Food product and corresponding method

Abstract

Food product of the stuffed pasta type and corresponding preparation method. The food product has a wrapping that completely encloses a filling comprising a sauce and it can be easily consumed, after being properly cooked, even as a street food.

Description

[0001] “FOOD PRODUCT AND CORRESPONDING METHOD”

[0002] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention concerns a food product of the stuffed pasta type and a corresponding preparation method. The food product has a wrapping that completely encloses a filling comprising a sauce and it can be easily consumed, after being properly cooked, even as street food.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] There are numerous examples of food products based on food pasta, whether fresh or dry, made of soft or hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, and / or egg, in multiple possible formats, seasoned with a sauce, a meat ragu or suchlike.

[0006] This type of food product, which generally represents one of the typical foods of the Mediterranean diet, can sometimes even constitute a complete meal. This food product is generally available in countless dishes, typical of the Italian culinary tradition, such as pasta with tomato, with meat sauce, pasta carbonara, pasta amatriciana, with eggplant, with basil pesto, with cheese and pepper, and many others. Favorably, the various fillings can be characterized by their own colors, representative of the recipe, for example green for basil pesto, red for tomato sauce, yellow for carbonara or other. These food products generally do not lend themselves to fast and practical consumption, as in the case of so-called street food, mainly because of the sauce, typically a component with a liquid, fluid, or semi-liquid connotation, which makes it necessary to use a plate or similar container and, often, cutlery, generally restricting consumption to dedicated places (domestic establishments, commercial establishments such as restaurants, canteens, diners and so on).

[0007] Preparing this type of food product in fresh and express form is not immediate, and it is often not suitable for rapid, at the moment, cooking or heating, without compromising its typical organoleptic characteristics. Even using this type of meals in a frozen, ready meal format generally does not yield the same results as an express preparation. And the fact always remains that the production and consumption of these dishes are not sufficiently practical in the context of street food, for obvious reasons.

[0008] The documents available online https: / / rn.10000recipe.com / en / 619768 / Spaghe tti dumplings and https: / / www.k33kitchen.com / recipes / grilled-vegan-gyoza- dumplings / describe recipes for stuffed food products in which noodles are cut into pieces and amalgamated with other ingredients to obtain a mixture that is fried and then used as a filling for stuffed Chinese dumplings or grilled vegan Japanese “gyoza” dumplings, respectively. However, noodles do not use hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, flour and are cut directly from the sheet of dough with low moisture content, while noodles are made only with water and starch.

[0009] There is therefore the need to perfect a food product and corresponding method that can overcome at least one of the disadvantages of the state of the art. One purpose of the present invention, which corresponds to the technical problem to be solved, is to provide a food product, and to perfect a corresponding method, starting from at least one liquid or semi-liquid component that is practical to consume essentially anywhere, even without using cutlery or other utensils.

[0010] Another purpose of the present invention is to perfect a method for preparing a food product that provides rapid cooking without compromising the organoleptic characteristics of the food product.

[0011] The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] The present invention is set forth and characterized in the independent claims. The dependent claims describe other characteristics of the present invention or variants to the main inventive idea.

[0013] In accordance with the above purposes and to resolve the technical problem described above in a new and original way, also achieving considerable advantages compared to the state of the prior art, some embodiments described here concern a food product of the stuffed pasta type.

[0014] The food product comprises a filling having a matrix of sauce amalgamated with chopped cooked food pasta homogeneously distributed in the matrix. Doing so achieves at least the advantage of reproducing the typical organoleptic characteristics of a pasta dish, that is, food pasta cooked in boiling water, drained and then seasoned with sauce, in a format that is easy to eat.

[0015] In some embodiments, the cooked food pasta is based on dry food pasta, that is, having a maximum moisture content of 12.5%, cooked in boiling, possibly salted, water.

[0016] The food product can comprise an external wrapping which encloses the filling.

[0017] The wrapping can be made of fresh food pasta, that is, having a maximum moisture content of 30%, made starting from a mixture of flour, water and possibly salt.

[0018] In some embodiments, the wrapping has a thickness of no more than 3 mm, excluding at most a closing portion thereof.

