Method and System for Making Protein Loaf, and Protein Loaf
A method for making a protein loaf, which may take the form of whole-muscle poultry, beef, pork, or veal, may include coating at least a portion of at least one of two pieces of protein with a bonding enzyme preparation along a bonding surface of one of the pieces; nesting the two pieces of protein in a mold and orienting the pieces such the coated bonding surface contacts a bonding surface of the other of the two pieces of protein; evacuating and sealing the pieces in a package such that the pieces are urged together along the bonding surfaces thereof and conform to the mold to form a loaf shape; and holding the pieces in the sealed package a time interval sufficient to allow the bonding enzyme preparation to cause cross-linking to occur between the bonding surfaces to form a unitary protein loaf from the two pieces of protein.
1 . A method for making a poultry loaf, the method comprising:
coating at least a portion of at least one of two pieces of poultry with a bonding enzyme preparation along a bonding surface of the at least one of two pieces of poultry;
nesting the two pieces of poultry in a mold and orienting the two pieces of poultry such the coated bonding surface of the at least one of the two pieces of poultry contacts a bonding surface of the other of the two pieces of poultry;
evacuating and sealing the two pieces of poultry in a package such that the two pieces of poultry are urged together along the bonding surfaces thereof and conform to the mold to form a loaf shape; and
holding the pieces of poultry in the sealed package a time interval sufficient to allow the bonding enzyme preparation to cause cross-linking to occur between the bonding surfaces to form a unitary poultry loaf from the two pieces of poultry.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising sous vide cooking the poultry loaf while in the package.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising freezing the sous vide cooked poultry loaf while in the package.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising tumbling the two pieces of poultry under a vacuum prior to coating.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein tumbling includes tumbling the two pieces of poultry with salt and flavorings.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the initial step of searing at least one of the two pieces of poultry.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the searing is performed on only one side of the at least one of the two pieces of poultry.
8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the searing includes producing grill marks on the at least one of the two pieces of poultry.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the two pieces of poultry are poultry breasts.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the poultry breasts are boneless breasts.
11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein arranging the two pieces of poultry includes inverting the poultry breasts relative to each other.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein evacuating and sealing the package includes evacuating and sealing the package such that the inverted poultry breasts conform to a shape of the mold.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the mold is part of a tray.
14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein evacuating and sealing the package includes placing the inverted poultry breasts in a package and evacuating and vacuum sealing the package in a thermoforming packaging machine.
15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the poultry is selected from chicken, turkey, and duck.
16 . A poultry loaf made by the process of claim 1 .
17 .- 28 . (canceled)
29 . The method of claim 1 , wherein holding the pieces of poultry in the sealed package includes conveying the sealed pieces of poultry in the sealed package to a cooled or refrigerated holding area, and holding the pieces of poultry in the sealed package to allow sufficient cross-linking caused by the enzyme preparation to bind or fuse the pieces of poultry together to form unitary loaves.
30 . The method of claim 1 , wherein coating at least a portion of at least one of two pieces of poultry includes coating at least a portion of at least one of two pieces of a skinless, boneless, whole-muscle, intact chicken breast.
31 . The method of claim 1 , wherein evacuating and sealing the two pieces of poultry in a package includes enclosing the two pieces of poultry between sheets of plastic and evacuating a space between the sheets, and sealing the sheets together to form a vacuum-sealed package.
32 . The method of claim 31 , wherein evacuating and sealing the two pieces of poultry in a package includes forcing the pieces of poultry into the shape of an interior of a mold.