Introduction
The baking step is the final step in a technological process designed to obtain a
good cooked meat product. As you can imagine this is a very critical phase
because any mistake can destroy all the work done, however surprised that
technically has hardly changed since the start of the meat industry. The
processes and temperature regimes have adapted to products over the years
but the teams have barely changed.
During firing a series of changes in the internal structure of the product as:
denaturation and coagulation of proteins, which improve the palatability of the
meat, intensifying the taste, destruction of a large number of microorganisms,
inactivation of proteolytic enzymes, the stabilization of the pink color of cured
meat, etc. All these changes directly affect the appearance, taste, texture and
final product quality and take place simply by transferring heat from one
environment into the product, followed by cooling to a temperature safety
through methods similarMoreover, market competition requires that the product quality is steady and
reliable, so a company can not afford to have a part of the process without
control, unknowingly that happens inside a boiler firing or in a chamber cooling,
with no doubt that all the pieces have followed the same process, the quality
and safety is not homogeneous.
The computer on which place is going to take this step. This involves
mechanical and programming aspectsThe scientific principles that govern the transfer of heat and mass when
air is used as the heating medium (thermal and psychometric properties).
The physical characteristics of meat product
HEATING
The application of heat to the product, basically performs the following
functions:
denatured proteins
the reaction favors meat curing and sets the final color of the product
Product water removed through evaporation
fatty material melts
product temperature increases
The main purpose of this function is to uniformly heat the product surface, and
then drying faster. This is easily understandable if we remember that the hotter
the water, the easier it is evaporating.
During flushing, the product loses some moisture, but as the hatches are closed
and no forced extraction, moisture is retained in the air circulating. This
increased humidity prevents excessive drying of the product, while heating
power increases, further increasing the temperature of the product quickly.
DRYING
El secado de cualquier producto crnico, puede llevarse a cabo a cualquier
temperatura. Como el propsito fundamental de esta etapa es eliminar
humedad del producto, la humedad relativa del aire debe ser la ms baja
posible.
Upon drying, two phenomena of water movement is presented in its final
product characteristics determined after this stage. These phenomena are:
SMOKED
Smoke, whether in gaseous form or liquid form, is considered as an additive
covering the surface of the product giving a color and flavor.
The effect characteristic smoke flavor generated comes mainly from the
surface. This is because smoke penetration into the product is about 3 mm from
the surface. Some components of smoke can penetrate to reach 10 to 12 mm
after extended periods of time, but in general, the characteristic sensory effect
comes from the surface.
There are important differences in the design of heat treatment if you plan to
use gas or liquid smoke smoke.
COOKING
The process function "Cooking" is generally the last stage of the heating
process. After cooking, necessarily followed by a rapid cooling step to lower the
temperature of the product before packaging the section.
Cooking is usually done at a temperature of 80EC, with air circulation in low
speed, direct steam. These conditions will allow the entire product inside the
chamber reaches the desired internal temperature in a uniform manner, as will
wet gut or softening sheath and subsequently facilitating the peeling of the
product.
By using direct steam, the air is completely saturated. The temperature is
controlled by the amount of steam that is added to the circulating air stream.
Cooking is basically a heating step, whose sole purpose is to raise the
temperature of the product to the desired point.
Saturated air, due to their high moisture content, large amounts of energy brings
the product. If in addition to all this energy transfer through a forced air
circulation is increased, you can run the risk of destabilizing the emulsion thus
causing grease outlet and gelatin, as may occur reventamientos gut.
As for the "Hot Air" function, you should use the extractor on low speed, if you
have the option of two speeds. This will help control the condition of the air
flowing into the chamber.
After the baking step, we recommend a maintenance stage. This is to keep the
final internal product temperature for a period of 5-10 minutes. In the case of
very large diameter products such as whole leg hams, you can schedule a
maintenance phase of up to 15 minutes. The purpose of this function is to
achieve a greater effect in reducing the microbial load.
COOLING
When the final desired internal temperature is reached and stabilized in the
baking step, the product must be cooled rapidly. For small diameter products,
perform one-step showered with brine is probably the fastest system. The
purpose of using brine as cooling medium is to cool the water to below 0EC,
without freezing. Thus, a cooling medium will be taken at a lower temperature
than if water alone was used, and thus will more rapidly. However, this requires
a team recirculating brine and will be more expensive in relation to life.
For this reason, make showered with cold water is cheaper. When showered
with cold water are used, usually recommended them in two stages, with
flashing between them, thus creating favorable conditions for evaporative
cooling during the time when the shower is off. The final temperature of the
product before the step of packaging, must be 4EC. For showers with brine, this
temperature can be achieved with shower in one step. For shower with cold
water, you can make a first step showered in which the product temperature can
drop to a value which can vary between 33EC and 41EC depending on the
diameter of the product. After this first step, you can leave the product to the
environment for a short period of time to allow the remaining water from the
shower evaporates from the surface, achieving greater cooling and avoiding
staining of this (small spots in drops lighter in color than the surface).
Subsequently, the product can be introduced into a cooling room, where air
conditions are such as to not lose much weight or wrinkle. For example, when
the cold air inside the room is very dry, or has excessively high speeds, there
may be wrinkling and loss of peelable.
When the product is vacuum packing, must be at a temperature equal to or
greater than the dew point temperature of the air flowing in the packing room. If
below this value, condensation will occur on the product surface. This water will
remain inside the vacuum pack, generating subsequent microbiological
problems.