[0019] The wrapping can be formed starting from a single shaped portion of a sheet of fresh food pasta folded on itself so that at least two opposing border flaps thereof are overlapping and sealed together, at least along an entire open perimeter of a stuffed portion thereof, in correspondence with the closing portion.

[0020] The sauce matrix can be obtained starting from edible raw materials chosen from one or more materials of a group comprising: vegetable raw materials, such as cereals, tomatoes, legumes and / or others vegetables, mushrooms, truffles, herbs, spices, roots, fruit, animal raw materials, such as cheeses, milk derivatives, meat, cured meats, sausages, fish, non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, such as wines, spirits, distillates, protein-based compounds, fat-based compounds, carbohydrate-based compounds, with the possible addition of condiments and / or flavorings, and / or combinations thereof.

[0021] In accordance with another aspect, the chopped cooked food pasta is present in the filling between 10% and 60% by weight of the filling, the remaining part of the filling consisting of the matrix of sauce.

[0022] Some embodiments described here also concern a method for preparing a food filling for a food product of the stuffed pasta type. The method can provide to make available a sauce, make available chopped cooked pasta and amalgamate the sauce with the chopped cooked pasta in order to obtain a matrix in which the chopped cooked pasta is homogeneously distributed.

[0023] Some embodiments described here also concern a method for preparing a food product of the stuffed pasta type. The method can provide to make available fresh food pasta and the filling disclosed above, distribute a portion of the filling on a desired portion of the fresh food pasta, fold the stuffed pasta on itself so that at least two opposing border flaps thereof are overlapping along an open perimeter, thus forming a wrapping that completely encloses the filling, and seal the wrapping along the overlapping border flaps for the entire open perimeter, thus forming a closing portion which seals the filling inside the wrapping.

[0024] In accordance with another aspect of the method, the chopped cooked food pasta is present in the filling between 10% and 60% by weight of the filling, the remaining part of the filling consisting of the matrix of sauce.

[0025] DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS

[0026] We will now refer in detail to the possible embodiments of the invention. The phraseology and terminology used in the present description have the function of providing a non-limiting example of the invention itself, since the scope of protection is defined by the claims. It is understood that elements and characteristics of one embodiment can be conveniently combined or incorporated into other embodiments without further clarifications.

[0027] Some embodiments described here concern a stuffed food product of the stuffed pasta type, therefore having a food filling enclosed by a wrapping of food pasta.

[0028] The food product described here can be easily consumed, after being properly cooked, even as street food.

[0029] The food product described here has been designed and developed by the Applicant to reproduce the organoleptic characteristics typical of a pasta dish, that is, a food pasta cooked in boiling water, drained and then variously seasoned, in a format that is practical to consume, meaning that it can be consumed substantially anywhere, even with ones hands without any cutlery or similar utensils, while sitting, standing or even walking, minimizing the risk of splashing, spills or accidental food spillages, and thus avoiding much, if not all, the possibilities of stains as well as food waste.

[0030] A predominant component for the organoleptic characteristics of a pasta dish is the condiment, generally a sauce or a similar liquid or semi-liquid foodstuff, that generally makes the consumption of the foodstuff that contains it impractical.

[0031] The food filling of the stuffed food product described here can have a matrix of sauce amalgamated with chopped cooked food pasta homogeneously distributed in the matrix.

[0032] The matrix can be obtained starting from edible raw materials chosen from one or more materials of a group comprising: vegetable raw materials, such as cereals, tomatoes, legumes and / or others vegetables, mushrooms, truffles, herbs, spices, roots, fruit, animal raw materials, such as cheeses, milk derivatives, meat, cured meats, sausages, fish, non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, such as wines, spirits, distillates, protein-based compounds, fat-based compounds, carbohydrate- based compounds, with the possible addition of condiments and / or flavorings, and / or combinations thereof.

[0033] By “cooked food pasta” (hereafter also “cooked pasta” for short) we mean food pasta cooked in boiling water, possibly salted.

[0034] The cooked pasta can be dry food pasta, that is, having a maximum moisture content of 12.5%, or fresh food pasta, that is, having a maximum moisture content of 30%. Preferably, the cooked pasta is based on dry food pasta, cooked in boiling water, possibly salted.

[0035] Including cooked pasta in the matrix of sauce allows to thicken the matrix, so that the food product can be consumed in a practical way, minimizing the risks of accidental splashes or spills of sauce.

