JP6928776B2 - Cooling cooking method and refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cooling cooking method having a cooking function that promotes the infiltration of seasonings into foods and the softening of foods by controlling the optimum cooling rate.

In recent years, with the increase in double-income households, convenience is required for all household chores such as cooking, cleaning, and washing, and there is a tendency to avoid time-consuming and time-consuming cooking. Especially disliked are dishes such as stewed dishes, which need to be treated for a long time to promote the penetration of seasoning ingredients and soften the ingredients. In recent years, cooking and cooking methods that can be cooked in a short time have been preferred in the cooking scene at home.

There are various operations in cooking, and they can be roughly divided into two operations. One is non-heating operation (washing, dipping, cutting, cooling, freezing, thawing, coagulation, etc.) and the other is heating operation (baking, frying, frying, etc.). Most of the non-heating operations are performed as a pretreatment for the heating operations, and are important operations that greatly affect the subsequent heating operations and finish. Refrigerators and refrigerators have the roles of cooling, freezing, thawing, and coagulation, especially in non-heating operations, and by combining these operations and performing them automatically, it is possible to save the labor of heating operation cooking and other cooking.

Those using a freezer / refrigerator as a cooking operation have been conventionally proposed. (See, for example, Patent Document 1)
Hereinafter, the conventional freezer / refrigerator will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view of a conventional freezer / refrigerator.

In the figure, the freezer / refrigerator 1 is configured by partitioning the freezing chamber 2 and the refrigerating chamber 3 by a partition wall. The low-temperature cooking room 4 has a heat insulating material 5 on the outer periphery thereof, and has a door 6 that can be opened and closed at the front opening. The cooling means 11 includes a cooler 10 that is cooled by pressurizing the refrigerant with the compressor 7 and vaporizing the refrigerant liquefied by the condenser 8 at once with the expansion valve 9, and is cooled by the cooling means 11 with the blower means 12. The cold air is forcibly ventilated, and the cold air is sent to the low temperature cooking room 4 through the air passage 13. A temperature control means 14 such as a damper thermostat is provided in the air passage 13 so as to maintain the low temperature cooking chamber 4 at an appropriate temperature.

Further, in the low temperature cooking room 4, a heating means 17 including an upper heater 15 and a lower heater 16 is installed. The control panel 19 is provided with keys for setting the temperature and time in the low-temperature cooking room 4 according to the ingredients 18 in the low-temperature cooking room 4, and the temperature conditions can be set by operating these keys. Therefore, appropriate temperature control is performed according to each material and the like.

Therefore, when the user puts the food material 18 into the low-temperature cooking room 4 and operates the control panel 19 to make settings according to the food material 18, the cold air cooled by the cooling means 11 is cooked at the low temperature by the blowing means 12. It circulates in the chamber 4, freezes the food material 18 for a certain period of time according to the setting, causes plasmolysis, and then forms a state in which the seasoning material can permeate.

Next, the heating means 17 raises the temperature of the food material 18 to promote the penetration of the immersed seasoning material. Therefore, plasmolysis is performed so that the seasoning material can permeate by freezing without adding salt, and the pickles can be reduced in chloride, and at the same time, the pickling time can be shortened by forming an environment in which the seasoning material can easily permeate. ..

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-73583

However, in the above-mentioned conventional refrigerator, the temperature change of the food material is gradual, and a long heating time and freezing time are required for sufficient permeation of the immersed seasoning material. This does not match the background of the recent era in which cooking time is rapidly shortened. In addition, the osmotic action of the seasoning and the internal water is excessively promoted by the treatment for a long time, and the texture is impaired.

Further, in a household refrigerator / freezer, energy saving is an important appealing point, and installing a heating means has a drawback that a large burden is placed on the freezer.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator capable of shortening the soaking time and suppressing excessive permeation of seasoning liquid by cooling food at an appropriate cooling rate.

