This invention is concerned with a method and system for tenderizing meat. A standard technique for improving the flavor of meat is to soak meat before cooking in a marinade. When meat is placed in a liquid marinade, the flavor is enhanced due to the absorption of some of the marinate liquid into the meat. Others have suggested enhancing the effect of marination by including enzymes.
To speed up and to augment the process of the absorption of a marinade by meat, others have suggested placing the marinade in a closed container in which the meat is placed and subjecting the container to pressure--the concept being to utilize fluid pressure to force more of the marinade into the meat. Still others have suggested placing meat in a closed container containing liquid marinade and subjecting the container to a vacuum on the basis that a vacuum will cause the marinade to penetrate more deeply into the meat. U.S. Pat. No. 2,525,581 includes the concept of placing meat in a liquid within a vessel and altering the pressure applied to the meat during a marination process for more effective penetration of the marinade.
While forcing a marinade into meat achieves the goal of improving, or at least changing, the taste of the meat after it has been cooked, marination alone does not dramatically effect how tender the meat will be when cooked.
When the strength of connective tissue is great and of substantial quantity, or the muscle tissue is strong and is not broken down in the cooking process, meat can be "tough", that is, difficult to chew. Accordingly, it has long been an objective of processors of meat to find ways of enhancing the tenderness and the flavor thereof.
Examples of the work done by others to improve the tenderness, texture or flavor of meat are exemplified by the following United States patents:
(a) U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,550 teaches applying a vacuum to draw marination into the meat but does not teach rapid variation of a high vacuum to achieve tenderization; PA1 (b) U.S. Pat. No. 2,043,392 relates to tenderizing meat but in this method a dilute aqueous solution of a proteolytic enzyme is pumped through the vascular system of the meat; PA1 (c) U.S. Pat. No. 2,509,299 relates to a method of preserving food in which the food is placed is a syrup composition including a bleach and subjecting the composition while in the syrup to an elevated fluid pressure and freezing the food while subjected to the elevated pressure; PA1 (d) U.S. Pat. No. 2,881,080 is for tenderizing meat by applying an aqueous enzyme solution and then subjecting the meat to sound wave energy; PA1 (e) U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,223 is a process for treating meat by subjecting the meat to thin jets of liquid to penetrate the meat in which the jets are applied in short bursts; and PA1 (f) U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,403 subjects meat to shock waves generated by an explosive charge to tenderize the meat.
While all of these previously disclosed methods of enhancing the tenderness and flavor of meat have merit to one degree or another, nevertheless, none adequately address the problem of economically and expeditiously tenderizing meat by breaking down excessive connective and muscle tissue. Particularly none have taught the concepts to effectively tenderize meat with the opportunity at the same time to marinate the meat to produce a superior flavor when the meat is cooked.
For further background information concerning the treatment of meat, see the following additional United States patents:
______________________________________ PATENT NO. INVENTOR TITLE ______________________________________ 2,525,581 Bierman Apparatus For Treating Food Material 2,742,367 Apparatus and Method For Curing Meats 3,370,959 Method of Flavoring Poultry Meat 3,663,233 Method of Tenderizing, Curing and Cooking A Meat Product 4,036,122 Apparatus For Treating Meat, More Particularly Ham Meat 5,057,332 Apparatus and Process For Marinating Foodstuffs ______________________________________
Of the known prior art references, U.S. Pat. No. 2,525,581 appears to be the most closely related to the present invention.