DIRECT STEAM

Steam blanching or steam cooking in the ContinuTherm improves yields for products like potatoes that tend to lose soluble solids when cooked in water. Conversely, products like pulped fruit or vegetables for baby food, for which moisture addition and particulate degradation are not an issue, can be rapidly heated with direct steam injection. The proprietary steam diffusers mounted along the bottom of the ContinuTherm trough disperse steam evenly throughout the product for uniform heating.
 

WATER IMMERSION

Water immersion cooking suits products such as pasta and rice that require additional moisture to hydrate while cooking. Other items like diced meat or shrimp benefit from being cooked in water, which provides good heat conductivity and the lubricity to keep individual pieces from cooking together into a larger mass.

Heating is normally via direct steam injection, though indirect heating by steam jacket and/or external heat exchanger is possible if required by the application. The cook water is separated from the product at discharge and re-circulated to conserve residual heat potential. Application specific methods are employed to keep concentrations of starch, rendered fat and other process by-products at acceptable levels during production.
 

OIL IMMERSION

Cooking in hot oil develops desirable browning color and flavor notes to products in a way that water immersion cannot duplicate. The oil is indirectly heated to 212°F (100°C) by a high pressure steam jacket and an external heat exchanger in the oil recirculation line. In this “low temperature” deep frying configuration, the ContinuTherm is ideal for cooking pizza toppings, meatballs, chicken and beef cubes or fajita strips. Increasing the residence time or raising the cook oil temperature [up to 275°F (135°C)] produces a crispier texture and richer, brown finish. Results on pizza toppings indicate this process improves yields versus continuous ovens.
 

SAUTE/ STIR-FRY

Blentech has incorporated features of our VersaWok batch stir-fry cooker to devise a ContinuTherm system capable of continuous sautéing or stir-frying diced meats, poultry and seafood, onions, peppers and other vegetables as well as fried rice.

A high-pressure steam heated jacket provides sufficient temperature for most sauté applications. For stir-fry applications, the jacket is heated with thermal oil to temperatures approaching 300°C (600°F). A PLC controlled forward-reverse agitation action mimics the distinctive mixing and tossing action of the VersaWok for authentic sautéed and stir-fried products. Blentech's patented scraper system is essential to inhibit burn-on allowing shift-long run times

HOLLOW SCREW AND JACKET

The heat exchange area of a steam jacketed ContinuTherm is dramatically increased by the addition of a hollow screw. The expanded heat transfer capacity makes possible the rapid heating of products where direct steam injection or water or oil immersion is not practicable. It enables a ContinuTherm to meet the enormous peak heat load requirements necessary to evaporate moisture from products, making continuous frying of bacon bits in the ContinuTherm a reality.

High pressure steam or thermal oil - as well as glycol coolant - can be circulated through the hollow screw and jacketed trough.