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the refrigerator of the present invention is provided with a storage chamber that can be set in a slightly freezing temperature zone of about -3 ° C., a pretreatment step of bringing the food material into contact with the seasoning, and the pretreatment step. Later, a first step (rapid cooling step) of charging the food surface into the storage chamber to cool the food surface to a non-freezing temperature zone of 0 ° C. or lower, and a second step of cooling the food surface to a slightly freezing temperature after the first step. In the step (slightly freezing step), the first step and the second step are completed within 15 minutes in a refrigerator that rapidly cools the foodstuff, and after the second step is completed, the storage chamber is slightly frozen. It is characterized by being maintained in a temperature range. As a result, the temperature of the surface of the food material is lowered in a short time in the first step, and the effect of permeating the seasoning liquid into the food material can be enhanced. Further, by slightly freezing the food surface in the second step, an appropriate gap is generated between the cells on the food surface, and the effect of the seasoning liquid at the time of thawing and heating can be increased without impairing the texture.

In the cooling cooking method and the refrigerator of the present invention, by rapidly cooling the surface of the food material, a osmotic pressure difference is generated due to the temperature difference between the exterior part of the food material and the inside thereof in a short time, and the original texture of the food material is not impaired. It is possible to make it easier to soak the taste into the ingredients and improve usability.

Front view of the refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the present invention AA cross-sectional view of FIG. Enlarged view of the main part of the refrigerator compartment according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The control block diagram of the refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Control flowchart of quenching operation from input load detection of refrigerator in Embodiment 1 of the present invention The figure which shows the relationship between the cooling time of the refrigerator and the food surface temperature in Embodiment 1 of this invention. The figure which showed an example of the relationship between the foodstuff arrival temperature of the refrigerator and the salt concentration of a foodstuff in Embodiment 1 of this invention. Longitudinal section of a conventional freezer / refrigerator

In the first invention, a food material is prepared by a first step (rapid cooling step) of cooling the food surface to a non-freezing temperature zone of 0 ° C. or lower and a second step (slight freezing step) of cooling the food surface to a slightly freezing temperature. By rapid cooling, rapid cooling is started immediately after the food is added to form a microfrozen layer on the surface in a shorter time, promoting the osmotic action due to the temperature gradient, promoting the permeation of the seasoning liquid, and cells. It is possible to enhance the effect of permeating the seasoning liquid and the effect of softening the food without impairing the flavor of the food by appropriately forming ice crystals during the period.

According to the second invention, in the first invention, the first step reliably promotes the osmotic action due to the temperature gradient after the food is added by cooling the food surface at a rate of 1 K / min or more. The effect of permeating the seasoning liquid can be enhanced.

According to the third invention, in the first or second invention, by having the pretreatment step of bringing the food material into contact with the seasoning, the effect of dyeing the food material with the seasoning liquid can be further promoted.

In the fourth invention, in any one of the first to third inventions, the storage temperature after finishing the cooling cooking is set to a slightly freezing temperature of 0 or less, so that the food is stored while maintaining its freshness even after the cooling cooking. be able to.

The fifth invention is a refrigerator provided with any one of the first to fourth cooling cooking methods, and can provide a refrigerator capable of efficiently impregnating a food surface with a seasoning.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

(Embodiment 1)
1 is a front view of the refrigerator according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a main part of the refrigerator according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 4 is the same embodiment. FIG. 5 is a control block diagram of the refrigerator according to the above embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of a quenching operation from the input load detection of the refrigerator according to the same embodiment.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the refrigerator 101 includes five storage chambers, an upper tier, a middle tier, and a lower tier. Specifically, the upper storage room is a refrigerating room 102, which has a first changing greenhouse 103 having a double door on the front and a drawer door below, and an ice making room 105 having a drawer door in parallel therewith. It is composed of a vegetable compartment 106 having a drawer door arranged at the bottom and a freezing chamber 104 arranged between the ice making chamber 105 and the vegetable compartment 106.

Each door is illustrated as a refrigerating room door 102a, a first greenhouse door 103a, a freezing room door 104a, an ice making room door 105a, and a vegetable room door 106a, respectively. The refrigerating chamber 102, the side-by-side ice making chamber 105, and the first greenhouse 103 are vertically partitioned by a heat insulating partition wall 111. Further, the side-by-side ice making chamber 105, the first greenhouse 103 and the second freezing chamber 104, and the freezing chamber 104 and the vegetable compartment 106 are similarly partitioned vertically by the heat insulating partition wall 111.

