Patent ID: 8770098

Claim:
A continuous production, extrusion cooking device, the device preparing a co-extruded food product containing whole solid pieces, each having dimensions comprised between 2 and 30 mm, the device comprising: an extrusion cooking machine including an elongated cylinder within which at least one first screw is driven in rotation and that compresses and cooks at least one starting material, and an extrusion die having a face contacting an outlet of the elongated cylinder and a bore with a tube arranged along an axis of the bore, the extrusion cooking machine being arranged so that the at least one starting material goes under pressure into the bore and around the tube and expands at an outlet of the extrusion die so as to form a cooked continuous tubular string of the food product in a direction forming an angle with an axis of the extrusion machine; and at least one second screw arranged inside and along the axis of the tube so as to create with the tube, a plurality of cells that each encloses and transports an individual one of the whole solid pieces to an end of the tube, the end of the tube being provided with an axial outlet orifice for discharging individual ones of the solid whole pieces from the plurality of cells and directly incorporating individual ones of the whole solid pieces, at regular intervals and beyond the axial outlet orifice, inside the cooked continuous tubular string of the food product without altering the dimensions of the whole solid pieces.