JPS636425B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a novel frozen food package.

In recent years, frozen foods have become popular not only for school lunches at schools and offices, but also for restaurants and hotels, as well as for general home cooking, due to their preservation of flavor and nutritional value, sanitary safety, and saving of cooking time. It has also come to be used in large quantities.

The present invention relates to a novel frozen food package that solves these problems during thawing of frozen food by improving the packaging mode.

[Conventional technology]

Frozen foods are already well known,
According to the voluntary handling standards for frozen foods, frozen foods:
It is defined as food that is pre-treated, quickly frozen to a temperature of -18°C or lower, and then packaged for the purpose of being sold directly to consumers (including large-scale consumers).

Pretreatment here refers to removing the head, internal organs, bones, etc. of fish, preparing the shrimp by removing the shells and breading them, semi-cooking such as boiling the ingredients in advance, and serving immediately after thawing. It is said to include a complete cooking process, etc. that allows for cooking.

In addition, rapid freezing to -18℃ or below makes the ice crystals that are generated finer, preventing the destruction of cell tissue caused by large ice crystals that occur during slow freezing, and preventing quality deterioration. It is said to be for the purpose of

In addition, in relation to the present invention, other than frozen foods,
In Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 54-26571, etc., packaging bodies in which foods such as side dishes for lunch boxes are classified and stored are known, and in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 53-161171, etc. A package in which a main body and a liquid substance such as sauce are separately housed is known.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The first problem with conventional frozen foods is that they are frozen as one large lump with both solid and liquid parts mixed together, so when thawing them in a pot, etc. Only the outer periphery or heat transfer surface thaws quickly, and even if that part is boiling, the center remains frozen, and the solid part remains completely frozen until the frozen liquid part in the center flows out. Since it is not heated, it takes a long time for the whole food to thaw.

The second problem is that even though the center is still cold, the materials in the solid portion that are thawed during the initial heating period come into contact with the heating surface such as the bottom of the pot and are overheated, condensed, and altered. , or burnt,
The flavor is significantly impaired.

Further, such problems occur even when using a microwave oven. In other words, even in a microwave oven,
As a result of the extreme concentration of electromagnetic energy in the periphery, especially at the corners, the material is thawed from the corner and periphery, and the exposed solid parts of the corner and periphery become overheated, while the center remains solid without being thawed. There is a problem that the flavor is significantly impaired by being concentrated, denatured, or burnt.

In addition, the above-mentioned Utility Model Application Publication No. 54-26571,
Publication No. 53-161171, etc. all deal with foods that are not frozen packaged, and do not take into account the above-mentioned problems, nor do they offer any suggestions on how to solve these problems. It's not something you give.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve such problems, the inventor of the present invention divided the semi-cooked or fully cooked food into a solid portion and a liquid portion, and further separated the liquid portion into a liquid portion. Each one is
To provide a frozen food package characterized in that it is divided into two or more parts so that the weight is approximately equal to 15 g or less, and the parts are quickly frozen while being divided.

The semi-cooked food here refers to food prepared by mixing and heating a frozen solid part and a frozen liquid part, or by mixing a frozen solid part and a frozen liquid part. or, or
A completely cooked food can be obtained by heating and mixing both of them, and further heating after mixing, if necessary.

Furthermore, dividing into a solid part and a liquid part means that when a semi-cooked food consists of two parts, a solid part and a liquid part, it is divided into those parts as they are, and semi-cooked food is divided into a solid part and a liquid part. Or, if the fully cooked food is a mixture of a solid part and a liquid part, it means separating the solid part and the liquid part.

Dividing the liquid part into two or more ice cubes of approximately equal size, each weighing 15 g or less, means dividing the liquid part into two or more ice cubes of approximately the same size, each weighing 15 g or less. The purpose is to do so in any way you like.

The number of divisions, that is, the number of ice cubes, is determined as appropriate based on the total amount of the liquid portion and the allowable heating time. Generally, the greater the amount of liquid portion, the greater the number of divisions, and the shorter the allowed heating time, the greater the number of divisions.

When the amount of the divided liquid portion, that is, the size of the ice block, exceeds 15 g, the time required for the ice block to thaw becomes longer and the effect of preventing flavor deterioration becomes lower. On the other hand, as the size of the ice block becomes smaller, the time required to defrost the ice block becomes shorter, and the effect of the present invention that the flavor is sufficiently retained becomes fully exhibited.

