Patent ID: 6040013
Filing Date: 2000-03-21
Classification: A23B,A23L

Abstract:
A method for treating pieces of food by tumbling in a marinade, the method comprising:(a) tumbling the pieces of food with a marinade in a gentle kneading action so the pieces simply roll over each other, said pieces being tumbled in a sealed tumbler having a smoothly continuous, surrounding interior longitudinal side wall having a central axis parallel to the longitudinal sidewall and having no protrusions contacting the pieces of food to avoid impacting the food against a solid surface, the tumbler being rotated about the axis of the side wall; and(b) pumping gas from the tumbler to attain a reduced pressure at a first pressure value and then subsequently pumping gas from the tumbler during the tumbling to maintain a reduced, subatmospheric pressure during rotation until the pressure is returned to atmospheric pressure for removing the pieces of food from the tumbler;wherein rotation is such as to avoid lifting the product higher than the axis of rotation and dropping the product while being rotated.