BACKGROUND ART As for recent domestic food consumption, a demand for fast food has been constantly increased, including fried chicken under the influence of western dietary habits. This pattern of consuming more fast food shows that consumers want more convenient timesaving food owing to their busy social lives. For example, fried chicken and hamburgers have been invariably popular worldwide for a long time, as representing fast food. Recently, these food products have notable features to suit

consumers'various taste: consumers can put sauce in heat-treated meat products or eat them with sauce. For instance, seasoned chicken is made by applying fluid sauce to the surface of fried chicken or mixing them all together, then it is served with the fluid sauce. Therefore, consumers can eat the chicken with various sauce put in another containers.

However, an additional process is required when applying sauce to the surface of heat-treated meat. Not only it is economically unfavorable to make a large amount of sauce and keep it, but also it increases a possibility of pollution caused by bacterial food poisoning, causing sanitary problems. In addition, consumers may smear their fingers with sauce.

When eating meat with sauce, another bowl for the sauce should be prepared, and especially it is very inconvenient to move with the sauce in one hand and heat-treated meat in the other hand. In case of disposable sauce, other various kinds of sauce cannot be provided.

Thus, preparing another fluid sauce for fast food including prior heat-treated meat cannot comply with consumers'requests to pursuit simplicity and timesaving activities with fast food, and further it cannot satisfy various tastes of consumers.

The present invention has been developed by putting sauce in heat-treated meat inside, by focusing on these shortcomings of fast food products including prior heat-treated meat.

However, when common fluid sauce is put in heat-treated meat as it is during product mixing at room temperature, it can spoil the inherent taste of the sauce while mixing with raw meat, and deteriorate physical properties of the raw meat owing to physical properties of the fluid sauce. In addition, it is difficult to make a certain shape, dropping the value of a meat product. The sauce can run out during cooking, resulting in a change of an external view. Therefore, the taste, flavor, and physical properties of meat products can be seriously deteriorated, compared to a case when applying the sauce to the surface of meat or eating it with the sauce.

On the other hand, gel-type solid sauce has been provided, by putting a certain amount of carrageenan or xanthan gum in the sauce. However, once the sauce including the above gums is cooled after heat treatment, it has the properties of keeping the solid state permanently without returning to the sol state owing to its irreversibility, even though it is heated again. Thus, consumers can enjoy the original taste of raw meat because the solid sauce is not mixed with the raw meat while combining them together, as maintaining a certain shape. However, the sauce

remains solid after cooking. As a result, consumers cannot enjoy the same taste, flavor, and a sense of eating with the prior sauce.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION To solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide thermo-reversible sauce for heat-treated meat, which is solid at room temperature but fluid while eating after heat treatment. The sauce in accordance with the present invention can implement a convenient process because it is solid at room temperature. Consumers can enjoy the same taste and a sense of eating as prior sauce prepared with heat-treated meat because it is fluid after cooking at high temperature. And, consumers can easily enjoy without another sauce containing bowl or sauce while moving. In addition, the sauce in accordance with the present invention is made through heat treatment, and becomes solid at room temperature, thereby preserving it for a long time by an excellent conservative force with little possibility of pollution by bacterial food poisoning.

It is another object of the present invention to provide heat-treated meat including thermo-reversible sauce. According to the present invention, it is possible to add various kinds of sauce such as Jajang (black vegetable sauce with pork), curry, and Kimchi to the heat-treated meat besides the prior sauce, thereby providing a

new type of food satisfying various tastes of consumers.

The present invention provides thermo-reversible sauce added with gelatin to sauce used in fast food including heat-treated meat such as chicken, pork, beef or fish. More specifically, the thermo-reversible sauce in accordance with the present invention is made by additionally putting 3-10 wt. % of gelatin into the sauce for fast food. The sauce added with the gelatin of the present invention becomes solid from a fluid phase when the central temperature of the sauce is less than 52 °C while cooling it down after heat treatment. It complies with the principle that gelatin added to the sauce becomes a sol phase by reacting against water at high temperature, and it becomes a gel phase by forming a network structure in contact with dispersion during cooling-down process. Particularly, the sauce of the present invention becomes the sol phase again from the gel phase when re-heated after being cooled down, next to a heat treatment process with a predetermined amount of gelatin, thereby returning to the fluid phase. This is the essence of the present invention.