[0036] In fact, as is known, while being cooked the pasta releases part of the starch contained inside it into the cooking water, and part of this starch rises or is deposited on the surface of the cooked pasta. When the cooked pasta is amalgamated with the sauce, the starch can at least partly absorb a wet component of the sauce, thereby thickening the sauce.

[0037] The cooked pasta can be chopped, so as to facilitate a homogeneous distribution of the cooked pasta, and therefore of the surface starch, within the entire volume of the filling. This guarantees a homogeneous thickening of the entire filling and gives the filling a pleasant consistency, preventing the filling from spilling or dripping in an undesirable manner once the product has been bitten into. Moreover, advantageously, this allows to reproduce the taste of a pasta dish.

[0038] The cooked pasta can be based on flour of a foodstuff that is selected from a group comprising soft wheat, hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, buckwheat, rice, rye, com, barley, spelt, oats or other cereals, chestnuts, legumes or a combination thereof. Preferably, the cooked pasta is based on hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, or based on hard wheat semolina. Hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, flour contains more protein and gluten than other flours and has a higher water absorption capacity, possessing greater crushing of starch granules. For this reason, it is believed that the use of hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, based cooked pasta is particularly advantageous for the purposes of the present invention, since it allows the moisture content / water of the sauce to be adequately absorbed, so that the filling has a consistency adequate to be also consumed as street food without the product’s filling spilling or dripping in an undesirable manner during consumption. Hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, based cooked pasta is therefore much more advantageous and efficient in controlling the moisture content, and therefore the consistency, of the filling of the product according to the present invention than solutions known in the state of the art that do not use hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, flour. The food pasta of the stuffed pasta wrapping is generally a fresh pasta made starting from a dough based on soft and / or hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, flour and water and possibly eggs.

[0039] Preferably, the food pasta of the wrapping of the food product described here does not contain eggs, in order to enhance the filling’s flavor. The wrapping’s food pasta can be a fresh pasta made starting from a mixture of flour, water and possibly salt.

[0040] The flour of the wrapping’s pasta can be flour of a foodstuff that is selected from a group comprising soft wheat, hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, buckwheat, rice, rye, com, barley, spelt, oats or other cereals, chestnuts, legumes or a combination thereof.

[0041] Preferably, the wrapping’s fresh pasta is made from a mixture of soft wheat flour and water.

[0042] The food product can comprise a stuffed portion and a closing portion. The stuffed portion can comprise the filling wrapped by the wrapping. The closing portion can be a portion where at least two opposing border flaps of the wrapping ’ s pasta are overlapping, sealed together at least along an entire open perimeter of the stuffed portion, so as to close the food product in such a way that the filling is completely enclosed by the wrapping without any spillages.

[0043] The wrapping can be formed starting from a single shaped portion of a sheet of fresh pasta folded on itself so that at least two opposing border flaps thereof are overlapping and sealed together in correspondence with the closing portion.

[0044] The shaped portion of sheet can have various shapes, for example circular, semicircular, oval, semi-oval, square or rectangular, or even triangular, or even other shapes. Preferably, the shaped portion of the sheet can have a circular or semicircular shape.

[0045] Preferably, the food product’s wrapping can have a thickness of no more than about 3 mm, at most excluding the closing portion. Advantageously, a thin wrapping does not compromise the organoleptic characteristics of the filling.

[0046] In accordance with some embodiments, the chopped cooked food pasta is present in the filling between 10% and 60% by weight of the filling, the remaining part of the filling consisting of the matrix of sauce. A method for preparing the food filling for the food product of the stuffed pasta type described here can provide the steps of:

[0047] - making a sauce available;

[0048] - making chopped cooked pasta available; and

[0049] - amalgamating the sauce with the chopped cooked pasta in order to obtain a matrix in which the chopped cooked pasta is homogeneously distributed.

[0050] A method for preparing the food product described here can provide the following steps:

[0051] - making fresh food pasta available;

[0052] - making available a filling having a matrix of sauce amalgamated with chopped cooked pasta homogeneously distributed in the matrix;

[0053] - distributing a portion of the filling on a desired portion of the fresh food pasta;

[0054] - folding the stuffed pasta on itself so that at least two opposing border flaps thereof are overlapping along an open perimeter, thus forming a wrapping that completely encloses the filling; and - sealing the wrapping along the overlapping border flaps for the entire open perimeter, thus forming a closing portion which seals the filling inside the wrapping.

