Retort curry manufacturing method

Abstract

Providing a manufacturing method for a ready-made curry containing beef steak, which allows the beef steak to become so tender that it can be easily cut with a spoon. [Solution] The manufacturing process for the retort curry involves a freezing step (S16) in which a retort pouch filled with pre-cooked beef steak and pre-cooked curry sauce is frozen in an open state, followed by a sealing step (S17) in which the retort pouch is de-aeroded and sealed, and a retort sterilization step (S18).

Description

[[Technical Field]]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for producing retort curry, wherein a beef steak with a whole cut of meat pre-cooked and curry sauce are packed into a pouch, and the beef steak is finally finished to be tender. [[Background Art]]

[0002] Retort pouch food, in which cooked food is sealed, is widely popular in general because it can be easily eaten simply by heating it for a short time and can be stored for a long time at room temperature. In recent years, the types of such food have increased greatly, and various foods have been made into retort products. And retort curry has been consumed the most for many years.

[0003] With regard to this retort curry, not only inexpensive products are available, but also products that various manufacturers have elaborately flavored and differentiated by using a wide variety of ingredients and seasonings are commercially available. Among them, there is a demand for products that, like those served in restaurants, have a deep flavor and each ingredient has a distinct presence. In addition, specialty curry stores also produce retort curry for the purpose of reproducing their in-store menu.

[0004] On the other hand, conventional retort curry is obtained by putting pre-cooked curry sauce and ingredients such as meat and various vegetables together into a retort pouch, deaerating and sealing the pouch, then performing high-pressure high-temperature sterilization in a retort (high-temperature cooker), that is, retort sterilization. Retort sterilization generally enables sterilization of heat-resistant bacteria that cannot be killed by boiling heating by performing heating at 100 to 140°C under pressure for a required period of time. In practice, heating equivalent to 4 minutes or more is performed when the center of the pouch reaches 120°C.

[0005] Furthermore, in the high-pressure, high-temperature heating process of retort sterilization, ingredients often break down and hardly retain their shape when served on a plate. To address this, bite-sized pieces of meat are pre-cooked, and vegetables such as onions, carrots, and potatoes are cut into relatively large pieces (such as cubes or chunks) before being packed into retort pouches. This process ensures that the ingredients retain their shape in the end (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-82082 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 3119791 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0007] Furthermore, as a more premium option, the production of retort curry containing a large, single piece of beef steak is also being considered. In this case, pre-cooking the beef would allow some of the juices to be retained to prevent them from dissolving too much into the curry sauce, while also ensuring the steak retains its shape and preventing it from falling apart due to convection in the curry sauce during retort sterilization.

[0008] However, in retort curry containing pre-cooked beef steak, the texture of the beef steak at the end of the meal was tough and difficult to chew. This is because when meat is reheated, its protein muscle fibers contract and coagulate, resulting in a tough texture. In retort curry, the initial cooking is followed by heating through retort sterilization, and then further heating just before serving, making the tough texture of the beef steak particularly noticeable.

[0009] In view of the above-mentioned problems, the object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a retort curry in which a single piece of beef steak is packaged in a pouch with curry sauce, and the beef steak, when finally removed from the pouch and placed on a plate, maintains its shape well while becoming tender enough to be easily cut with a spoon. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] To achieve the above objective, the method for manufacturing retort curry according to the invention described in claim 1 is characterized by comprising, as shown in Figure 1, a beef grilling step of grilling a single piece of meat to form a beef steak; a steak filling step of placing the beef steak into a retort pouch; a curry sauce filling step of filling the retort pouch containing the beef steak with a pre-cooked curry sauce; a freezing step of freezing the contents of the retort pouch with the retort pouch open after the curry sauce filling step; a sealing step of de-aeration and sealing the retort pouch after the freezing step; and a retort sterilization step of pressurized and heated sterilization of the sealed retort pouch.

[0011] According to the method for producing retort curry described in claim 1 of the present invention, the retort pouch filled with pre-cooked beef steak and curry sauce proceeds to the freezing process while open, and the contents are frozen. In a typical method for producing retort curry, after the contents are filled, the retort pouch is de-aerosolized and sealed, and then retort sterilized.

[0012] In other words, in the present invention, the freezing process is performed before the retort pouch sealing process, which is normally performed after the filling process.