That is, like described in the prior art of the present description, prior solid sauce including carrageenan or xanthan gum is solid at room temperature, having a partial common feature with the sauce of the present invention including the gelatin.

However, the prior sauce does not become fluid when re-heated after heat treatment,

thus it is not appropriate for the thermo-reversible sauce in accordance with the object of the present invention.

The present invention using the above features of the gelatin provides sauce that is solid at room temperature or fluid while eating after cooking fried food at high temperature, when the sauce is cooled down after heat treatment, next to a process of uniformly mixing a predetermined amount of gelatin with sauce including prior curry or Jajang sauce. Therefore, it is available to provide new sauce (fusion style) for heat-treated meat. Thus, the present invention can be easily applied to every prior sauce.

In addition, the present invention provides heat-treated meat having sauce inside, including 5-60 wt. % of the thermo-reversible sauce, 20-70 wt. % of raw meat such as chicken, pork, beef or fish, and other food additives. The heat-treated meat in accordance with the present invention, comprising the steps of : obtaining solid sauce by heating sauce with gelatin until the temperature of the sauce is more than 80 °C and by cooling it down at room temperature; putting the solid sauce inside raw meat; and frying or steaming a meat product having the obtained solid sauce at 100 °C-200°C.

BEST MODE FOR CARRING OUT THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be constructed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

1. Embodiments 1) Embodiment 1 Add 2 wt. % of gelatin to tomato sauce for fast food, which is composed of 60 wt. % of ketchup, 5 wt. % of wheat flour, 5 wt. % of butter, 0.3 wt. % of bay leaves, 0.7 wt. % of paprika, 10 wt. % of sugar, 8 wt. % of dextrose syrup, and 13 wt. % of refined water, and then mix them homogeneously. The homogenized sauce is heat-treated by cooking in a double boiler of a double steam unit at 100°C, and is left alone at room temperature to form a solid gel structure. A cube-type sample with each 0.5 cm in width and length is extracted from the sauce, and solidity of the gel structure is measured by using a rheometer (CR-100D, Sun Scientific Co., Ltd.).

2) Embodiment 2 to 4 Sauce is made with the same method as the embodiment 1, but gelatin is

added with weight of 4%, 7%, and 12%, respectively. With the same method as the embodiment 1, its solidity is measured after heat-treating sauce.

The solidity of a gel structure measured from the embodiment 1 # 4 is shown in table 1. Like shown in the following table 1, The more content of the gelatin gets, the higher the solidity of the gel structure gets. However, when more than 10% of gelatin is added, the inherent taste and flavor of the sauce have been spoiled. In addition, it is uneconomical to add a lot of gelatin because it is a relatively expensive additive.

[Table U Embodiment 1 Embodiment 2 Embodiment 3 Embodiment 4 Solidity 0. 7#106 1.5#106 2. 1. #106 2.6#106 (cm2/DYNE)

Less than 1. 4x 106cm2/DYNE solidity: bad More than 1.4#106cm2/DYNE solidity # Less than 2.0#106cm2/DYNE solidity: normal More than 2.0 x 106cm2/DYNE solidity: excellent 3) Embodiment 5 Mix 60 wt. % of ketchup, 5 wt. % of flour, 5 wt. % of butter, 0.3 wt. % of

bay leaves, 0.7 wt. % of paprika, 10 wt. % of sugar, 8 wt. % of dextrose syrup, and 13 wt. % of refined water, to make tomato sauce. The mixed sauce is heat-treated at 100°C in a double steam unit, then the sauce is cooled down at room temperature.

