Fotos: Vemag Maschinenbau
Schinkenproduktion
Ham production
Perfekte Evakuierung: Das Total Vaccum Prinzip basiert auf einer Vakuumfüllmaschine mit Vakuum-
und Vorratstrichter. / Perfect evacuation: The Total Vaccum principle is based on a vacuum filling machine
with vacuum and supply hopper.
denaturiert und koaguliert das
Eiweiß, die Fleischstücke ver-binden
sich und der Schinken
wird schnittfest. Hier erhält er
seine appetitliche Pökelfarbe
und das gewünschte Aroma.
Im Handwerk werden die Mus-kelstücke
traditionell in Formen
gelegt, gepresst und anschlie-ping
for bread, in sauces, on
pizza or with asparagus - many
gourmets can hardly imagine
life without it. Each private
household buys statistically
more than two kilograms of
cooked ham per year.
Whole pieces from the
back of the muscle
The fat- and sinew-free meat
for cooked ham traditionally
comes from the four rear mus-cle
sections of the pig: rump,
nut, upper or lower shell. In
preparation for ham produc-tion,
a brine is injected. The
meat is then massaged in a
tumbler. The brine is evenly
distributed in the meat, the
muscle structure is loosened
and the protein is activated.
This improves the slice cohe-sion
of the final product, allows
for a tender consistency and
increases the weight yield.
This process should be carried
out under vacuum to avoid
foaming caused by the protein
already escaping here, which
otherwise leads to an undesir-able
cut appearance in the end
product between the pieces.
Tumbling under vacuum also
has a positive effect on curing
color formation and color re-tention
as well as on yield and
slice cohesion.
The tumbled muscle pieces
must then be shaped and then
undergo a cooking process to a
core temperature of 67 to 68°C.
Heat denatures and coagulates
the protein, the meat pieces
join together and the ham be-comes
firm to the slice. Here it
receives its appetizing cured
color and the desired aroma.
Stuffing process
crucial for quality
In artisanal production, the
muscle pieces are tradition-ally
placed in molds, pressed
and then cooked. In indus-
trial production, a stuffing ma-chine
comes into play that fills
the cured muscle pieces into
appropriate casings or, alter-natively,
into a deep-drawing
machine before the thermal
process. Essential in this pro-cess
is the preservation of the
muscle structure, so that the
valuable pieces of meat are
preserved - only in this way
can a high-quality cooked ham
be produced. Hollow spots,
which promote jelly sedimen-tation,
must be avoided in
order to ensure optimum cohe-sion
of the end product.
These requirements are met by
the XP1 vacuum stuffing ma-chine
from Vemag, which was
specially designed for ham
production. Here, the heart
of the filling machine plays a
decisive role: the wear-free
Vemag conveying cam, which
transports the filling material
particularly gently from the
infeed to the discharge of the
machine.
Space for whole
muscle pieces
The size of the conveying curve
sets new standards in ham
production, because a single
chamber offers enough space
for whole muscle pieces, which
are thus conveyed gently. The
large infeed of the machine is
adapted accordingly and al-so
offers sufficient volume for
complete pieces of ham. At
Die Lagerung der Förderkurve macht das System besonders langlebig,
ein großer Auslass garantiert bei der XP1 den produktschonenden
Transport. / The bearing of the conveying curve makes the system
especially durable, and a large outlet on the XP1 guarantees gentle
product transport.
ßend gekocht. Bei der indust-riellen
Herstellung kommt eine
Füllmaschine ins Spiel, die die
gepökelten Muskelstücke vor
dem thermischen Prozess in
entsprechende Därme oder al-ternativ
in einen Tiefzieher füllt.
Wesentlich bei diesem Vor-gang
ist der Erhalt der Muskel-
42 3/2021