Further, the refrigerator 101 formed by the heat insulating wall 110 filled between the outer box 108 and the inner box 109 has a second greenhouse 107 as an independent storage chamber in the lower part of the refrigerating chamber 102 provided in the upper part. The compartment is formed. The second changing room 107 is configured as a switching chamber, and in the case of the present embodiment, the first temperature zone (chilled) of the refrigerating temperature zone around 0 ° C., the first temperature zone, and about -6 ° C or less. It can be set to a second temperature zone (partial) of about -3 ° C, which is a temperature zone between the freezing temperature zone and the freezing temperature zone.

Next, the configuration of the cooling system will be described. A cooling chamber 114 is formed behind the back surface of the freezing chamber 104, has a cooler 115 inside, and constitutes a freezing cycle for cooling the refrigerator 101 together with the compressor 112 installed in the upper machine chamber 113. Further, in the cooling chamber 114,
A blower fan 116 that forcibly circulates the cold air that has been heat-exchanged by the cooler 115 is arranged, and above that, a damper device 117a that distributes the cold air that flows into the refrigerating chamber 102 and the cold air that flows into the second greenhouse 107 are transferred. A damper device 117b for distribution is arranged. In each storage room, the temperature inside the refrigerating room 102 is about 2 to 3 ° C, the temperature inside the vegetable room 106 is about 2 to 5 ° C, and the inside of the first greenhouse 103 and the freezing room 104. The temperature can be divided into a temperature range of about -18 to -20 ° C. As a result, higher freshness and long-term storage can be realized by selecting a temperature range suitable for food storage and storing the food.

Next, the configurations of the lighting device 121 installed on the top surface of the second greenhouse 107 and the second greenhouse 107 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The second greenhouse 107 has a synthetic resin upper surface cover 122 whose upper portion can also be used as a shelf board 118 located at the lowermost stage of the refrigerating chamber 102, and a synthetic resin upper surface cover 122 which can be pulled out in the front-rear direction. The storage case 123 made of synthetic resin and the opening / closing door 124 provided at the front opening of the upper surface cover 122 of the second greenhouse 107 can be opened / closed. The opening / closing door 124 is a storage case 123 when closed. It is in close contact with the front wall 123b of the above, and the inside of the second greenhouse 107 is a substantially closed space. Further, the opening / closing door 124 is made of highly transparent synthetic resin so that the food stored inside can be visually recognized.

Further, on the back wall surface of the second greenhouse 107, a door opening / closing detecting means 127 is provided so that the opening / closing door 124 fits with the rear wall 123a of the storage case 123 when closed. Further, in the present embodiment, an aluminum bottom plate 128 is fitted on the bottom surface of the storage case 123 to improve the cooling performance and the visibility by diffusing the lighting from the lighting device 121, but it is not particularly essential. ..

Further, behind the back wall surface of the second greenhouse 107, a duct 125 on the back of the greenhouse is formed to guide the cold air distributed by the damper device 117b to the second greenhouse 107, and is formed on the top surface of the second greenhouse 107. Is located downstream of the greenhouse rear duct 125 and the greenhouse top duct 126. The greenhouse top surface duct 126 is composed of a heat insulating duct member 126a formed of a foam heat insulating member having heat insulating properties, and a synthetic resin duct cover 126b serving as a decorative plate covering the outer periphery thereof. The transformation greenhouse top surface duct 126 constitutes a duct together with the upper surface cover 122, and forms a cold air outlet 129 that discharges cold air into the second transformation greenhouse 107 at a position that is an upper surface portion of the storage case 123.

Further, in the second greenhouse 107, a lighting device 121 that irradiates the room is installed embedded in the duct cover 126b on the opening / closing door side in front of the depth center position of the greenhouse top surface duct 126. ..

Next, the refrigerating room door switch 130 for detecting the open / closed state of the refrigerating room door 102a is installed in the refrigerating room 102, and the temperature zone and operation mode of the second changing greenhouse 107 are installed at arbitrary places inside and outside the refrigerator 101. The setting means 131 for switching is installed. Further, the signal S1 is input from the refrigerator compartment door switch 130, the signal S2 is input from the setting means 131, the signal S3 is input from the door open / close detecting means 127 to the control microcomputer 132, and the signal S4 is further input to the compressor 112 from the control microcomputer 132. The signal S5 is output to the blower fan 116, the signal S6 is output to the damper device 117a, and the signal S7 is output to the damper device 117b to perform a predetermined cooling operation.