However, increasing the number of ice blocks, that is, the number of divisions of the liquid part, tends to increase the equipment cost due to the increase in the number of filling nozzles. When the amount of filling per hit decreases, the accuracy of the amount of filling decreases.

Note that the accuracy of the filling amount also decreases as the viscosity of the liquid portion increases.

Normally, it is preferable that the size of one ice block is 10 to 15 g, and if it is this size, it can be thawed in a pot in about 2 minutes.

Semi-cooked or fully cooked foods that can be used as the frozen food package of the present invention include beef stew, cream stew, curry, beef stroganoff, shrimp in chili sauce, sweet and sour pork, macaroni gratin, and spaghetti.

[Function] By separating the solid part from the liquid part, each material in the separated solid part can freely roll on the heating surface such as the bottom of the pot,
Alternatively, in a microwave oven, electromagnetic wave energy is absorbed by each material, especially in its surroundings, and the entire surface of each material can come into contact with the thawed liquid portion, thereby increasing the heating effect.

By dividing the liquid part separated from the solid part into small ice blocks of 15g or less,
The heating effect is enhanced because the surface area of the frozen liquid portion is increased, and these ice cubes can roll freely on the bottom of the pan, etc., allowing various surfaces of the ice cubes to come into contact with the heating surface.

In a microwave oven, the liquid part separated from the solid part is divided into small ice cubes of 15 g or less, which increases the amount of frozen liquid part around the periphery and corners. Since electromagnetic wave energy is concentrated in the area, the heating effect is enhanced.

As mentioned above, the heating effect of the ice block is enhanced and the liquid part is quickly thawed. As a result, the thawed liquid part is heated by the latent heat of liquefaction of the ice while it coexists with the ice block, and by the latent heat of vaporization of water after the ice block disappears. , suppresses excessive temperature rise of heated surfaces such as the bottom of the pot or areas where electromagnetic energy is concentrated, and prevents the liquid portion from directly contacting the heated surface such as the solid portion of the pot, thereby preventing the solid portion from being overheated. , there will be no burning.

By separating the solid portion from the liquid portion and further dividing the separated liquid portion into 15 g or less, the total surface area becomes larger and the time required for rapid freezing becomes shorter.

[Example] Beef stew Beef stew cooked in the usual way was mixed with 100g of solid part (ingredients) and liquid part (sauce).
Divide into 100g, then divide the sauce into 8 parts,
It was placed in the plastic container shown in the figure, sealed, and flash frozen. The time required for freezing is
It was 1/2 the usual amount.

The frozen foods packaged in this way were opened without being thawed beforehand, put directly into a pot, and heated in a regular gas range.

The time required to thaw the liquid portion was 2 minutes, the ingredients were heated by the thawed sauce, and the time required for cooking was 6 minutes (8 minutes in total).

The cooked food had no burnt odor and had a good flavor because it was thawed from the liquid part.

On the other hand, when we quickly frozen 200g of the same beef stew in a tray, opened it, put it directly into a pot, and heated it in a gas microwave under the same conditions, it took 15 minutes to thaw and cook. . In addition, the cooked food was partially burnt and had a burnt odor.

Sweet and sour pork Fried pork, 130g of stir-fried vegetables (solid part), and sweet and sour vinegar (liquid part)
70g was divided into 6 pieces and quickly frozen.

This frozen food was opened, transferred to a plate, heated in a microwave oven, and cooked without being thawed in advance.
The time required for cooking was about 4 minutes, and since the vegetables were heated uniformly in a short time, the texture of the vegetables was also good.

On the other hand, when similar foods were placed in one tray in a lump, quickly frozen, heated in the same manner, and cooked, the cooking time was approximately 8 minutes, and the cooked food was The vegetables were burnt, and the vegetables had a limp feel due to the long cooking time, and the texture was not desirable.

〔effect〕

Since the frozen food package according to the present invention has the above-described structure and function, it not only shortens the time required for thawing and cooking, but also has the excellent effect of maintaining the flavor of the cooked food well. This also has the secondary effect of shortening the time required for rapid freezing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a perspective view of a plastic container used as one of the frozen food packages according to the present invention. In this figure, 1 is a solid part storage part, 2 is a liquid part storage part, 3 is a sealing surface, and 4 is a part forming an opening knob of the seal.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Foods that have a liquid portion when eaten and are semi-cooked or fully cooked are separated into a solid portion and a liquid portion, and the liquid portion is separated one by one.
1. A frozen food package, characterized in that it is divided into two or more parts so that the weight is approximately equal to 15 g or less, and the parts are quickly frozen while being separated.