Abstract:
Methods and apparatus for providing a fillet of generally uniform thickness. In one embodiment, a method includes providing a fish fillet having a loin portion and a belly portion, cutting the loin portion to provide a butterflied portion that remains attached to the loin portion, lifting the attached butterflied portion, and manipulating the attached butterflied portion over to the belly portion to provide a fillet having a generally uniform thickness across the fillet. In another embodiment, a fish fillet includes a generally uniform thickness across the fillet.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/940,503, filed on May 29, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference. 

   BACKGROUND 
   As is known in the art, commercial fishing vessels extract fish and other catch from the ocean. The fish is processed in a series of steps that lead to sale and consumption by end users. Generally, consumers cook the fish in some way prior to eating. However, conventional processing methods result in suboptimal cooking characteristics and/or waste. 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , the processed fish fillet  10  is uneven from dorsal to belly. More particularly, a loin portion  12  is significantly thicker than a belly portion  14  of the fillet. When such a fillet is cooked, such as by frying, microwaving, grilling, etc., the fillet  10  is cooked to different consistencies across the fillet. More particularly, while the loin portion  12  may be cooked to a desired condition, the belly portion  14  may be overcooked. In addition, a V-cut  16  in the fillet exacerbates the uneven cooking characteristics. Users may not eat the overcooked portion due to undesirable texture and/or taste. If the belly portion  14  is cooked to taste, the loin portion  12  may be undercooked. To mitigate these uneven cooking characteristics, the fillet can be processed to remove a portion of the loin portion. While this may address cooking unevenness, this leads to lower yield and waste. 
   SUMMARY 
   The present invention provides methods and apparatus for processing fish to provide a fillet that has a consistent thickness. With this arrangement, the fillet cooks evenly across the fillet. While the invention is primarily shown and described in conjunction with processing fish, and particular fish species, it is understood that the invention is applicable to animal processing in general, for which is it desirable to provide a cut of generally uniform thickness. 
   In one aspect of the invention, a method comprises providing a fish fillet having a loin portion and a belly portion, cutting the loin portion to provide a butterflied portion that remains attached to the loin portion, lifting the attached butterflied portion, and manipulating the attached butterflied portion over to the belly portion to provide a fillet having a generally uniform thickness across the fillet. 
   The method can further include one or more of the following features: manipulating the fillet to remove a V-cut separating the loin portion and the belly portion, the fillet is a Tilapia fillet, the thickness is less than about 0.5 inch, freezing the fillet with the butterflied portion down, making the cut in a direction toward the lateral line of the fillet, and a thickness of the butterflied portion is about one-half of a difference in thickness between the loin portion and the belly portion. 
   In another aspect of the invention, a fish fillet includes a loin portion having a loin thickness and a belly portion having a belly thickness, and a butterflied portion cut from the loin portion and folded over to the belly portion of the fillet so as to provide a generally uniform thickness across the fillet. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The foregoing features of this invention, as well as the invention itself, may be more fully understood from the following description of the drawings in which: 
       FIGS. 1A and 1B  show a prior art processed fish portion; 
       FIG. 2  shows a fish fillet processed in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention; 
       FIG. 3  shows a fish fillet processed in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention; 
       FIG. 4A  shows a top pictorial view of a fish fillet processed in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention; 
       FIG. 4B  shows a front pictorial view of a fish fillet processed in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention; 
       FIG. 4C  is a pictorial representation of a fish showing a v-cut; 
       FIG. 5A  shows a fish fillet having a loin portion with a thickness greater than a thickness of a belly portion of the fillet; 
       FIG. 5B  shows a fish fillet having a generally uniform thickness across the fillet in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention; and 
       FIG. 6  is a flow diagram showing an exemplary sequence of steps for processing a fish fillet in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 2  shows a fillet  100  having a loin portion  102  and a thinner belly portion  104  generally separated by the lateral line  106  of the fillet. A cut is made in the loin portion  102  of the fillet to provide a flap  108  or butterflied portion that remains attached to the loin section. In an exemplary embodiment, the cut is generally parallel to a surface  20  on which the fillet  100  rests. 
   As shown in  FIG. 3 , the attached butterflied portion  108  can be manipulated away from the loin portion  102  while remaining attached. In the illustrated embodiment, the cut is made from an outer area of the loin portion  102  in a direction towards the lateral line  106 . 
