Method for efficiently air-drying beef
Through the combination of vacuum freezing pretreatment and circulating hot air drying, combined with ginger juice and papain treatment, the problems of low efficiency and hardening of meat in traditional air-dried beef are solved, and efficient air-drying is achieved to maintain flavor and nutrition in a short period of time.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202510893970.7
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-06-30
- Publication Date
- 2025-09-05
AI Technical Summary
The traditional air-dried beef method is limited by climatic conditions, has low efficiency and hardened meat, loses flavor, and has high energy consumption. It is difficult to shorten the air-drying time while ensuring flavor and nutrition.
The combination of vacuum freezing pretreatment and circulating hot air drying is adopted. After vacuum freezing, fresh beef is sliced, marinated and circulated hot air drying at low temperature. Combined with ginger juice and papain treatment, the drying temperature and wind speed are controlled, and three-stage drying technology is adopted, and microwave drying is added if necessary.
Air-drying is completed within 7.5-12 hours. The protein content, fat content and total colony count of the beef meet the standards. The flavor is delicious and mellow, the surface is delicate, the overall color is reddish-brown, and there are no impurities visible to the naked eye, which improves the air-drying efficiency.
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Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present application relates to the field of food processing technology, and more particularly, to a method for efficiently air-drying beef. Background Art
[0002] The traditional method of drying beef is natural air drying, which is severely restricted by climatic conditions, has a long drying cycle, and is inefficient. Although some accelerated drying technologies have emerged in recent years, they often result in toughening of the meat, loss of flavor, and high energy consumption.
[0003] As consumers increasingly pursue healthy eating and traditional cuisine, developing new methods that can speed up the drying process while maintaining the original flavor and nutritional value has become an urgent issue to be addressed. Summary of the Invention
[0004] In order to shorten the air-drying time while ensuring the flavor and nutrition of beef, the present application provides a method for efficiently air-drying beef.
[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for efficiently air-drying beef, which adopts the following technical solutions: A method for efficiently air-drying beef comprises the following steps: Vacuum freezing pretreatment: Slice fresh beef against the grain into 2-3 mm thin slices, score the meat surface with a shallow grid pattern with the tip of a knife, marinate, and freeze the marinated beef in a vacuum at 50-70 kPa and -30°C for 1.5-2.5 hours; Circulating hot air drying treatment: The vacuum frozen beef slices are dried in circulating hot air at 45-60°C with a wind speed controlled at 2m / s for 10-14 hours until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%. The slices are then baked at 50-55°C for 6-8 hours, cooled, sterilized, and packaged.
[0006] The marinating method comprises the following steps: taking 3% salt, 0.5% pepper, 3-4% chili powder, 0.5-0.6% Sichuan pepper powder, 0.3-0.4% five-spice powder, 1% monosodium glutamate, 2% cooking wine and 1-2% lemon juice by weight of the beef slices, mixing the mixture thoroughly, applying the mixture evenly on the surface of the meat and marinating the beef slices.
[0007] By adopting this technical solution, fresh beef is sliced against the grain into 2-3mm thin slices, increasing surface cracks and accelerating dehydration. Using the tip of the knife to create a shallow grid pattern on the meat further increases the surface area, promoting water seepage and facilitating subsequent marinating. Furthermore, adding lemon juice during the marinating process can disrupt the muscle fiber structure and accelerate dehydration.
[0008] Before air-drying, the beef slices are vacuum-frozen to reduce oxygen levels, inhibit the growth of aerobic microorganisms, and slow spoilage. The beef is quickly frozen and then dried at low temperatures using circulating hot air, effectively locking in the juices and flavor. This vacuum-freezing pretreatment increases the drying speed without compromising the quality of the beef. The vacuum freezing pretreatment is controlled at 50-70 kPa and -30°C for 1.5-2.5 hours, allowing the beef to freeze evenly within a short period of time, minimizing damage to the cross-sectional structure.
[0009] The temperature of the circulating hot air drying is controlled at 35-40℃ and the wind speed is controlled at 2m / s, which can avoid excessive oxidation of fat in the beef due to excessive temperature, resulting in rancidity and preventing the quality of the beef from deteriorating.
