Method of manufacturing food resembling scallop and food resembling scallop obtained by the same method

A material mainly composed of ground fish meat is molded into the form of a strip, which is then set by heating. After the material has been solidified, it is then cut into the form of filaments. A plurality of these filaments are bundled and integrated without use of any binder but by applying a combination of a predetermined uniform peripheral pressure and local extra pressure to form peripheral circular recesses on cylindrically compacted material at a constant interval. Under this pressed state, the material is heated by boiling to obtain a cylindrical material. The cylindrical material is then cut along the center of each peripheral annular recess to obtain a food product resembling the scallop meat and having round opposite end corners.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing food resembling scallop 
and food resembling scallop manufactured by the same method. More 
particularly, the invention concerns a method, in which material in the 
form of filaments thermally molded from a material mainly composed of 
ground fish meat or the like can be integrated by molding without use of 
any binder such as fish meat paste to obtain food resembling scallop, 
which can be hardly distinguished both in appearance and texture from the 
natural scallop meat and can be dressed with batter, crumbs, etc. 
satisfactorily even at the corners. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Recently, food resembling the scallop meat both in appearance and texture 
which is manufactured from ground meat of fish, e.g., cod, which called 
"surimi" is considerably popular along with food resembling crab meat. The 
food resembling the scallop meat is manufactured in the various ways. In a 
most general method, ground meat paste is molded into the form of strips, 
which are then subjected to setting, solidified, heated and then cut into 
the form of fine filaments. Such fine filaments are gathered together with 
a binder such as fish meat paste into a cylindrical form, which is then 
heated and cut to a predetermined length or thickness. FIG. 1 is a 
perspective view showing a cylindrical mold for producing the molded food 
material in the prior art method noted above. The mold 1 consists of 
semi-cylindrical halves 2a and 2b hinged together by a hinge member 2c. 
These mold halves 2a and 2b are closed with fine filaments 6 of ground 
meat or the like set in the interior together with a binder such as fish 
meat paste or like via a film 3. The inner food material is thus compacted 
into a cylindrical form, which is then put into said mold in order to be 
hinged together therein by the hinged member 2c. The food material thus 
obtained is then heated to obtain a cylindrical material as shown in FIG. 
2. After the molding, the film 3 covering the molded material 4 is 
separated, and the material 4 is cut to a constant length, whereby a food 
product 5 resembling the scallop meat as shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. The 
food 5 consists of the filaments 6 of ground fish meat or the like which 
are bound and integrated by the binder. The individual components 
filaments are straight and extend in parallel, so that the product has a 
structure closely resembling that of the natural scallop meat. 
Japanese Patent Application Disclosure No. 55-40024 discloses another 
method of manufacturing a food product in a scallop meat fashion. In this 
method, ground fish meat paste is coated on the surface of a rotating 
heating roller and dried thereon to form a strip-like material. A binder 
such as fish meat paste is then thinly coated on the material, and the 
process is then cut into the form of filaments. These filaments are then 
boiled and integrated into a cylindrical form using a retainer mold. The 
material is then cut to substantially the same thickness as the scallop 
meat to obtain the food resembling the scallop as shown in FIG. 3. 
In either of the methods described above, the component filaments which are 
gathered to extend in a fixed direction, are bound by a binder. Therefore, 
the filaments are bound too strongly compared to the natural scallop meat 
so that they cannot be readily separated using chopsticks or a fork. The 
character of the food is considerably different from the character of the 
natural scallop meat and its texture is quite different therefrom. In 
addition, the food 5 resembling the scallop meat manufactured by either of 
the method noted above, has cut end surfaces so that the corners 5a 
defined by the end surfaces are sharp unlike the natural scallop meat 
which has round corners. Therefore, in addition to the fact that the 
product is considerably different in appearance from the natural scallop 
meat, crumbs and batter or the like cannot be satisfactorily attached to 
the corners 5a when dressing the product. When the dressed food is fried, 
scorch would result at the corners. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,688 discloses a method of manufacturing a fibrous fish 
meat food consisting of straight and parallel filaments like the food 
resembling the scallop meat noted above. In this method, ground fish meat 
is kneeded and then molded into a certain shape and then subjected to 
setting. During the setting period, i.e., while the material has not yet 
been solidified, the material is cut into filaments. The filaments are 
then gathered into a cylindrical bundle and then heated to obtain a 
cylindrical material, which is then cut to a desired length. In this 
method, material which has not yet been solidified is cut into filaments, 
which are then gathered and heated. Thus, although the resulting boiled 
fish paste comprises an inner part coated with an outer surface forming a 
pellicle united to the inner part when the material is heated, inner 
filaments are not bound together, so that the product more closely 
resembles the natural scallop meat both in appearance and texture. 
