Heat transfer characteristics of cooked meats using different cooling methods

Cooling rate and heat transfer characteristics of cooked meats using four d ifferent cooling systems of vacuum cooling, air blast cooling, water immers ion cooling and slow air cooling were investigated. The experimental result s show that only the vacuum cooling can achieve the requirement of cooling the cooked meats from about 74 to 10 degrees C within 2.5 h. The vacuum coo ling shows different heat transfer characteristics during the cooling proce ss, as compared with other cooling methods. Vacuum cooling rate is controll ed by the evaporation rate of water from the cooked meats, while the coolin g rates of the other three cooling methods are governed by the thermal cond uctivity of the cooked meats. Therefore, it is impossible for air blast, wa ter immersion and slow air cooling to obtain high cooling rates since these three methods are different only in the convective heat transfer from the surface of the cooked meat to the cooling medium. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.