[0010] Preferably, the circulating hot air drying process adopts a three-stage drying process, comprising a preheating stage at 55-60°C for 1-2 hours, a constant speed drying stage at 50-55°C for 3-4 hours, and a deceleration drying stage at 45°C for 6-8 hours.
[0011] By adopting the above technical solution, the preheating stage promotes enzyme activity in the beef and performs preliminary dehydration. The constant-speed drying stage can control the uniform evaporation of water in the beef slices. The deceleration drying stage can prevent the beef from being over-drying, thereby shortening the air-drying time while ensuring the flavor and nutrition of the beef.
[0012] Preferably, before the vacuum freezing pretreatment, the beef slices are soaked in ginger juice that is 5-6% of the weight of the beef slices, at a soaking temperature of 28-32° C. and for 70-90 minutes.
[0013] By employing this technical solution, the gingerase enzyme in ginger juice can break down the collagen and myofibrillar proteins in beef, disrupting the dense structure of muscle fibers. This widens the intermuscular spaces and creates more channels for water to escape. Gingerase enzyme activity is highest at 28-32°C, accelerating protein hydrolysis and making it easier for bound water in the beef to convert into free water. This improves water evaporation efficiency during subsequent drying, shortening the air-drying time of the beef. Furthermore, the organic acids and ions such as potassium and sodium in ginger juice promote the outward migration of water from beef cells through osmotic pressure differences, reducing the water retention capacity of muscle cells. Simultaneously, sodium ions exchange with calcium ions in myofibrillar proteins, further disrupting the protein network and releasing more water.
[0014] Treating beef slices with 5-6% ginger juice prevents excessive fiber breakage and loosening, while also increasing tenderization. Gingerols and shogaols in ginger inhibit microbial proliferation. This reduced microbial activity reduces water retention caused by putrefaction during the drying process, shortening drying time while also improving the beef's color and texture balance. The polysaccharides in the ginger juice adhere to the beef's surface during the soaking process, forming a microporous membrane structure that mitigates surface hardening caused by rapid water loss during the initial drying phase and guides internal moisture to the surface through capillary action.
[0015] As a preferred embodiment, after the marinating, the beef slices are smeared with papain and allowed to stand for 25-35 minutes.
[0016] By adopting the above technical solution, papain is applied to the beef slices after marinating. Papain can decompose collagen, add protein hydrolysis, increase the water diffusion speed, and shorten the air-drying time.
[0017] Preferably, the vacuum-frozen beef slices are microwave-dried for 5-10 minutes before the circulating hot air drying process.
[0018] By adopting the above technical solution, microwaves have the ability to penetrate and heat both inside and outside at the same time, which can significantly shorten the circulating hot air drying process time to 7-9 hours. The thermal effect and non-thermal effect of microwaves have a bactericidal effect, which can effectively kill bacteria and microorganisms and extend the shelf life of beef.
[0019] As a preference, the specific conditions of the microwave drying are 140W, 65-75°C microwave drying.
[0020] By adopting the above technical solution, the specific conditions of microwave drying are controlled to 140W and 65-75℃, avoiding surface charring and internal undrying caused by high power, ensuring that microwave energy penetrates evenly into the beef, causing moisture to migrate from the inside to the outside, reducing the drying gradient, and reducing the degree of myoglobin oxidation, retaining nutrients, maintaining a reddish-brown color, and effectively inactivating putrefactive enzymes, thereby extending the shelf life.
[0021] As a preference: Use the tip of the knife to make shallow grid patterns on the meat surface and then remove the fascia and excess fat.
[0022] By adopting the above technical solution, fascia and excess fat are removed, which is conducive to the escape of water in the beef.
[0023] In a second aspect, the present application provides beef produced by any of the above-mentioned methods for efficiently air-drying beef.
[0024] In summary, this application includes at least one of the following beneficial technical effects: The present application adopts a method for controlling air-drying beef, which only takes 7.5-12 hours to air-dry the beef. The protein content, fat content and total bacterial count of the obtained beef all meet the national testing standards. The obtained beef has a delicious and mellow taste, a strong aftertaste, fine hairs and spices on the surface, an overall reddish-brown color, and no impurities visible to the naked eye. This not only ensures the flavor and nutrition of the beef, but also improves the air-drying efficiency. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0025] The present application is further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments.
