RAW MATERIALS Beef and mutton should be brought into the factory boned out and ready for processing, either frozen or fresh, as available Oxtails, kidneys and other offal are usually bought frozen and held in cold storage until required Poultry is bought plucked and eviscerated, either prefrozen or fresh, according to availability. The preparation of meat and poultry for processing, ie, the boning out of quarters, and the plucking and eviscerating of birds, is specialist work better carried on outside the dehydration factory, and there is little or no good reason for the dehydrator to tackle this, or involve himself with the additional equipment and labour concerned with this part of the work. A strict procurement specification for meat products should be set out, and there should be no difficulty in having this complied with by the suppliers s to fat content, trimming and quality generally, if reliable sources are contacted CHICKEN GRANULES The poultry is thoroughly defrosted and the carcasses cleaned and prepared for the precooking. Well fleshed hens with a good flesh to bone ratio are the best for this purpose Cooking Stainless steel jacketed vertical autoclaves, with perforated metal baskets, which lock on to a central spindle, are loaded with the chickens, and steam is applied to the outer jacket at 5.5atm. A small quantity of water is required in the bottom of the autoclave to start the cooking process, and the internal pressure of the vessel is brought up to 1atm, after first venting the air. The chickens are cooked for 30-35min or until such time as the flesh falls freely from the bones The condensate and juices are drained off from the bottom of the autoclave, at the end of the cook into a lower tank, where the fat and bouillon are separated. The fat is recovered, rendered and hardened for subsequent use as an ingredient in chicken soup The bouillon is transferred to a stainless steam jacketed boiling pan and concentrated until 75 percent of the excess water has been removed. This is held for subsequent addition to the flesh. This concentration may alternatively be carried out in a vacuum pan Fleshing cooked flesh from the bone, transferring it to sterilised tays Ors remove the The chickens then pass to a fleshing table where the operatRAW MATERIALS Beef and mutton should be brought into the factory boned out and ready for processing, either frozen or fresh, as available. Oxtails, kidneys and other offal are usually bought frozen and held in cold storage until required. Poultry is bought plucked and eviscerated, either prefrozen or fresh, according to availability. The preparation of meat and poultry for processing, ie, the boning out of quarters, and the plucking and eviscerating of birds, is specialist work better carried on outside the dehydration factory, and there is little or no good reason for the dehydrator to tackle this, or involve himself with the additional equipment and labour concerned with this part of the work. A strict procurement specification for meat products should be set out, and there should be no difficulty in having this complied with by the suppliers as to fat content, trimming and quality generally, if reliable sources are contacted. CHICKEN GRANULES The poultry is thoroughly defrosted and the carcasses cleaned and prepared for the precooking. Well fleshed hens with a good flesh to bone ratio are the best for this purpose. Cooking Stainless steel jacketed vertical autoclaves, with perforated metal baskets, which lock on to a central spindle, are loaded with the chickens, and steam is applied to the outer jacket at 5.5atm. A small quantity of water is required in the bottom of the autoclave to start the cooking process, and the internal pressure of the vessel is brought up to 1 .2atm, after first venting the air. The chickens are cooked for 30-35min, or until such time as the flesh falls freely from the bones. The condensate and juices are drained off from the bottom of the autoclave, at the end of the cook, into a lower tank, where the fat and bouillon are separated. The fat is recovered, rendered and hardened for subsequent use as an ingredient in chicken soup. The bouillon is transferred to a stainless steam jacketed boiling pan and concentrated until 75 percent of the excess water has been removed. This is held for subsequent addition to the flesh. This concentration may alternatively be carried out in a vacuum pan. Fleshing The chickens then pass to a fleshing table where the operators remove the cooked flesh from the bone, transferring it to sterilised trays. 2 I4