   The butterflied portion  106  is then folded over to rest on the belly portion  104  of the fillet  100  as shown in  FIG. 4A . With the butterflied portion  106  folded over onto the belly portion  104  of the fillet, the thickness of the fillet is generally consistent across the fillet as shown in  FIG. 4B . A prior art fillet  10  is also shown for comparison with the fillet  100  having substantially even thickness. 
   As used herein, the term “across the fillet” refers to the fillet from the belly to the dorsal portions of the fish along a line generally located in the middle portion, e.g., middle third, of the fillet. In general, an attempt is made to balance the average height of the loin section  12  and the belly section  14 . 
   Once the fillet is groomed, the fillet  100  can be turned over (cut side down) and placed on a tray or other surface for freezing or further processing. In general, the fillet  100  should be groomed so that the v-cut is closed, e.g., frozen against the loin portion  102 . Closing the v-cut also contributes to uniform heating of the fillet during a cooking process. As is known in the art, a v-cut is a separation between the loin portion and the belly portion of the fillet extending from the tail end of the fillet as a result of bone removal. As shown in  FIG. 4C , the v-cut is between the loin section and the belly section extend from the head ‘end’ of a fish. 
   In an exemplary embodiment, the cut in the loin portion  102  is positioned to provide a uniform thickness across the fillet. For a loin portion  102  having a thickness TL and a belly portion  104  having a thickness TB, the cut is made to remove a thickness A from the loin portion thickness. As shown in  FIGS. 5A and 5B , To achieve a uniform thickness for the fillet, TL−A=TB+A, or, TL=TB+2A. That is, the cut is made at one half the difference in thickness of the loin portion  102  and the belly portion  104 . Thus, when the cut is made in the loin portion  102  and the butterflied portion  108  folded over onto the belly portion  104 , both sides of the fillet are about the same thickness 
   In general, one cuts the loin portion  102  to obtain a balance, e.g., 50/50, in thickness proportion based upon the original thicknesses of the loin and belly portions. In one embodiment, the processed fillet thickness must be within 60-40 or 40-60 proportion in thickness of the two portions of the fillet to provide suitable cooking characteristics. 
     FIG. 6  shows an exemplary sequence of steps to process a fillet in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention. In step  200 , a fillet is placed on a flat surface and in step  202  a loin portion of the fillet is cut. In an exemplary embodiment, the loin is cut with a knife blade parallel to the flat surface from an outer portion of the loin towards the lateral line of the fillet. The loin portion is cut to form a butterflied portion that remains attached to the loin portion. 
   In step  204 , the butterflied portion is manipulated over to the belly portion of the fillet so that a thickness of the fillet is generally uniform across the fillet from belly to dorsal. In an exemplary embodiment, the thickness of the butterflied portion is selected as one-half the difference in thickness between the loin portion and the belly portion. In step  206 , the fillet is placed cut side down on a tray and frozen. In step  208 , the fillet is further processed as desired and packaged. 
   In an exemplary embodiment for Tilapia fillets, the maximum thickness for the fillet is 0.5 inch. Other embodiments and other fillets having dimensions sized to meet the needs of a particular application. In general, the thickness should be selected to maximize yield from the fillets in view of the processing and packaging parameters. 
   While exemplary embodiments of the invention are primarily shown and described in conjunction with processing fish fillets, and particularly Tilapia fillets of preferred dimensions, it is understood that the invention is applicable to other animal protein matter of various dimensions for which it is desired to provide a generally uniform thickness. In addition, the fillet is shown and described with manual cutting and manipulation of the fillet, however, it will be readily appreciated that machines can perform one of more of the above-described process steps without departing from the present invention. Further, it is understood that the fillet can be further processed to meet the needs of a particular cooking method, which can include heat applied on one or both sides, e.g., grilling, frying, sautéing, microwaving, etc. 
   In addition, the inventive cutting techniques described herein prevent the fillet from falling apart because the loin flap covers the V-cut, which is made to remove the pin bones of the fish. After the V-cut is made, the loin is cut as described above that the belly region of the fillet (nape) does not separate and fall off when the fillet is cooked. Further, the yield from fillets in increased since less of the fillet is removed in comparison with prior art techniques that attempt to address thickness variation in the loin and belly portions of the fillet. 
   Having described exemplary embodiments of the invention, it will now become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments incorporating their concepts may also be used. The embodiments contained herein should not be limited to disclosed embodiments but rather should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims. All publications and references cited herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.