[0026] The following raw materials in this application are all commercially available products. They are provided to ensure that the raw materials in this application are fully disclosed and should not be construed as limiting the sources of the raw materials. Specifically: papain, enzyme activity 100,000 U / g.
[0027] Example 1 The method for efficiently air-drying beef in Example 1 is prepared by the following steps: Vacuum freezing pretreatment: fresh beef was sliced against the grain into 3 mm thin slices, and the meat surface was scored with a shallow grid pattern using the tip of a knife. The marinated beef was then vacuum frozen at 60 kPa and -30 °C for 2 h. Circulating hot air drying treatment: The vacuum-frozen beef slices are dried in circulating hot air at 50°C with a wind speed controlled at 2m / s for 12 hours until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%, and then baked at 53°C for 6 hours, cooled, sterilized, and packaged.
[0028] The marinating process comprises taking 3% salt, 0.5% pepper, 3-4% chili powder, 0.5% Sichuan pepper powder, 0.3% five-spice powder, 1% monosodium glutamate, 2% cooking wine and 1% lemon juice by weight of the beef slices, mixing them thoroughly, applying them evenly on the surface of the meat and marinating.
[0029] Example 2 The difference between the efficient air-drying method of Example 2 and Example 1 is that the circulating hot air drying treatment adopts a three-stage drying method, including drying at 55°C for 1.5 hours in the preheating stage, drying at 53°C for 3 hours in the constant speed drying stage, and drying at 45°C for 6.5 hours in the deceleration drying stage until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%. The remaining steps are the same as in Example 1.
[0030] Example 3 The efficient air-drying method of Example 3 differs from that of Example 2 in that, before vacuum freezing, the beef slices are soaked in ginger juice (5% by weight of the beef slices) at 30°C for 80 minutes. Furthermore, a three-stage circulating hot air drying process is employed: a preheating stage at 55°C for 1 hour, a constant-rate drying stage at 53°C for 3 hours, and a deceleration drying stage at 45°C for 6 hours. The remaining steps are the same as those of Example 2.
[0031] Example 4 The efficient air-drying method of Example 4 differs from that of Example 3 in that the beef slices are soaked in ginger juice, then coated with papain, left to stand for 30 minutes, and subjected to a three-stage circulating hot air drying process: a preheating stage at 55°C for 1 hour, a constant-rate drying stage at 53°C for 3 hours, and a deceleration drying stage at 45°C for 5 hours. The remaining steps are the same as those of Example 3.
[0032] Example 5 The difference between the efficient air-drying method of Example 5 and Example 4 is that the beef slices are microwave-dried for 8 minutes after the circulating hot air drying treatment. The specific conditions of microwave drying are 150W and 60°C microwave drying, and the circulating hot air drying treatment adopts three-stage drying, with a preheating stage of drying at 55°C for 1 hour, a constant speed drying stage of drying at 53°C for 3 hours, and a deceleration drying stage of drying at 45°C for 4.5 hours. The remaining steps are the same as Example 4.
[0033] Example 6 The difference between the efficient air-drying method of Example 6 and Example 4 is that the beef slices are microwave-dried for 8 minutes after the circulating hot air drying treatment. The specific conditions of microwave drying are 140W and 70°C microwave drying, and the circulating hot air drying treatment adopts three-stage drying, with a preheating stage of drying at 55°C for 1 hour, a constant speed drying stage of drying at 53°C for 3 hours, and a deceleration drying stage of drying at 45°C for 4 hours. The remaining steps are the same as Example 4.
[0034] Example 7 The difference between the method of efficient air-drying beef in Example 7 and Example 4 is that the fascia and excess fat of the beef are removed after the tip of a knife is used to scratch a shallow grid pattern on the meat surface, and the circulating hot air drying treatment adopts a three-stage drying method, with a preheating stage of drying at 55°C for 1 hour, a constant speed drying stage of drying at 53°C for 2.5 hours, and a deceleration drying stage of drying at 45°C for 4 hours. The remaining steps are the same as Example 6.
