Several steps to producing meatballs

Meatballs are a very famous food, do you know the what is the steps of producing meatballs? What precautions should be taken in the processing of meatballs?

Step1: producing meatballs of raw material handling

Raw material pretreatment mainly includes raw material segmentation and rinsing. The purpose of segmentation is to facilitate the next step of raw material crushing. The main purpose of rinsing is to remove water-soluble proteins and other quality-affecting substances in the raw materials, such as endogenous enzymes, residual blood, colored substances, residual fat, fishy substances, inorganic salts, residual bone chips, etc., so as to improve the quality of the finished meatballs. Overall sensory quality.

Among them, rinsing temperature and water consumption are the two main influencing factors. Excessive bleaching temperature will cause some or all of the protein in the raw meat to be denatured, resulting in the decline of protein gel properties during subsequent processing, and the inability of the protein network to form well, resulting in decreased elasticity of the finished product, poor taste, and sensory quality. overall decline. Although a large amount of rinsing water will reduce the original flavor of the finished product, it will improve the overall sensory quality. The research found that when the rinsing water temperature is below 10 ℃ and the water consumption is 4 times the quality of the raw meat, it is the best pretreatment process.

Step 2: producing meatballs of crushing process

Before adding auxiliary materials and chopping and mixing the ingredients into minced meat, the crushing of the raw meat is a necessary process operation. , to avoid uneven mixing of raw and auxiliary materials in the next step of chopping and mixing, excessive chopping and mixing time, and high temperature, which will affect the quality of the product. The key to the crushing process lies in the control of temperature and the selection of crushing particle size. For example, the high temperature of the beef ball machine causes protein denaturation and solidification, which affects the subsequent process. If the crushing particle size is too large, the time required for the chopping and mixing process will be prolonged, and at the same time, it will easily lead to uneven mixing; if the crushing particle size is too small, a gel will be formed between the meat particles in advance, hindering the next step of mixing. Therefore, the temperature is generally controlled below 10 °C, and the crushing particle size is generally selected at 4~5mm.

Step 3: Chopping and mixing process

In the meatball production process, the function of chopping and mixing is to cut and break the intermuscular connective tissue and muscle fibers in the muscle tissue, and destroy the integrity of the sarcolemma, endomysium, and muscle fibers. The force between the chopping knife and the meat particles increases, the temperature of the raw material increases, the protein is denatured and solidified, and the molecules are cross-linked to form a network structure, which encapsulates water molecules and other components, and finally becomes a complex structure. Gel aggregates.

Insufficient chopping time will lead to insufficient breakage of raw materials, and excessive chopping time will increase the temperature of raw materials, which on the one hand will lead to the denaturation of salt-soluble proteins. affect the quality of products. Therefore, crushed ice cubes or ice water are usually added during the chopping process to control the temperature of the raw materials not to exceed 15 °C. There is also literature showing that the chopping temperature should be controlled at 8~10 °C. When chopping is used, the chopping machine is used.

Step 4: producing meatballs of ball forming

The meatball forming machine uses a meatball forming machine, put the prepared minced meat into the machine, and the meatball forming machine will make the raw materials into meatballs of equal size. Filled meatballs can be made, or solid meatballs. The meatballs can be made of various materials, such as beef balls, chicken meatballs, and fish meatballs, as well as vegetarian meatballs. There are no restrictions on raw materials.

Step 5: Cooking and frying process

The purpose of cooking in the meatball processing technology is to denature the protein in the raw material to form a stable morphological structure. Different time and temperature conditions during the cooking process will lead to different degrees of changes in the physical properties, protein, fat, and flavor of the product, such as loss of water and juice, changes in meat hardness and color, fat dissolution, and volatile substances. Escape etc. Among them, the degree of protein denaturation that changes with temperature has the most obvious impact on the quality of meatballs. In order to avoid the decline of quality and yield caused by the loss of juice of the product, the control of cooking temperature and time usually adopts the secondary cooking method, that is: pre-cook at 60~70℃ for 3~10min, and then quickly heat up to 80~90℃ Cook for 5~15min. One cooking is 85~90℃ for 15~20min. The study found that slow cooking (98℃, 15min) could promote the sensory quality of low-fat meatballs. Although the frying process will have a certain potential impact on the sensory quality, nutritional value, and safety of meatballs, controlling the appropriate oil temperature and frying time can not only improve the sensory quality of the product such as color and flavor Proper high-temperature frying can form a hard shell on the surface of the meatballs, which can also reduce the loss of active ingredients during the cooking process. The choice of oil temperature varies according to the raw materials and recipes of the meatballs, usually at 160~180℃ for 3~5mins; or 180~200℃ for 2~3mins.

Step 6：Quick-freezing process

The purpose of quick freezing is to avoid the contamination of meatballs by microorganisms during storage, transportation, and sales. Meatballs are rich in a variety of nutrients and are susceptible to microbial infection at room temperature, resulting in a serious decline in the sensory quality and shelf life of the product. Therefore, after the meatballs are processed, they must be cooled and frozen before packaging. The temperature and time of cooling and freezing directly affect the sensory quality and shelf life of the product. If the freezing temperature is too low and the time is too long, large ice crystals will be formed, and the distribution will be uneven, which will destroy the organizational state of the product; freezing temperature If it is not low enough, the growth and reproduction of microorganisms cannot be effectively controlled. Therefore, the quick-freezing method usually used in meatball processing is to pre-cool the product first, reduce the temperature of the product to 0~4 °C, and then quickly reduce the core temperature of the product to -18 °C in an environment below -25 °C.