Again the product, however, has cut edges so that its corners are not round 
but sharp as shown in FIG. 3. Besides, the product has a pellicle 
surrounding the entire periphery, which is not substantially found in the 
natural scallop meat. In this respect, substantial analog of the texture 
of the natural scallop meat cannot be obtained. Further, since the 
cylindrical material is cut before it is completely solidified, it is 
liable that the shape of the filaments is spoiled when they are cut. 
Particularly, the filament shape is greatly spoiled when the filaments are 
gathered into the cylindrical form. For this reason, it is very difficult 
to obtain a food product which closely resembles the natural scallop meat. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,487 discloses a method of manufacturing fibrous meat 
products including those of fish meat. In this method, fish or like food 
is rendered into the form of filaments which are gathered into a bundle, 
which is then converted into a meat paste with an emulsion material mixed 
with it. The paste is then extruded such that the filaments substantially 
extend straight and parallel. The extruded material is then solidified by 
freezing or heating it. The product obtained by the method, however, 
contains the emulsion material intervening between filaments, and also the 
filaments are cut to very small length, i.e., 2 to 50 mm. The product, 
therefore, is greatly different in structure and texture from the natural 
scallop meat. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention seeks to overcome the shortcomings described above. 
More particularly, an object of the invention is to provide a method of 
manufacturing a food product resembling the scallop meat which permits a 
bundle of filaments mainly composed of ground fish meat to be readily 
integrated by molding without use of any binder and permits a food product 
which has round corners capable of ready attachment of batter, flour bread 
crumbs, etc., and a food product resembling the scallop meat obtained by 
this method. 
According to the invention, when thermally molding a bundle of filamentary 
elements of material mainly composed of ground fish meat into a 
cylindrical mold, the material is sectionally pressed to form the molding 
with circumferential annular recesses located at a suitable interval in 
the longitudinal direction of the molding. The component filaments are 
thus more strongly bond in the sectionally pressed portions of the molding 
than in the rest thereof, so that the filaments can be sufficiently 
integrated without use of any binder. 
In addition, according to the invention the filaments are obtained by 
molding the material into the form of a strip, thermally setting the strip 
product and then cutting the set product. Thus, the adjacent filaments the 
bundle provide weak mutual binding forces except the said sectionally 
pressed portions when the filaments are molded into the cylindrical form, 
so that structure and texture that closely approximate those of the 
natural scallop meat can be obtained. 
Further, according to the invention the annular recess formed on the 
periphery of the cylindrical mold has semi-circular or circular axial 
sectional profile. Thus, when the molding is cut in the recessed portions, 
the product food has round corners. The product thus closely approximates 
in appearance as well the natural scallop meat, so that batter, crumbs, 
etc. can be satisfactorily attached to even the corners. The dressed food 
thus can be fried uniformly, i.e., without scorch formed at the corners.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The method of the invention will now be described in detail. 
Material mainly composed of ground fish meat is molded into the form of a 
strip, for instance, which is then subjected to thermally setting. After 
the material is solidified, it is molded into finely thin filaments. The 
filaments may be formed by any molding method so long as ground fish meat 
paste or like material is thermally molded into the form of filaments. 
For the material may be used white meat fishes such as Alaska pollack and 
other white meat fish, and red meat fishes such as mackerel, sardine and 
krill, shellfish. The shellfish may be usually used in the form of ground 
meat for molding into the form of strip. It may also be used in the form 
of minced meat, which called "otoshimi". 
The filaments have a rectangular sectional shape when they are formed by 
slicing the strip as noted above, but it is possible to mold filaments 
having any other desired sectional shape than the rectangular shape. 
Further, such auxiliary materials as vegetable protein, e.g., beans, fats, 
spices, edible salt and other seasonings may be added. The material may be 
kneeded with water and additives, if desired, using a kneeder or the like 
into paste, which is molded into strip and subjected to setting by 
heating. The strip-like material having been kept setting is then cut into 
fine filaments. 
A plurality, particularly a large number, of these filaments are then 
bundled in a cylindrical form and then press molded by applying peripheral 
pressure while heating the material to obtain a cylindrical molding 
product. When molding the filament bundle, while applying a uniform 
peripheral pressure to the material, extra sectional pressing force is 
applied so that the cylindrical material have peripheral annular recesses 
formed at a predetermined interval in the longitudinal direction. The 
material is heated under composite applied force, whereby a cylindrical 
material 9 as shown in FIG. 5 can be obtained. The filaments can be 
integrated without use of any binder such as fish meat paste. The 
cylindrical material is cut along the center of each annular recess 9a, 
whereby a food product 11 resembling the scallop meat as shown in FIG. 6, 
having round corners 11a, can be obtained. 