[0035] Comparative Example 1 The method for efficiently air-drying beef in Comparative Example 1 differs from that in Example 1 in that no vacuum freezing pretreatment is performed, and the beef slices are dried at 50° C. with a wind speed controlled at 2 m / s for 17 h in circulating hot air until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%. The remaining steps are the same as in Example 1.
[0036] Comparative Example 2 The method for efficiently air-drying beef in Comparative Example 2 differs from that in Example 1 in that no shallow grid pattern is scratched on the meat surface with the tip of a knife, and the beef slices are dried at 50°C with a wind speed controlled at 2 m / s for 13 hours in circulating hot air until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%. The remaining steps are the same as in Example 1.
[0037] Comparative Example 3 The method for efficiently air-drying beef in Comparative Example 3 differs from that in Example 1 in that the fresh beef is cut into 4 mm thin slices against the grain, and the beef slices are dried with circulating hot air at 50° C. and a wind speed of 2 m / s for 12.5 h until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%. The remaining steps are the same as in Example 1.
[0038] Comparative Example 4 The method for efficiently air-drying beef in Comparative Example 4 differs from that in Example 1 in that the vacuum freezing pretreatment conditions are 40 kPa and -30°C vacuum freezing for 2 h, and the beef slices are dried at 50°C with a wind speed controlled at 2 m / s for 12.5 h in circulating hot air until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%. The remaining steps are the same as in Example 1.
[0039] Comparative Example 5 The efficient air-drying method of comparative example 5 differs from that of example 1 in that the circulating hot air drying treatment is carried out at 70°C, the wind speed is controlled at 2m / s, the circulating hot air drying is carried out for 12.5h, and the moisture content of the beef slices is dried to 20%. The remaining steps are the same as those of example 1.
[0040] Performance testing The following methods were used to test the performance of the beef jerky obtained in Examples 1-7 and Comparative Examples 1-5. The test results are shown in Table 2.
[0041] Protein content: The protein content of beef jerky was tested in accordance with GB5009.5-2016 "National Food Safety Standard - Determination of Protein in Foods"; Fat content: The fat content of beef jerky was tested in accordance with GB 5009.6-2016 "National Food Safety Standard - Determination of Fat in Foods"; Total colony count: The total colony count of beef jerky was tested in accordance with GB 4789.2-2016 "National Food Safety Standard - Microbiological Examination of Foods - Determination of Total Colony Count"; Sensory testing: Test the color, taste and smell, shape, and impurities of beef jerky under natural light conditions.
[0042] Table 2 Performance test results of different beef jerky The test results in Table 1 show that the beef obtained in the present application only needs to be air-dried for 7.5-12 hours, and the protein content, fat content and total colony count of the obtained beef all meet the national testing standards. The obtained beef has a delicious and mellow taste, a strong aftertaste, fine hairs and spices on the surface, an overall reddish-brown color, and no impurities visible to the naked eye. This not only ensures the flavor and nutrition of the beef, but also improves the air-drying efficiency.
[0043] Combining the beef of Example 1 and Example 2, the circulating hot air drying treatment of Example 2 adopts three-stage drying, namely, drying at 55-60°C for 1-2 hours in the preheating stage, drying at 50-55°C for 3-4 hours in the constant speed drying stage, and drying at 45°C for 6-8 hours in the deceleration drying stage, until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%, and the circulating hot air drying time is shortened from 12 hours to 11 hours. The obtained beef protein, fat and total colony count are 32g / 100g, 11g / 100g and 756CFU / g, respectively. The obtained beef has a delicious and mellow taste, a strong aftertaste, fine hairs and spices on the surface, a reddish-brown overall color, and no impurities visible to the naked eye. This not only ensures the flavor and nutrition of the beef, but also improves the air-drying efficiency.
[0044] Combining the beef of Example 2 and Example 3, in Example 3, before vacuum freezing pretreatment, the beef slices were soaked in ginger juice 5-6% of the weight of the beef slices, the soaking temperature was 28-32°C, the soaking time was 70-90 min, and the circulating hot air drying time was shortened from 11 h to 10 h. The obtained beef protein, fat and total colony count were 34 g / 100 g, 13 g / 100 g and 762 CFU / g, which shortened the air-drying time and improved the air-drying efficiency.