[0013] This freezing process causes the internal water in the beef steak inside the retort pouch to turn into ice, increasing its volume and breaking down the muscle fibers. This prevents muscle fiber contraction and coagulation during the subsequent reheating process in the retort sterilization stage.

[0014] Therefore, when the beef steak is finally eaten, it is served in good shape, and its texture is not tough, but rather tender enough to be easily cut with a spoon.

[0015] Furthermore, in the curry sauce filling process prior to the freezing process, the curry sauce is filled while it is still hot after cooking to ensure fluidity during filling and to improve process efficiency. Therefore, in this invention, the retort pouch is frozen while the contents are still hot.

[0016] In this case, a two-step process is usually considered: first, the product is cooled to around 0-10°C in a blast chiller (rapid cooler) that can handle temperatures up to approximately 90°C to remove the initial heat; and then, the cooled product is placed in a shock freezer (rapid freezer) to rapidly freeze it to around -20°C.

[0017] Furthermore, using a machine equipped with both blast chiller and shock freezer functions allows for continuous rapid cooling and rapid freezing, eliminating the need to move retort pouches from the cooler to the freezer, making the process more efficient and preferable.

[0018] The method for manufacturing retort curry according to claim 2 is a method in which the retort sterilization step is a plurality One grilled beef steak at a time was added. The method is characterized in that the retort pouches are arranged in such a way that the beef steaks inside do not overlap each other.

[0019] According to the method for producing retort curry described in claim 2 of the present invention, the beef steaks in each retort pouch are heated under high pressure and high temperature by retort sterilization without overlapping, thus preventing uneven heating caused by overlapping of relatively large pieces of meat.

[0020] This allows for efficient and effective retort sterilization, resulting in retort curry of consistent quality. The retort sterilization process itself can be carried out in the same way as before, and there is no need to prepare any special equipment or machinery.

[0021] The method for producing retort curry according to the invention described in claim 3, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, is characterized by further comprising, before the beef roasting step, an injection step of injecting melted beef tallow from a plurality of locations into the interior of the single piece of meat.

[0022] According to the method for producing retort curry described in claim 3 of the present invention, by injecting a beef tallow solution into a plurality of locations of a single piece of meat in advance in the injection step, the beef steak roasted thereafter becomes juicier and softer.

[0023] Therefore, even for sirloin beef that originally has a relatively low fat content, the resulting product will be close to marbled sirloin, and the beef steak finally contained in the retort curry can exhibit a softer texture and juiciness.

[0024] In addition, injection-processed meat, which is obtained by injecting pre-melted beef tallow liquid into the interior of meat before cooking and heating using an edible injection needle or the like, is already widely prevalent as a type of processed meat, and in the injection step of the present invention, beef tallow injection may be performed by an existing method. Since beef tallow to be injected into the interior of meat is solid at normal temperature, it is usually melted and turned into a beef tallow solution with added water to make it easier to handle. Furthermore, this water is not limited to plain water, and a seasoning liquid may also be added.

[0025] In addition, in the case of mass production of the target retort curry, an injection device equipped with a large number of injection needles and capable of injecting into a large amount of meat at one time can be used for the injection step. Furthermore, if mass production is not required, injection may be performed manually into each piece of beef at multiple locations one by one using a single syringe.

[0026] The greater the injection amount of such beef tallow solution is, the more marbled the meat becomes and the softer it is, but it is desirable to adjust the injection amount so that it does not become excessive. If the injection amount is too large, not only will the injection step take more time, but the portion that cannot be absorbed and retained by the meat will be wasted, which is inefficient.

[0027] For example, when using relatively lean beef with a fat content of around 10%, an appropriate amount of beef fat injection is 20-40% by weight. If the amount is less than this lower limit, there will be little change in the texture of the meat, and if it is more than this upper limit, there is a risk that the fat will leach out during the retort sterilization process, making the curry sauce oily.

[0028] Furthermore, by adding other seasoning liquids to the injection solution, the meat can be given additional flavor. In addition to the injection process, the meat may also be seasoned with other seasonings, such as salt and pepper, before the beef is grilled.

[0029] The beef cooking process itself can be the same as cooking a regular beef steak. For example, if you are modeling your recipe after a beef steak curry from a specialty restaurant, you can cook it using the same method that the restaurant typically uses, such as grilling it to create a char, to make it look more like the curry you are trying to replicate.

