Encased instantly cookable pasta

• US 5,342,634 A
• Filed: 02/09/1993
• Issued: 08/30/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kanebo, Ltd. (HOYU Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Kanebo, Ltd. (HOYU Company Limited)
• Inventors: Shimizu, Yoshio, Murata, Susumu, Miura, Tetsuo, Sano, Masako, Yokoo, Hisahiko, Fujihara, Masayuki, Nakanishi, Kenjiro, Takeuchi, Yasuo
• Primary Examiner(s): WEINSTEIN, STEVEN L
• Application Number:
  US08/015,302
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 426/113, 426/412, 426/415, 426/115, 426/120, 426/557, 426/451
• US Class Current: 426/113
• CPC Class Codes: A21C 11/16 Extruding machines
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 7/109 Types of pasta, e.g. macaroni or noodles
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2581/3404 Cooking pasta dishes, e.g. noodles
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 81/34 for packaging foodstuffs or other articles intended to be cooked or heated within the package
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 81/3415 specially adapted to be heated in hot water, e.g. boil pouches dissolvable packages B65D65/46; packaging articles or materials intended to be mixed or infused with a liquid B65D85/808

Abstract

Described herein are method and apparatus for producing instantly cookable pasta including various kinds of pasta and Chinese and Japanese noodles, and an encased instantly cookable pasta produced by such method and apparatus. According to the invention, part of raw dough of a starting mixture, which contains wheat flour as a major component, is subjected to preliminary steam-cooking, and then mixed with the remaining uncooked part of the starting mixture. The resulting mixture is then processed through shaping, steam-cooking and drying stages to obtain instantly cookable pasta, enshrouding the instantly cookable pasta product in a water-permeable casing before shipment. Due to suppression of thermal degeneration of gluten, the instantly cookable pasta possesses favorable resiliency and is free of the smell inherent to raw wheat flour and cohesion of individual pasta cords. In order to restore the cooked edible state, the encased pasta can be put in hot water together with the casing, permitting hot water to impregnate uniformly into the pasta. The water-permeable casing facilitates the handling of the pasta in cooking and improves its restorative quality to obtain cooked pasta of palatable touch and flavor.

Claims

1. Encased instantly cookable pasta, comprising:

instantly cookable pasta strips of a predetermined shape formed by shaping and drying a mixture containing wheat flour as a major component said pasta formed of a dough mixture including a mixture of a steam cooked first dough portion and a non-steamed uncooked second dough portion as ingredients in which the steam cooked first dough portion of the dough mixture is steam cooked prior to mixing with said non-steamed uncooked second dough portion and prior to formation of said mixture into said predetermined shape, and wherein said steam cooked first dough portion is 5-90% of said dough mixture, with the remainder of the dough mixture being the non-steamed uncooked second dough portion, wherein the instantly cookable pasta strips are formed by first preparing raw dough of a starting mixture containing wheat flour as a major component and having a predetermined water content, dividing the raw dough of the starting mixture into the first dough portion which is to be the steam cooked portion and which is 5-90% of the dough mixture, and with the remainder of the starting mixture constituting the second dough portion as the non-steamed uncooked second dough portion, preliminarily steam-cooking the first dough portion, mixing the steam-cooked first dough portion with the non-steamed uncooked second dough portion, forming the resulting mixture into raw pasta strips of the predetermined shape, subjecting the raw pasta strips to a primary steam-cooking treatment, subjecting the primarily cooked pasta strips to a secondary steam-cooking treatment, and drying the secondarily cooked pasta strips, and further wherein forming of the instantly cookable pasta strips includes loosely separating the individual pasta strips from each other at a point between one of;

(a) the primary and secondary steam-cooking treatments, and (b) the secondary steam-cooking treatment and drying step; and

a casing of a bag-like shape enshrouding said pasta strips and formed of a heat-resistant and water-permeable material.

2. Encased instantly cookable pasta as defined in claim 1, wherein said encased pasta is sealed in an outer casing for preservation purposes.

3. Encased instantly cookable pasta as defined in claim 2, wherein said outer casing contains a pouch of supplement seasonings along with said encased pasta.

4. The encased instantly cookable pasta of claim 1, wherein said steam cooked portion is 10-60% of said dough mixture.

5. The encased instantly cookable pasta of claim 1, wherein said steam cooked is cooked at approximately 100°

C. for approximately 4 minutes.

6. Encased instantly cookable pasta strips comprising:

instantly cookable pasta strips of predetermined shape, said instantly cookable pasta strips being made by the process comprising forming a starting dough, dividing said starting dough into a first portion and a second portion, said first portion corresponding to 5-90% by weight of said starting dough, subjecting said divided first dough portion to a preliminary steaming for a time and at a temperature until the alpha conversion rate of at least 93% is reached for said first dough portion, cooling said steamed first portion, mixing said cooked first portion with said second uncooked portion prior to shaping, shaping the resultant mixture of the first and second portions into predetermined pasta strips, subjecting the pasta strips to a primary steam cooking treatment, spraying said cooked pasta strips with hot water, subjecting the pasta strips to a secondary steam cooking, and then drying the pasta strips, the process further including loosening the individual pasta strips by the use of an aqueous emulsion and air, with said loosening step occurring at a point between one of;

(a) the primary and secondary steam-cooking steps, and (b) the secondary steam-cooking step and the drying step; and

a casing of a bag-like shape enshrouding said pasta strips and formed of a heat-resistant and water-permeable material.