APPLICATION

Individually Quick Frozen food coated with cream

Ready-to-cook food particles coated with a creamy preparation.

Updated Oct 29, 2021 - 10 min Read

BASE

Core products

Vegetable, meat, or fish chunks, cut or diced to a smaller size (10–50 mm).

 

RECIPE

Ingredients

The preparation is generally an emulsion of :

  • fat, dairy, or vegetable cream
  • texturizing agent
  • emulsifier
  • herbs, spices, and flavours

It is mixed and prepared at the required temperature.

PROCESS

How does it work?

Upstream
The ingredients are cut, diced, sliced, and blanched.

Coating occurs by a repeated application of cream and cryogenic gas while mixing and tumbling.

Downstream
The coated particles may require a final freezing step before storage and packaging.

1.

Ingredient preparation

E

2.

Repeated cream and cryogenic gas injection

E

3.

Completed by freezing

PROCESS

Coating system

Batch systems allow repeated cream slurry applications with intermediate freezing phases to set the cream. A continuous tumbler or screw system is used when a small application provides for a single pass in the system.
Coating systems are completed with product feeding and discharge systems with slurry and gas injection devices.

PROCESS

Coating system

Coating systems are completed with product feeding and discharge systems with slurry and gas injection devices.

PRODUCT EVALUATION

How do you measure your success?

Key quality features

After defrosting and cooking, the result should look as just made by a cook. To achieve this, a few features to achieve:

Homogeneity

Even coating of the food chunks.

Aspect

No agglomerated product.

Product integrity

No broken product nor fines.

Key quality parameters

The long and complex process uses multiple parameters.

Dosage control

Careful dosage of the preparation to coat but avoid excess.

Design and operation

The motion speed adjusts the mixing and tumbling motion.

Time control

Adjusting periods of subsequent actions.

How to tackle a project?

Do you want to develop or improve the coating of a food product? Or do you have a problem that we can solve with a coating application?

First, write the brief, and define the purpose of the coating: aspect, texture, taste, flavour, preservation, and functionality.

Core product

What is the core centre to coat? Composition, size, shape, texture, moisture, bulk density.

Ingredients

Are they specific ingredients to apply, or are you looking for the right ingredients?

How does it work?

Upstream

Where does the core product come from? How is it shaped?

Coating process

Is there an existing process, or are you seeking a technical solution?

Downstream

A finishing step is probably required to stabilize and give its characteristics to the coated product.

Step 1

Upstream
Forming process

Step 2

Repeated cream and cryogenic gas injection

Step 3

Downstream
Finishing process

Coating system

The challenge is to reproduce at a larger scale what has been done manually in the kitchen or at the bench scale. What operating principle to choose: band, pan, tumbler with dipping, dribbling, dispersing, spraying.

Coating system

If existing, what are the coating system characteristics? Type, capacity, making. Any picture, documentation, or reference of it? Where to source it?

How do you measure your success?

Key quality features

After defrosting and cooking, the result should look as just made by a cook. To achieve this, a few features to achieve:

Homogeneity

Even coating the food chunks.

Aspect

No agglomerated product.

Product integrity

No broken product nor fines.

Key quality parameters

The long and complex process uses multiple parameters.

Dosage control

Careful dosage of the preparation to coat, but avoid excess.

Design & operation

The motion speed adjusts the mixing and tumbling motion.

Time control

Adjusting periods of subsequent actions.