JP2771784B2 - Simultaneous cooking of different ingredients - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for simultaneously cooking different kinds of foods using steam heating, and more particularly, to a method of forming a plurality of storage chambers in a food retainer and varying the amount of steam flowing into each storage chamber. Related to cooking method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various dishes such as vegetables, meats and konjac are used for prepared dishes such as chikuzen-ni. These ingredients have significantly different cooking properties, and need to be cooked in consideration of the degree of heating (heating intensity and heating time). When making such prepared foods at home, consider the appropriate degree of heating for each ingredient, put the ingredients that are hard to boil in the broth of the cooking pot first, cook them together, mix and boil them, and finally season Finished with seasoning with liquid.

[0003] As a method of industrially preparing such prepared foods on a large scale, there are a method of expanding the home cooking process as it is, and a method of boiling and cooking each ingredient separately and finally mixing the seasoning liquid. And finish.

[0004]

In the conventional cooking method of prepared foods, the cooking apparatus such as a large cooking pot and a stirring device is inevitably increased in size. Also, mechanization and automation are difficult and require many workers.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to realize a method in which different kinds of foods can be cooked simultaneously in a predetermined small amount in a short time, thereby enabling efficient industrial production of prepared foods.

[0006]

According to the cooking method of the present invention, the inside of a bottomed cylindrical food retainer is divided into at least two upper and lower storage chambers by a partition plate, and the upper part of the food retainer is opened. A steam hole is formed in the bottom of the food retainer and in the middle partition plate to store relatively easy-to-boil food in the lower storage room, and to store relatively hard-to-boil food in the upper storage room, and pass the food retainer through the steamer. And cook the ingredients in the upper and lower chambers at the same time. The inner partition can be opened and closed freely,
For example, the food container is attached to the inner wall surface of the food retainer via hinge means so as to be openable and closable. After the food material is stored in the lower storage room, the food material is stored in the upper storage room.

As another configuration of the present invention, the inside of the foodstuff retainer is divided into a plurality of storage chambers, and the area of an opening formed in a wall that divides each storage chamber is made larger or smaller for each storage chamber. It is also possible to store hard-to-boil ingredients in a large storage area and to store easy-to-boil ingredients in a small opening area, and pass the food retainer through a steamer to cook the ingredients in each storage room at the same time. is there.

[0008]

[Function] When the food retainer is passed through the steaming pot, the upper part of the food retainer is open, so the hard-to-boil food in the upper storage room is exposed to a large amount of steam and is heated strongly. As the food is difficult to enter, the lower-boilable ingredients are heated weakly, and thus the upper and lower ingredients are simultaneously cooked at the optimum heating level while passing through the steaming pot.

The food material retainer stores a plurality of kinds of food materials in predetermined small units suitable for packaging and heats the food as it is, so that a large cooking pot and a stirring device are not required, and the packaging is not required. Since the container is filled for each food retainer, the subdivision process is also simplified.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a cooking apparatus used for carrying out the cooking method of the present invention, wherein 2 is a first food hopper, 4 is a second food hopper, 6 is an endless chain, 8 is a driving sprocket,
Reference numeral 10 denotes a driven sprocket, 12 denotes a plurality of food retainers attached to the endless chain at equal intervals, 14 denotes a steaming pot disposed in the passage of the food retainer 12, 16 denotes a retort pouch container, 18 denotes a seasoning liquid hopper, 20 Is a sealing device,
22 is a retort pot.

The food material retainer 12 is formed of a heat-resistant resin such as Teflon or polypropylene, has a cylindrical shape with a bottom as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and has its bottom guided by a pair of right and left fixed rails 24 for sliding contact. The left and right sides are slidably guided by four fixed rods 26 arranged vertically and horizontally. The bottom of the food retainer 12 is pin-coupled to the endless chain 6 (not shown), and moves along the fixed rail 24 while maintaining an equal interval between the adjacent food retainers 12 by intermittent driving of the driving sprocket 8. Is configured.

