Vacuum Packaging☆

This packaging machine is used for vacuum packaging with packaging materials having a extremely high
gas barrier for the purpose of food preservation. Most of these machines seal the bag containing food in
the vacuum chamber. The tree types of machines are classified by mechanical faculty: nozzle, chamber,
skin.

A) Nozzle-Type Vacuum Packaging Machine:

After air in the bag is evacuated through a nozzle, a mouth part of the bag is sealed by heater or
impulse system. However, for blocks such as meat and meat products, the bag is mostly clipped with
aluminum wire. The two processes of vacuumizing and sealing on most of this type of machines are
automatically done, initiated by stepping on a foot swich. Accordingly, although the operation is easier
than those of other types of vacuum packaging machines, the amount of vacuum of bags packaged by
this type of machine is lower than for others.

B) Chamber-Type Vacuum Packaging Machine:

The bag containing food placed in the chamber is vacuumized and then sealed by an impulse system in
a vacuum-seal chamber. The degree of vacuum is usually about 0.5–8 torr for this type of machine, and
the semi-automatic type machine may load several or dozens of bags in the vacuum-seal chamber at the
same time.

C) Skin-Type Vacuum Packaging Machine:

Skin vacuum packaging can be done by loading food and applying a lid over it. In this vacuum packaging
machine, heated and softened upper film is applied skin-tight over food and a lower film in the vacuum
chamber. The appearance of food vacuum-packaged by this type machine increases food value and
display effect.

Vacuum Packaging of Meat☆

Vacuum packaging is usually described as packaging in a container, either rigid or flexible, from which
substantially all air has been removed before sealing of the package. It is a good system for distribution
and long-term storage of fresh meat cuts, providing longer product life and, if chilled and handled
properly, allowing meat color to return to a highly desirable bright red or bright pink form in retail
offerings, where retail cuts are packaged with oxygen-permeable film. With good vacuum packaging, the
very low oxygen level obtained, coupled with production of carbon dioxide in the bag, discourages
growth of aerobic microorganisms that cause spoilage odors and flavors. These processes also
encourage more favorable conditions for anaerobes with production of lactic acid. Vacuum packaging is
also very useful for many cured meat products in providing an environment that prolongs the cured
meat color before fading occurs and also maintains other quality factors at an acceptable level.
 So, What Is Sous Vide, Anyway?

At its most fundamental level, sous vide cooking is the process of sealing food in an airtight container—
usually a vacuum sealed bag—and then cooking that food in temperature-controlled water. In French,
the term translates to "under vacuum," which makes sense. Chefs vacuum seal a protein with marinade,
sauce, herbs, or spices and drop it in a large pot of water. There’s no contact with a heated metal
surface. No contact with flames or steam or smoke. The water never comes to a boil. Yeah, it's pretty
low-key.

A sous vide machine uses a heated metal coil to warm water to a constant temperature, never
fluctuating to high or low extremes. This means that the cooking progress is gradual and controlled.
Proteins like steak, pork, chicken, and fish cook for elongated periods of time, slowly heating up until the
entire piece of protein reaches the temperature of the water. Since the water never goes past the
desired temperature of doneness, the meat takes significantly longer to cook (A 12 oz. NY strip takes a
little over two hours), but it also means that you’ll never have an overcooked piece of protein.

When that same steak is cooked on the stove, high, direct heat is applied to the meat to bring the
internal temperature up to 135°. While that's happening, you can't see what's actually going on inside,
which means you either have to guess, cut it open (which ruins the whole presentation), or poke it
anxiously with a meat thermometer. With sous vide, there's no guess work. If you put a steak in a bath
set at 140°, there's no chance that steak will go past that temperature. The steak is cooked to a perfect
medium-rare throughout, and that's thanks to the sous vide's secondary function, water circulation.
Constantly moving water ensures that there are no hot or cool spots in your pot. It’s an insurance policy,
like some kind of perfectly-heated, dinner-making jacuzzi.

The only hands-on part of the ordeal happens after the food is removed from the bag. Since the sous
vide process removes actual contact with a surface from the equation, the meat won’t be crispy,
caramelized, or charred in any way. When cooking proteins like pork or steak (which will look pretty gray
after a sous vide bath), that exterior texture is key. The solution? An extremely quick sear after the meat
has been cooked through. Searing steak or pork in a ripping-hot cast iron skillet for about a minute on
each side (including the smaller sides) will develop some caramelization without cooking the interior any
further.

Maillard reaction☆
The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives
browned food its distinctive flavor. Seared steaks, fried dumplings, cookies and other kinds of biscuits,
breads, toasted marshmallows, and many other foods undergo this reaction.
 You Need to Know About Dry-Aged Steak!

What is dry aging?☆

An unsexy way to explain it is that dry-aging, in a nutshell, is a controlled decay process. You’re exposing
the subprimals to oxygen, which allows natural enzymes within the meat work. They’re aerobic bacteria,
so they need oxygen to survive. They come alive and start breaking down the molecular bonds of meat.
This, in turn, alters the flavor and texture of the cut.

What dry aging looks like is literally a room full of moldy carcasses. In the dry-aging process, meat hangs
in a humidity-controlled environment in a way that exposes all of its sides with unimpeded airflow
around the entire cut. Then there’s the good mold that finds its way onto steaks, which will slowly start
to break down and increase the amount of evaporation. You’re puling moisture from the meats over
time. As that happens the mold will extend its life and grow. It’s like the mold on blue cheese—it’s good
mold not bad mold.

Of course, before that slab of beef makes it to your plate, all of the mold will be trimmed away, leaving
just tenderized, delicious meat. They describe the flavor of dry-aged meat as having a nuttiness to it that
you won’t get in a wet-aged steak. Likewise, it’ll be more tender and have a different mouthfeel.

How does dry-aging change the taste and texture of meat? ☆

Moisture loss is one aspect that changes the flavor of dry-aged meat. What that does is essentially
concentrate the remainder of the tissue. Meat is about 75 percent water. If you lose a few percent to
evaporation … what’s left will be more concentrated, so the flavor will be more concentrated.

For those who know their way around a kitchen, Flannery likens the process to reducing a stock to a
demi-glaze. You have that pot on your stovetop. As more and more moisture evaporates, the flavor of
the liquid is getting more and more concentrated. With beef, as water evaporates, the natural beef
flavor intensifies.

But chemical changes also affect the flavor. During the aging period, some of the flavor compounds and
other molecules in the meat undergo chemical change that will increase some flavor components while
reducing others.

Muscle cells are made of lots of different materials, and chief among them are the proteins that enable
the muscles to contract, and the molecules that fuel this process, such as glycogen, DNA and RNA.
During dry-aging, these large, flavorless molecules are broken down into smaller, flavorful fragments.
All of those molecules are relatively large, and when they’re broken down by the enzyme activity, they
form fragments that are more flavorful than the original large molecules. Some proteins get broken
down into amino acids. They can be a little bitter, savory, such as in MSG, and the DNA/RNA material
can get broken into other molecules that are savory and enhance the savoriness of MSG. And glycogen
broken into sugars which are sweet.

Dry aging transforms the texture of meat as well. Meat has a very complex internal structure that can
be difficult to bite through. By breaking some of these proteins down, the teeth can now more easily go
through the meat.