[0030] Furthermore, the beef steak in this invention should ideally be as large as possible to make an impact when removed from the retort pouch and placed on a plate, but it should be a single piece of meat that fits within a typical retort pouch. For example, a suitable standard would be beef that is approximately 1 cm thick and weighs approximately 80 g before cooking. [Effects of the Invention]

[0031] As described above, the method for producing retort curry according to the present invention provides the effect of ensuring that the texture of the beef steak remains tender enough to be easily cut with a spoon, even after reheating, by incorporating a freezing step between the curry sauce filling step and the sealing step, in a retort curry containing a relatively large single piece of beef steak. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0032] [Figure 1]This is a flowchart of the retort curry manufacturing process, illustrating a method for manufacturing retort curry according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a flowchart showing the packaging process for retort curry products manufactured using the process shown in Figure 1. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0033] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0034] <Embodiment> A method for manufacturing retort curry according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown in the flowchart of the retort curry manufacturing process 10 in Figure 1. In the retort curry manufacturing process (S10) in this embodiment, first, a beef fat solution is prepared by adding water to pre-melted beef fat. In this embodiment, the required number of slices of meat, each about 1 cm thick and weighing about 80 g, are cut from beef with relatively little fat to be used as steak material.

[0035] Then, in the injection process (S11), the beef fat dissolving solution was injected into each piece of meat from multiple points using an edible syringe, in an amount equivalent to 20-30% by weight of beef fat. This resulted in tender beef with marbling throughout. After that, in the beef grilling process (S12), an appropriate amount of salt and pepper was sprinkled on each piece of meat, and then it was grilled until grill marks were formed.

[0036] Meanwhile, a separate curry sauce was prepared in the curry sauce preparation process (S13). This curry sauce is prepared by selecting ingredients as appropriate to achieve the desired taste and viscosity, and is not limited to any specific ingredients. If a curry specialty restaurant is recreating its own menu, it should prepare a curry sauce similar to the curry used in that dish.

[0037] For example, a curry sauce can be made by using chicken broth as a base, adding vegetables such as onions and carrots, spices such as garlic and ginger, and seasonings such as salt and pepper, and then adding commercially available curry roux or curry flakes that provide the desired level of spiciness and flavor, and simmering the mixture.

[0038] In addition to the ingredients mentioned above, various spices specific to curry, such as garam masala, and herbs such as bay leaves, which suppress the odor of meat, may also be added. Furthermore, the base soup can be varied by adding other types of pork, etc. The spiciness and flavor can also be changed by altering the type and amount of curry roux, curry flakes, spices, etc. that are added.

[0039] Next, in the beef steak addition step (S14), one cooked beef steak is placed into each of the predetermined-sized retort pouches, which are equivalent to one serving of curry.

[0040] Then, in the curry sauce filling process (S15), 180 ml of the pre-cooked, hot curry sauce, for example, at about 90°C, was filled into each retort pouch containing the beef steak.

[0041] In this embodiment, each retort pouch filled with beef steak and curry sauce was subjected to a freezing process (S16) while the contents were still hot and opened. Here, a blast chiller (rapid cooler) with a rapid freezing function was used to continuously perform the cooling to remove the initial heat and then freezing.

[0042] In this embodiment, 33 retort pouches were arranged in a tray attached to the device, and three of these trays were set in the device before the device was started. The pouches were frozen to approximately -20°C for approximately 80 minutes.

[0043] Once the freezing of the retort pouches was complete, the next sealing step (S17) involved degassing and sealing each retort pouch. Here, a vacuum packaging machine suitable for vacuum packaging of small bags was used to degass and seal multiple frozen retort pouches at a time, for example, 10 pouches at a time, for a predetermined number of times.

[0044] After the sealing process is complete, the retort pouch is subjected to a retort sterilization process (S18). In this embodiment, a small retort sterilization process was performed using a small retort kettle at a kettle temperature of approximately 130°C for one cycle of 90 minutes. As this small retort kettle, a cylindrical cage that can accommodate up to 14 stacks of circular trays was inserted into the cylindrical kettle and sealed.

[0045] In this embodiment, the retort sterilization process (S18) was carried out with 13 layers stacked, with three sealed retort pouches placed flat on each tray so that the beef steaks did not overlap, leaving the bottom layer open. At this time, a needle was inserted into the beef steak inside one of the central retort pouches to confirm that the core temperature exceeded 120°C during retort sterilization.

