1. Tumbling.
1. Principle of tumbling Tumbling is a method to accelerate the speed of curing, and the energy in the meat is converted through mechanical treatment. Tumbling promotes the distribution of liquid media (e.g. brine), improves the tenderness of the meat, and increases the extraction and movement of salt-soluble proteins to the surface of the meat cuts, thereby significantly improving the yield and quality of the product.
2. The role and purpose of tumbling.
1) Accelerate the penetration and color of the marinade: The horizontal tumbling machine uses the principle of physical impact to speed up the penetration of the marinated meat through the falling, kneading and destruction of meat tissues. This treatment also allows the injected marinade to be evenly distributed throughout the meat, thus absorbing more brine. This not only shortens the curing time, but also improves the tenderness and yield of the product.
2) Protein extraction: During the tumbling process, the friction, impact and squeezing between the pieces of meat cause salt-soluble proteins to be precipitated from the cells. These proteins absorb components such as water and starch to form a slimy substance that allows different pieces of meat to bond together and improve adhesion.
Second, chop and mix. 1. Principle.
Muscle cells are encased in a connective tissue membrane (cell wall) that allows actin and myosin to maintain the distribution of water within the tissue and not absorb foreign water. Therefore, during the chopping process, the cell wall must be opened so that the cytoplasm can be freed out, and the fragments of structural proteins can also be freed out and absorb water, forming a network of protein colloids. This colloid also absorbs fat particles and prevents the binding between fat particles when heated, providing a stable structure. Therefore, it is very effective to make the necessary dry chops before adding water and ice. In drier conditions, muscle fibers are easier to cut, especially when chopping is effective. It would be even better if all the cells could be chopped apart and the free structural cells could be minced again. However, chopping can cause the temperature of the meat to rise dramatically, so there is a limit to dry chopping, and only frozen meat can be vigorously chopped. In general, when the fat content of the minced meat is between 20% and 35%, the protein network is able to form a stable protein-water-fat mixture. When the fat content is too high, a stronger protein network is required to form this stable mixture, so the reasonable ratio of protein, water and fat must be considered when making the product.
2. Role. 1) Activate meat protein: increase the water retention and yield of the meat filling, reduce the greasy feeling, and improve the tenderness.
2) Improve the structure of the meat: Mix the lean and fatty meat well to make the combination firmer. Improve the elasticity of the product, and it is not easy to produce oil when baking.
3) Destroy the connective tissue membrane, make the protein molecules in the muscle swell, and improve the adhesion and water retention of the raw meat filling.
3. Pickling. 1. Concept Curing is an ancient method of meat preservative storage, but now the purpose of curing has developed from simple preservative preservation to mainly improve the flavor and color and improve the quality of meat. Curing is the process of processing meat by using or using table salt as the main one, with the addition of curing materials such as sodium nitrate (or potassium), sucrose, and spices. Curing allows salt or sugar to penetrate into the meat tissues, reduce its water activity, increase osmotic pressure, selectively control the activity of microorganisms, inhibit the growth of spoilage bacteria, and thus prevent meat spoilage.
2. Purpose: Antiseptic preservation; Stabilize the color of the flesh; Improve the water retention of meat; improve the flavor of meat; Promotes mouthfeel, elasticity and slice consistency.
4. Injection. In order to speed up the penetration of salt and prevent the spoilage of cured meat, the brine injection method is widely used. Through mechanical injection, it can not only increase the yield, but also evenly disperse the brine, and make the muscle tissue soft through tumbling, a large amount of salt-soluble protein exudes, improve the tenderness and water retention of the product, and improve the color, layering and texture, etc. In addition, the injection also greatly shortens the curing cycle. The advantages of saline injection include: the amount of various additives can be calculated in advance; It is possible to manufacture products with more even distribution of additives; A variety of additives can be utilized; It can improve the yield of products; It can also save manpower. At present, saline injection is usually done using dozens or even hundreds of regularly arranged needles, and there are two types of injection machines: low-pressure injection (injection pressure 3 5 bar) and high-pressure injection (10 12 bar). Low-pressure injections are commonly used for high-grade products with low yields, while high-yield products with multiple fillers are injected at high pressure. A product that cannot be successfully injected by a low-pressure injection machine is also incapable of making a product that cannot be injected at low pressure by a high-pressure injection machine.