The operation and operation of the refrigerator configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, the opening / closing door 124 is closed while the temperature zone of the second greenhouse 107 is set to the second temperature zone (partial) by the setting means 131, and the refrigerating room door switch 130 is set to the refrigerating room door. The closure of 102a is detected (STEP 1). Then, starting from the fact that the refrigerating room door switch 130 detects the closing of the refrigerating room door 102a (STEP 1), the food loading presence / absence determining means 134 determines the presence / absence of load loading. Specifically, when the compressor 112 has passed a predetermined time or more since the start and is operated at a predetermined rotation speed determined by the outside air temperature (STEP2), whether or not the inside of the second greenhouse 107 is rapidly cooled. The quenching start determination is started (STEP3). If the time after the start of the compressor 112 has not reached the predetermined time in STEP 2, the process proceeds to STEP 3 when the predetermined time has elapsed.

If it is determined in STEP 3 that there is no load, normal partial control is performed (STEP 4). On the other hand, if it is determined in STEP 3 that there is a load applied, a predetermined quenching operation is started. Further, after the predetermined quenching operation is completed, the deep freeze protection operation of STEP 6 is performed.

The quenching release determination may be determined by the temperature inclination of the greenhouse temperature sensor 133 when the damper device 117b for the second greenhouse (partial chamber) 107 is forcibly closed for a predetermined time.

Further, regardless of the temperature sensor, the quenching control may be started by opening / closing the quenching start switch or the door of the storage chamber.

In order to freeze the food material rapidly, it is necessary to keep cooling continuously for a predetermined time for the following reasons. When the food material is slightly frozen, if the surface layer is slightly frozen, the specific heat is about half and the thermal conductivity is about four times that of the unfrozen part inside the food material. If cooling is temporarily stopped in this situation, the heat of the unfrozen portion is likely to be transferred to the slightly frozen portion by heat conduction, so that the temperature of the slightly frozen portion is likely to rise again. As a result, the temperature of the once slightly frozen portion easily rises to 0 ° C., and thawing begins. Repeated microfreezing and thawing are not preferable because they physically deteriorate the foodstuff and deteriorate its quality.

In order to rapidly realize surface microfreezing, the microfreezing layer should be grown to a thickness of about 1 mm so that the microfreezing layer itself exerts a latent heat storage effect so that the heat inside the food material is not transferred to the outermost layer. It is necessary to exert a heat insulating effect. In this way, a slightly frozen layer can be reliably formed on the surface layer of the food material. Further, in that case, the time until the formation of the slightly frozen layer is not easily affected by the supercooling phenomenon or the like and is relatively stable.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the cooling time and the food surface temperature when the food material is slightly frozen by the control means. After starting the cooling, in the first step, the surface temperature of the food material drops at a rate of 1 K / min or more, and in the second step, the microfrozen layer is grown to a thickness of 1 mm or more on the surface layer, and these steps are carried out within 15 minutes. Set to complete. As a result, the osmotic action due to the temperature gradient is promoted, the permeation of the seasoning liquid is promoted, and the permeation effect of the seasoning liquid and the softening effect of the food material can be enhanced without impairing the flavor of the food material by forming appropriate ice crystals between cells. ..

The ingredients before the first step and the second step are subjected to a pretreatment step of contacting with the seasoning. As a result, the seasoning can be efficiently and quickly permeated into the food material.

