REHEATING OF A CHILLED DISH OF MASHED POTATOES IN A SUPERHEATED STEAMOVEN

The objective was to study the reheating of mashed potato with injecti on of superheated steam and different levels of convection. The set va riables of the cooking cell were: wall temperature between 105 and 240 degrees C, mean velocity of the atmosphere circulation between 0 and 2.5 m/s, and the injection flow rate of superheated steam between 0 an d 1.2 kg/h. The temperature and the weight of the chilled cooked dish were alternatively measured during the cooking experiments. A heat and mass transfer model taking into account conduction and boiling into t he mashed potatoes dish, convection, radiation and condensation flows was developed to represent the reheating and drying kinetics of the ma shed potatoes dish. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.