[0045] Combining the beef of Examples 3 and 4, in Example 4, the beef slices were soaked in ginger juice and then smeared with papain, allowed to stand for 25-35 minutes, and the circulating hot air drying time was shortened from 10 hours to 9 hours. The obtained beef protein, fat and total colony count were 33g / 100g, 12g / 100g and 758CFU / g, respectively. While ensuring the flavor and nutrition of the beef, the air-drying time was shortened and the air-drying efficiency was improved.
[0046] In combination with the beef jerky of Examples 5-6, the beef slices in Example 6 were microwave-dried for 5-10 minutes after the circulating hot air drying treatment, and the specific conditions of microwave drying were 140W, 65-75°C microwave drying, and the circulating hot air drying time was shortened from 8.5h to 8h. The obtained beef protein, fat and total colony count were 31g / 100g, 12g / 100g and 732CFU / g, which not only ensured the flavor and nutrition of the beef, but also improved the air-drying efficiency.
[0047] Combining the beef jerky of Examples 6 and 7, in Example 7, the fascia and excess fat of the beef were removed after the tip of a knife was scratched on the meat surface with a shallow grid pattern, and the circulating hot air drying time was shortened from 8 hours to 7.5 hours. The resulting beef protein, fat and total colony count were 33g / 100g, 10g / 100g and 730CFU / g, respectively. This not only ensured the flavor and nutrition of the beef, but also improved the air-drying efficiency.
[0048] Combining the performance test data of the beef in Example 1 and Comparative Examples 1-5, it was found that vacuum freezing pretreatment and circulating hot air drying treatment, controlling the parameters, scratching the meat surface with a shallow grid pattern with the tip of a knife, and cutting the fresh beef against the grain into 2-3 mm thin slices can all improve the air-drying efficiency of the beef to varying degrees.
[0049] This specific embodiment is merely an explanation of the present application and is not a limitation of the present application. After reading this specification, those skilled in the art may make non-creative modifications to the present embodiment as needed, but as long as they are within the scope of the claims of the present application, they are protected by the patent law.
Claims
1. A method for efficiently air-drying beef, characterized in that: It includes the following steps: Vacuum freezing pretreatment: Slice fresh beef against the grain into 2-3 mm thin slices, score the meat surface with a shallow grid pattern with the tip of a knife, marinate, and freeze the marinated beef in a vacuum at 50-70 kPa and -30°C for 1.5-2.5 hours; Circulating hot air drying treatment: The vacuum frozen beef slices are dried in circulating hot air at 45-60℃ with a wind speed controlled at 2m / s for 10-14 hours until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%. They are then baked at 50-55℃ for 6-8 hours, cooled, sterilized, and packaged.
2. The method for efficiently air-drying beef according to claim 1, characterized in that: The circulating hot air drying process adopts a three-stage drying process, including drying at 55-60° C. for 1-2 hours in a preheating stage, drying at 50-55° C. for 3-4 hours in a constant speed drying stage, and drying at 45° C. for 6-8 hours in a deceleration drying stage, until the moisture content of the beef slices is 20%.
3. The method for efficiently air-drying beef according to claim 1, characterized in that: Before the vacuum freezing pretreatment, the beef slices are soaked in ginger juice that is 5-6% of the weight of the beef slices at a soaking temperature of 28-32° C. for 70-90 minutes.
4. The method for efficiently air-drying beef according to claim 3, wherein: After the beef slices are soaked in the ginger juice, papain is applied to the beef slices and the beef slices are allowed to stand for 25-35 minutes.
5. The method for efficiently air-drying beef according to claim 1, wherein: After the circulating hot air drying treatment, the beef slices are microwave dried for 5-10 minutes.
6. The method for efficiently air-drying beef according to claim 5, characterized in that: The specific conditions of the microwave drying are 140W, 65-75°C microwave drying.
7. The method for efficiently air-drying beef according to claim 1, characterized in that: Use the tip of the knife to make shallow grid patterns on the meat surface and then remove the beef fascia and excess fat.
8. Beef obtained by the method for efficiently air-drying beef according to any one of claims 1 to 7.