[0055] In some embodiments, making the filling available provides to amalgamate the matrix of sauce with the chopped cooked pasta. In some embodiments, the chopped cooked food pasta is present in the filling between 10% and 60% by weight of the filling, the remaining part of the filling consisting of the matrix of sauce.

[0056] The food product described here can be cooked quickly, for example steamed or grilled, or simultaneously steamed and grilled, similar to the type of cooking traditionally provided for Asian dumplings such as Japanese gyoza or Chinese jiaozi.

[0057] Once prepared, the food product described here can be frozen (i.e. blast chilled) for storage and / or transfer to a distribution point other than the location of preparation. The fast steam and / or grilled cooking described above can also be done starting from the frozen product.

[0058] It is clear that modifications and / or additions of parts may be made to the feed product and to the method as described heretofore, without thereby departing from the field and scope of the present invention, as defined by the claims.

[0059] Although the present invention has been described with reference to some specific examples, a person of skill in the art will be able to achieve other equivalent forms of food product of the stuffed pasta type and corresponding method, having the characteristics as set forth in the claims and hence all coming within the field of protection defined thereby.

[0060] In the following claims, the sole purpose of the references in brackets is to facilitate their reading and they must not be considered as factors restrictive of the field of protection.

Claims

CLAIMS1. Food product of the stuffed pasta type, characterized in that it comprises a filling having a matrix of sauce amalgamated with chopped cooked food pasta homogeneously distributed in said matrix.

2. Food product as in claim 1 , characterized in that said cooked pasta is dry food pasta based.

3. Food product as in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said cooked pasta is hard wheat, e.g. durum wheat, based.

4. Food product as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that it comprises an external wrapping which encloses said filling.

5. Food product as in claim 4, characterized in that said wrapping is made of fresh food pasta, made starting from a mixture of flour, water and possibly salt.

6. Food product as in claim 4 or 5, characterized in that said wrapping has a thickness of no more than 3 mm, excluding at most a closing portion of said wrapping.

7. Food product as in claim 4, 5 or 6, characterized in that said wrapping is formed starting from a single shaped portion of a sheet of fresh food pasta folded on itself so that at least two opposing border flaps thereof are overlapping and sealed together, at least along an entire open perimeter of a stuffed portion thereof, in correspondence with a closing portion.

8. Food product as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said sauce matrix is obtained starting from edible raw materials chosen from one or more materials such as: vegetable raw materials, such as cereals, tomatoes, legumes and / or others vegetables, mushrooms, truffles, herbs, spices, roots, fruit, animal raw materials, such as cheeses, milk derivatives, meat, cured meats, sausages, fish, non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, such as wines, spirits, distillates, protein-based compounds, fat-based compounds, carbohydrate-based compounds, with the possible addition of condiments and / or flavorings, and / or combinations thereof.

9. Food product as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said chopped cooked food pasta is present in said filling between 10% and 60% by weight of said filling, the remaining part of said filling consisting of said matrix of sauce.

10. Method for preparing a food filling for a food product of the stuffed pastatype, characterized in that it provides to make available a sauce, make available chopped cooked pasta and amalgamate said sauce with said chopped cooked pasta to obtain a matrix in which said chopped cooked pasta is homogeneously distributed.

11. Method for preparing a food product of the stuffed pasta type, characterized in that it provides to make available fresh food pasta and a filling having a matrix of sauce amalgamated with chopped cooked pasta homogeneously distributed in said matrix, distribute a portion of said filling on a desired portion of said fresh food pasta, fold the stuffed pasta on itself so that at least two opposing border flaps thereof are overlapping along an open perimeter, thus forming a wrapping that completely encloses said filling, and seal said wrapping along said overlapping border flaps for the entire open perimeter thus forming a closing portion which seals said filling inside said wrapping.

12. Method for preparing a food product of the stuffed pasta type, characterized in that said chopped cooked food pasta is present in said filling between 10% and 60% by weight of said filling, the remaining part of said filling consisting of said matrix of sauce.

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