[0046] In this embodiment, 32 retort products were obtained in this one cycle of retort sterilization process (S18). In this embodiment, the retort curry products obtained in the same cycle of retort sterilization process (S18) were treated as the same lot and sent to the subsequent product packaging process 20.

[0047] Furthermore, the retort curry product manufactured according to this embodiment, after going through the above manufacturing process, is heated in boiling water for 4-5 minutes, then the seal is opened and it is served on a plate. When serving, a relatively large, seared beef steak comes out of the bag along with the curry sauce, so the appearance is similar to that of a curry dish served at a curry specialty restaurant.

[0048] Moreover, this beef steak, despite being repeatedly heated, became so tender that it could be easily cut with a spoon, thanks to the injection of beef fat dissolving solution in the initial injection process (S11) and the severing of muscle fibers by freezing in the freezing process (S16) before the sealing process (S17).

[0049] The retort curry products obtained through the above manufacturing process are each placed in a packaging box to become retort curry products. Retort curry products obtained through the same retort sterilization cycle are considered to be from the same lot and are assigned the same lot number.

[0050] Specifically, as shown in Figure 2, the retort curry obtained in the retort sterilization processes A to N (S18A to S18N) of each cycle is sent to the packaging process 20, where, first, as a printing process (S21A to S21N), the corresponding lot numbers (A' to N') for each cycle of the retort sterilization process are printed on the surface of the pouch.

[0051] Furthermore, each retort curry pouch, with its lot number printed on the surface, is placed in a cosmetic box printed with the same lot number in the boxing process (S22A-S22N) to become a retort curry product (A"-N"). Then, in the cardboard box packing process S23, multiple lot units of retort curry products (A"-N") are packed into a single cardboard box and shipped.

[0052] It is desirable to make the lot number of the retort curry product packed inside visible on the cardboard box. For example, the lot number can be directly written on the side of the cardboard box, or a sticker with the lot number can be attached.

[0053] Therefore, retort curry products obtained through the same retort sterilization process can be treated as belonging to the same lot based on their lot number, and their distribution can be tracked on a lot-by-lot basis. This allows for easy recall of products with the same lot number if a malfunction in equipment or other components during a particular retort sterilization process is suspected.

[0054] By following the above retort curry manufacturing process, it is possible to produce retort curry products that offer the same tender beef steak with different curry flavors and aromas simply by changing the type of ingredients in the curry sauce.

[0055] In the above embodiment, the retort sterilization process was shown in a relatively small quantity using a small retort kettle. However, in the method for producing retort curry according to the present invention, a large quantity of retort curry products may be produced using a large retort kettle, and even in this case, the effect of making the beef steak tender according to the present invention remains unchanged.

[0056] Furthermore, in the freezing process of the present invention, various rapid cooling and freezing devices can be used as long as they can efficiently cool and freeze the retort pouch, and a device with a processing capacity appropriate to the actual production scale should be appropriately selected and used. [Explanation of symbols]

[0057] 10: Retort curry manufacturing process S11: Injection process S12: Beef grilling process S13: Curry sauce preparation process S14: Beef steak loading process S15: Curry sauce filling process S16: Freezing process S17: Sealing process S18: Retort sterilization process 20: Packaging process S18A, S18B, ..., S18N: Retort sterilization process (A, B, ..., N) S21A, S21B, ..., S21N: Lot number (A', B', ..., N') printing process S22A, S22B, ..., S22N: Boxing process A, B, ..., N: Retort curry products S23: Cardboard box packing process

Claims

1. The beef grilling process involves grilling a single piece of meat to form a beef steak, The process involves placing the beef steak into a retort pouch, A curry sauce filling step in which pre-cooked curry sauce is filled into the retort pouch in which the beef steak is placed, The process following the curry sauce filling step involves a freezing step in which the contents are frozen while the retort pouch remains open. Following the freezing process, a sealing process is performed to degas and seal the retort pouch. A method for producing retort curry, characterized by comprising a retort sterilization step of pressurizing and heating the sealed retort pouch.

2. The method for producing retort curry according to claim 1, characterized in that the retort sterilization step is carried out in which a plurality of retort pouches, each containing one grilled beef steak, are arranged so that the beef steaks inside do not overlap each other.

3. The method for producing retort curry according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising an injection step of injecting melted beef fat into the interior of the single piece of meat from multiple locations before the beef roasting step.

Images