A plurality of first steam holes 28 are formed at the bottom of the food retainer 12. The opening area of the first steam hole 28 is, for example, about 10% of the entire area of the bottom of the retainer 12. The bottom surface other than the first steam holes 28 may have a convex shape with a diameter of several millimeters, for example, and preferably about 6 millimeters. With such a convex shape, unnecessary boiled juice and condensed drain water that have come out of the food material are smoothly discharged. Further, a partition plate 32 having a plurality of second steam holes 30 is arranged at an intermediate position in the vertical direction inside the food retainer 12 as shown in FIG. The opening area or hole diameter of the second steam hole 30 is desirably smaller than that of the first steam hole 28. Portions other than the second steam holes on the upper surface of the middle partition plate 32 are also formed in a convex shape in consideration of smooth discharge of the boiling water and condensed drain water.
One end of the partition plate 32 is connected to the food retainer 12 by a hinge 34.
2 and is rotatable between a horizontal closed position shown by a solid line in FIG. 2 and a substantially vertical open position shown by a dashed line. A support protrusion 36 is formed on the inner wall surface of the foodstuff retainer 12 at a position facing the hinge 34, and the support protrusion 36 supports the lower surface of the other end of the partition 32 at the horizontal position.

An air cylinder 38 is vertically disposed near the driving sprocket 8. This air cylinder 38
The piston rod 40 extends upward, and as shown in FIG. 2, the food retainer 12 moves right above the air cylinder 38.
Is inserted into one of the first steam holes 28 to push up the partition plate 32.

The food in the food hopper is divided into small portions in the food retainer 12 and cooked by the cooking apparatus configured as described above. Ingredients A (such as burdock, carrot, lotus root, and poultry) that are relatively easy to boil are put in the first ingredient hopper 2, and ingredients B (such as shiitake, taro, konjac, and bamboo shoots) that are relatively hard to boil are put in the second ingredient hopper 4. . After the driving sprocket 8 is intermittently rotated in the direction of the arrow to move the empty food retainer 12 to just above the air cylinder 38, the piston rod 40 is extended. After the piston rod 40 extends and the partition plate 32 is pushed up by the piston rod 40 to be in a substantially vertical open state, the first food hopper 2
Of the food retainer 1 by opening a predetermined amount of the food A
2 in the lower row. Thereafter, the piston rod 40 is lowered to bring the middle partition plate 32 into the horizontal closed state as before, and the driving sprocket 8 is partially driven for one pitch to remove the food retainer 1.
2 is moved to a position directly below the second foodstuff hopper 4. Then the second
By opening the valve 44 of the food hopper 4, a predetermined amount of the food B is stored in the upper part of the food retainer 12.

After that, the driving sprocket 8 is driven, the food retainer 12 containing the foods A and B is passed through the steaming pot 14, and the foods A and B are heated with high-temperature steam, for example, 135 ° C. for 4 to 5 minutes. Cook to a degree. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper part of the accommodation chamber 46 in the upper stage is opened and steam is easily introduced, so that the food material A is heated strongly. On the other hand, in the lower storage chamber 48, the boiled liquid and the condensed drain water in the storage chambers 46 and 48 merge and try to flow downward from the first steam holes 28, and the steam is opposed to the boiled liquid and the condensed drain water. The food B is weakly heated because the amount of inflow is small because it enters. As a result, when the foods A and B exit the steaming pot 14, the foods A and B are optimally cooked.
In addition, since the amounts of the ingredients A and B are small, the cooking time is short, and boiling is unlikely to occur. Further, since cooking is performed in an open atmosphere, there is no so-called retort off-odor, which is a problem in retort foods cooked in a sealed pouch. The size and number of the steam holes 28 and 30 may be appropriately changed according to the types of the foods A and B. Some of the steam holes 28 and 30 are closed to reduce the degree of heating, and a special retainer 1 for each food is used.
2 may be prepared.