Further, since the storage temperature after the cooling cooking is set to a slightly freezing temperature of 0 or less, it is possible to store the food while maintaining its freshness even after the cooling cooking.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the temperature at which the food is reached and the salt concentration of the food when the food is cooled or slightly frozen by the cooling means. It was found that when the food material reaches the freezing point after cooling, the salt concentration in the food material increases at a temperature lower than that before freezing, and the taste infiltration effect is promoted.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the first step (rapid cooling step) of cooling the food surface to a non-freezing temperature zone of 0 ° C. or lower, and the food surface being cooled to a slightly freezing temperature after the first step. This is a cooling cooking method in which the foodstuffs are rapidly cooled in the second step (slight freezing step), and the storage chamber (second transformation greenhouse 107) and the ventilation means for blowing the cold air from the cooler 115 into the storage chamber (the second step). In a refrigerator equipped with a blower fan 116) and a control means (control microcomputer 132) for controlling the blower means, the surface of the food stored in the storage chamber is slightly frozen by controlling the blower of cold air by the control means. After that, the food is stored at a slightly frozen temperature, and the slightly frozen layer can enhance the effect of permeating the seasoning liquid and the effect of softening the food. In addition, the ingredients can be easily separated and separated, and the flavor is not deteriorated, so that the preserved food can be preserved fresh.

The ventilation means are a duct that blows cold air from the cooler to the storage room (refrigerator room duct 120), a damper (damper device 117a) provided in the duct, and a temperature sensor that detects the temperature in the storage room (changed temperature). With the sensor 133), the control means forcibly opens the damper device for a predetermined time, rapidly microfreezes the surface of the food stored in the storage chamber, and then the damper device is based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor. It is stored at a slightly frozen temperature by controlling the opening and closing of the damper. Immediately after adding the ingredients, quenching is started to induce the osmotic effect and microfreezing formation in a shorter time, and the preserved food is stored fresh. be able to.

In addition, the damper device is forcibly opened for a predetermined time and the compressor is continuously operated, so that the osmotic effect and the formation of microfreezing can be induced in a shorter time, and the preserved food can be freshly stored. ..

The second changing greenhouse 107 is built in one section of the storage chamber, and the temperature of the second changing greenhouse 107 is controlled independently of the storage chamber 102, so that the slightly frozen layer once formed is stably maintained. The cooling effect and storage effect can be maintained.

When the same means can be secured, the cooling control means of the present invention is not limited to the changing greenhouse 107, but can be any of the refrigerating room 102, the first changing greenhouse 103, the freezing room 104, the ice making room 105, and the vegetable room 106. It is also possible in the room of.

The refrigerator of the present invention can be applied not only for home use but also for commercial use, and can be used, for example, for improving the cookability of commercial refrigerators, showcases and cooler boxes.

101 Refrigerator 102 Refrigerator room (storage room)
102a Refrigerating room door 103 First changing greenhouse 103a First changing greenhouse door 104 Freezing room 104a Freezing room door 105 Ice making room 105a Ice making room door 106 Vegetable room 106a Vegetable room door 107 Second changing greenhouse (storage room, partial room) )
108 Outer box 109 Inner box 110 Insulation wall 111 Insulation compartment wall 112 Compressor 113 Upper machine room 114 Cooling room 115 Cooler (evaporator)
116 Blower fan (blower means)
117a, 117b damper device (damper)
120 Refrigerator duct (duct)
121 Lighting device 122 Top cover 123 Storage case 123a Rear wall 124 Open / close door 125 Change greenhouse back duct 126 Change greenhouse top surface duct 126a Insulation duct member 126b Duct cover 127 Door open / close detection means (storage room open / close detection means)
128 Bottom plate 129 Cold air outlet 130 Refrigerating room door switch 131 Setting means 132 Control microcomputer (control means)
133 Change greenhouse temperature sensor (temperature sensor)
134 Means for determining the presence or absence of food input

Claims (4)

It is equipped with a storage chamber that can be set in a slightly freezing temperature range of about -3 ° C. A refrigerator that rapidly cools the foodstuff in a first step (rapid cooling step) of cooling to a non-freezing temperature zone and a second step (slightly freezing step) of cooling the surface of the foodstuff to a slightly freezing temperature after the first step. A refrigerator characterized in that the first step and the second step are completed within 15 minutes , and after the completion of the second step, the storage chamber is maintained in a slightly frozen temperature zone. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the first step controls the blowing means so as to cool the food surface at a speed of 1 K / min or more. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the first step is forcibly opening the damper device that sends cold air to the storage chamber for the time of the first step. The storage chamber is built in the refrigerating chamber, and the closed state of the door of the storage chamber is detected, and the closed state of the door of the refrigerating chamber is detected as a starting point. The refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when it is determined, the refrigerator is rapidly cooled.

Images