FIG. 4 shows a mold 7 which is used for carrying out the method of the 
invention. It consists of two semi-cylindrical halves 8a and 8b hindged 
together along their adjacent edges. The inner surfaces of the mold halves 
8a and 8b, which define a molding chamber, are provided with 
circumferential rod members 9a with a diameter of 2 to 10 mm welded to 
them at predetermined interval. Thus, when the two semi-cylindrical halves 
8a and 8b of the mold 7 is closed with a number of filaments 10 along the 
longitudinal axis of said mold 7 and covered with film 3 as shown in FIG. 
5, the filament bundle is pressed from the outer periphery by a 
predetermined pressure while it is also sectionally further pressed by the 
circumferential rods 9b, whereby the peripheral recesses 9a are formed. In 
this state, the material is boiled or otherwise heated, whereby the 
component filaments 10 separated from film 3 are integrated to obtain the 
cylindrical material 9 as shown in FIG. 5b. The cylindrical material 5 has 
the peripheral annular recesses spaced apart at a predetermined interval, 
the filaments 10 being strongly bonded in these recessed portions. 
With the prior art methods, the filament bundle is molded by application of 
uniform peripheral pressure, as mentioned earlier. With the solitary 
application of the peripheral pressure, the individual filaments are bound 
only weakly, so that usually a binder such as meat paste is used to 
reinforce the binding. In contrast, according to the invention the 
filaments 10 in the bundle are sectionally pressed by means of the 
circumferential rods 9b in addition to the application of uniform 
peripheral pressure, so that they are very strongly bound at the recessed 
portions 9a. Thus, sufficient binding of the filaments can be obtained 
without use of any binder, structure and texture closely approximate those 
of the natural scallop meat can be obtained. 
The cylindrical material 9 is cut along the center of each peripheral 
annular recess 9a as shown in FIG. 5b, whereby a food product resembling 
the scallop meat as shown in FIG. 6 can be obtained, which has round 
opposite side corners 11a over the entire periphery and closely 
approximate the appearance, structure and texture of those of the natural 
scallop meat. 
An example of the invention is given below. 
100% by weight of ground meat of Alaska pollack and 2% by weight of edible 
salt were kneeded in the ordinary mannner using a food cutter. 35% by 
weight of water and a desired mount of seasoning such as an extract from 
the natural scallop meat were added to the mixture, and the admixture was 
kneeded for five minutes to obtain a pastelike material. 
The said material was then molded into a continuous strip, which was then 
boiled at a temperature at 80.degree. to 85.degree. C. while it was 
transported continuously. The strip was then sliced in its longitudinal 
direction into fine filaments having a sectional area of 1 mm by 1 mm. 
A given number of these filaments are then bundled and integrated using the 
mold shown in FIG. 4. The mold had circumferential rods with a diameter of 
2 mm welded at a predetermined interval to the inner wall surface of its 
two halves. By closing the mold with the filament bundle covered with film 
3, the filament bundle was sectionally pressed by the circumferential rods 
while it was peripherally uniformly pressed by a predetermined pressure. 
In this state, the material was heated again by boiling, whereby the 
filaments in the bundle were firmly bonded in the recessed portions formed 
by the circumferential rods. After removing film 3 covering the filament 
bundle, a cylindrical material as shown in FIG. 5b was thus obtained, 
which has peripheral annular recesses formed at a predetermined interval. 
The circular material was cut along the center of each peripheral annular 
recess, whereby a food product resembling the scallop meat as shown in 
FIG. 6 could be obtained. It has round opposite end corners, and its 
component filaments were sufficiently bound together at the opposite ends. 
Its appearance, structure and texture were substantially the same as those 
of the natural scallop meat. 
In panel testing by 100 persons, who took the fry of the said food prepared 
by dressing it with batter and crumbs, and most of the members could not 
distinguish the food from the natural scallop meat fry, which was also 
prepared in the same way and served for the purpose of comparison. The 
sectional structure of the product obtained according to the invention and 
that of the natural scallop meat were compared, and the two could not be 
substantially distinguished from each other for the product was such that 
its filaments were not strongly bound over its substantial length or 
thickness but are strongly bound at the opposite ends.