7 located near the spine 5. The blade 7 of the knife 6 is also easily inserted here because it is also guided by the left side of the spine 5. Subsequently, the blade 7 of the knife 6 cuts the meat on the second (left) portion of the back portion 2 along the width direction (arrow) W of the back portion 2. Figure 3b middle, Figure 3a The sectional view shows the blade 7 located on the second (left) side adjacent to the spine 5, cutting the meat of the back portion 2 in the width direction (arrow) W below the second (left) scapula 4.

[0036] Figure 4a The top view shows that in the third step of the invention, a knife 6 is inserted laterally in the width direction W into the back portion 2 of the spine 5, with the blade 7 of the knife 6 located near the top of the spine 5. Now, the blade 7 of the knife 6 cuts the meat at the top of the spine 5 along the length direction L, separating the spine 5 from the upper part (chicken butterfly) of the back portion 2. The removal of the chicken butterfly is essentially illustrated by arrow B. Figure 4b middle, Figure 4a The sectional view shows that the blade 7 of the knife 6 is located between the spine 5 and the scapulae 3 and 4. The blade 7 can be easily inserted into the back part 2 because the incision in the first step on the first (right-hand) side of the back part can be used to guide the blade 7, while the incision in the second step on the second (left-hand) side of the back part can be used to guide the blade 7.

[0037] The chicken butterfly food 8 is essentially the upper part of the back portion 2, from Figure 4b It can be seen that it comprises the scapula 3, 4.

[0038] By cutting the chicken butterfly from top to bottom in the length direction L, the chicken butterfly food 8 is divided into two substantially equal parts, and vice versa. With reference to Figure 5 Two foods 9, 10 are obtained, each containing one of the scapula 3, 4 of the chicken butterfly. In the alternative embodiment shown, the part of meat surrounding the scapula 3, 4 is removed, so that a pair of foods 9, 10 is obtained, having a part of the scapula 3, 4 (bare, exposed) partially protruding outside the food. These foods 9, 10 have one (partially bare) scapula, which is also known as chicken cutlet.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining a food for human consumption from the back portion of a chicken, said food comprising at least one scapula of said chicken, said method comprising the following steps: On the first side of the spine in the width direction, insert the knife from the length direction adjacent to the spine, and then cut the meat in the first width direction below the first scapula; On the second side of the spine in the width direction, the knife is inserted from the length direction adjacent to the spine, and then the meat is cut in the second width direction of the second scapula; The knife is inserted in the width direction above the spine and then cuts in the length direction between the spine and the scapula to remove food containing the scapula from the spine.

2. The method for obtaining edible food from the back portion of a chicken according to claim 1, wherein, The back portion includes at least one of the following: - The front back of the chicken; - The top of the chicken's thoracic cavity; - Front of the neck; - Upper spine or vertebrae.

3. The method for obtaining edible food from the back portion of a chicken according to claim 1, the method further comprising the following steps: The food is cut with the knife, comprising two scapulae in the length direction, and two food items are provided, each comprising one of the scapulae of a chicken.

4. The method for obtaining edible food from the back portion of a chicken according to claim 3, the method further comprising the following steps: The meat is partially removed from the scapula to obtain the food with the scapula partially protruding from the food.

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