Process for Producing Precooked Bacon Slices

Abstract

A process for producing precooked bacon slices comprising the steps of (a) conveying bacon slices through a spiral oven, (b) indirectly cooking the bacon slices in the spiral oven using a cooking medium which is circulated within the oven at a low rate sufficient to prevent the bacon slices from being displaced on the conveyor, and (c) adding steam to the cooking medium as necessary to at least reduce the percentage or substantially eliminate the presence of air in the cooking medium.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for continuously cooking and browning bacon slices to produce a pre-cooked sliced bacon product, the process comprising the steps of:
 a) contacting bacon slices with a superheated vapor cooking medium as the bacon slices travel upwardly in a cooking chamber of a spiral oven in a spiral pattern, wherein fat from bacon slices traveling along the spiral pattern at higher elevations within the cooking chamber falls on and bastes bacon slices traveling along the spiral pattern at lower elevations within the cooking chamber; and   b) maintaining a sufficient amount of superheated steam in the superheated vapor cooking medium such that the fat from the bacon slices is prevented from igniting in the cooking chamber of the spiral oven.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the bacon slices are cooked and browned in the cooking chamber of the spiral oven only by the superheated vapor cooking medium which contacts the bacon slices and the fat which falls on and bastes the bacon slices. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the bacon slices are carried along the spiral pattern in the cooking chamber of the spiral oven on a spiral belt and, in step (a), the bacon slices are contacted by a non-impinging, convective flow of the superheated vapor cooking medium such that the bacon slices are not displaced on the spiral belt as the bacon slices travel along the spiral pattern. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the cooking chamber of the spiral oven has an inlet opening and an outlet opening for the bacon slices and either the inlet opening is open to environmental air conditions outside of the spiral oven, the outlet opening is open to environmental air conditions outside of the spiral oven, or both of the inlet and the outlet openings are open to environmental air conditions outside of the spiral oven. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 4  wherein the step (b) comprises adding steam to the superheated vapor cooking medium in an amount effective such that an amount of air which would otherwise be present in the superheated vapor cooking medium without adding the steam in step (b) is reduced by at least 50%. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising the step of dry pre-heating the bacon slices prior to step (a). 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 6  wherein the bacon slices are cooked and browned in the cooking chamber of the spiral oven in step (a) for at least 3 minutes. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 6  wherein the dry pre-heating in the step of dry pre-heating is by an amount such that the bacon slices which are cooked and browned in the cooking chamber of the spiral oven after the step of dry pre-heating are flatter in shape than otherwise identical bacon slices which are cooked to an identical degree of doneness in the cooking chamber of the spiral oven without the step of dry pre-heating. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 6  wherein the step of dry pre-heating is by contacting the bacon slices with superheated steam. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising, prior to step (a), the step of slicing raw bacon to produce the bacon slices. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 10  wherein the raw bacon is sliced is at a temperature of from about −6° C. to about 5° C. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 10  further comprising the step of dry pre-heating the bacon slices after the slicing step and prior to step (a). 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 13  wherein the dry pre-heating in the step of dry pre-heating is by an amount such that the bacon slices are flatter in shape after the step of dry pre-heating than after the step of slicing prior to the step of dry pre-heating. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 12  wherein the step of dry pre-heating is by contacting the bacon slices with superheated steam. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising the step of heating the superheated vapor cooking medium using electrical heating elements. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising the step of heating the superheated vapor cooking medium by heat exchange with a thermal oil.