The steaming pot 14 can be provided with a vacuum evacuation device if necessary.
The inside may be evacuated, for example, to about 20 torr. Thereby, high-temperature steam can be spread evenly in the fine gaps between the ingredients A and B, and the cooking time can be further reduced. Further, by cooling the cooked foods A and B to, for example, about 60 ° C. by vacuum cooling, the cooling time can be reduced and the deterioration of the quality of the foods can be minimized.

The food retainer 12 is driven sprocket 10
, And at the same time, the partition plate 32 rotates downward and opens under its own weight, and the cooked ingredients A and B inside slide down by its own weight and are waiting below the food retainer 12. Is stored in the retort pouch container 16. On this occasion,
Since the ingredients A and B are naturally mixed in the process of falling, the ingredients A and B can be stored in the retort pouch container 16 without particular stirring.
Is not unevenly distributed. The retort pouch container 16 is then moved below the seasoning liquid hopper 18 by a transport device (not shown), and is filled with the seasoning liquid 50 by opening the valve 52 and then sealed by the sealing device 20. Thereafter, it is passed through a retort pot 22 and finished cooked at a high temperature (for example, 121 ° C.) and high pressure for 9 minutes, for example, with a total sterilization, and is shipped as a product.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be modified in various ways. Although it is divided into stages, it is also possible to divide into three or more stages to cook more types of foods at the same time. In addition, the partition plate 32 is, in addition to the above-described pivotable opening and closing type,
A slide opening and closing type is also possible. In this slide opening / closing type, a horizontal slit is formed in a side wall of the foodstuff retainer 12, and a partition plate is slidably inserted into and removed from this slit.

[0019]

According to the present invention, the upper part of the food retainer is divided into the upper part and the lower part which are difficult to enter by dividing the inside of the food retainer. In addition, since cooking can be performed simultaneously and in a short time, a large cooking pot or a stirrer is not required, and the cooking apparatus can be reduced in size and automated. In addition, a continuous batch process can be easily assembled by utilizing the features of simultaneous heating cooking and short-time cooking, and substantially continuous production of prepared foods becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a cooking device.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a food material retainer.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the food material retainer.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which steam enters a food retainer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 1st foodstuff hopper 4 2nd foodstuff hopper 6 Endless chain 12 Foodstuff retainer 14 Steaming pot 18 Seasoning liquid hopper 20 Sealing device 22 Retort pot 28 1st steam hole 30 2nd steam hole 32 Middle partition plate 38 Air cylinder 40 Piston rod 46 , 48 accommodation rooms

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An interior of a bottomed cylindrical food retainer is formed into at least two upper and lower storage chambers by a partition plate.
The upper part of the food retainer is opened, and a steam hole is formed in the bottom part and the partition plate of the food retainer, and the relatively easy-to-boil food is stored in the lower storage chamber and the relatively hard-to-boil food is stored in the upper storage chamber. A method for simultaneous cooking of different kinds of foodstuffs, wherein the foodstuffs are housed and the foodstuff retainer is passed through a steamer to cook the foodstuffs in the upper and lower storage chambers simultaneously. 2. The intermediate partition plate is attached to the inner wall surface of the food retainer via hinge means so as to be openable and closable. After the relatively easy-to-boil food is stored in the lower storage chamber, the upper partition is relatively opened. 2. The method for simultaneous cooking of different types of foodstuffs according to claim 1, wherein foodstuffs that are difficult to boil are accommodated. 3. A storage room having a large opening area, wherein the interior of the food retainer is divided into a plurality of storage rooms, and the area of an opening formed in a wall defining each storage room is made larger or smaller for each storage room. A method for simultaneous cooking of different kinds of foods, wherein foods that are difficult to boil are stored, foods that are easy to boil are stored in a storage room having a small opening area, and the foods in the storage rooms are simultaneously cooked by passing the food retainer through a steaming pot.