Add 0.5 wt. % of refined salt and 0.4 wt. % of phosphate to 83 wt. % of chicken breast, and mix them together by a mixer for one minute. Put 5 wt. % of refined water, 1.5 wt. % of ISP (Isolate Soy Protein), 9 wt. % of breadcrumb, 0.4 wt. % of seasoning, and 0.2 wt. % of spice, and mix them for 3 minutes to prepare combined meat. Incise the side of the combined 30g meat, and put the lOg sauce in it. Add 50 wt. % of 10°C refined water to 50 wt. % of frying powder composed of 88 wt. % of wheat flour, 10 wt. % of corn starch, 0.5 wt. % of refined salt, 0.1 wt. % of seasoning, and 1.4 wt. % of spice, then stir them up by a mixer for 120 seconds.

Apply the stirred sauce to a surface of the combined meat having the sauce, and fry it for 240 seconds at 160 °C.

4) Embodiment 6 A fried chicken is made in the same way as the embodiment 5, except making solid sauce by putting 7 wt. % of gelatin in the sauce and cutting it in a cube type with 30mm 10mmx 10mm in width X length X height, respectively.

5) Embodiment 7 A fried chicken is made in the same method as the embodiment 6, except

making solid sauce by putting 7 wt. % of carrageenan in the sauce and cutting it in a cube type with 30mm #10mm#10mm in width X length X height, respectively.

10 panels with more than 5-year experience in this field have done a sensory test for the fried chickens in accordance with the embodiments 6,7, and 8. The results are shown in the following table 2 with 5-score scale.

[Table 2j Taste Flavor Physical Sense of External View properties Eating Embodiment 5 3 2 1 1 2 Embodiment 6 5 4 4 5 5 Embodiment 7 3 2 5 2 5 5: Excellent, 4: Good, 3: Normal, 2: Bad, 1: Very Bad 2. Making Examples A fried chicken product including sauce in accordance with the present invention was made according to the following steps.

1) The first step: Making of Kimchi sauce Putting 2-7 wt. % of butter on a pan preheated at 100-120 °C, and melt

the butter, then leave it for a while. When the temperature of the pan is 70 # 90°C, add 2-10 wt. % of flour, and roast it. At this time, stir up the flour for 2-6 minutes to prevent browning. Then, add 10-50 wt. % of Kimchi cut in 3-20mm and 5-20 wt. % of refined water, and heat it for 10-20 minutes at 70 # 100°C.

Next, mix 3 # 10 wt. % of gelatin (280BL), 0. 1 # 1. 5 wt. % of refined salt, 2 # 10 wt. % of refined sugar, 0. 1-2 wt. % of seasoning, and 0. 5 # 3 wt. % of spice, to homogenize them. Heat the mixed sauce while stirring them for 10-60 minutes until the temperature of the sauce is more than 80°C. Gradually cool down the generated sauce at 5#10°C, to make solid Kimchi sauce, then cut it in appropriate size and shape to be stored in a freezer.

2) The second step: Processing of raw meat Add 0. 2-1. 2 wt. % of refined salt and 0. 1#1. 0 wt. % of phosphate to chicken cut in 3-20mm, more preferably, to 70-95 wt. % of chicken breast or 70- 95 wt. % of drumsticks, and mix them for 1-3 minutes by a mixer. Put 0-13 wt. % of refined water, 1. 0-6. 2 wt. % of ISP (Isolate Soy Protein), 1. 5#5 wt. % of bread crumb, 0. 1#0. 5 wt. % of seasoning, and 0. 05#0. 7 wt. % of spice, to prepare combined meat. Or, put chicken cut with 0. 3-1. 1mm in width and 30-100mm X 50 - 150mm in width X length into pickle liquid made by mixing 0. 2-0. 5 wt. % of refined salt, 0. 1-0. 5 wt. % of phosphate, 0~10 wt. % of refined water, 0. 5-1. 5 wt. % of ISP (Isolate Soy Protein), 0. 1-0. 5 wt. % of seasoning, and 0. 05-0. 7

wt. % of spice, and pickle them for 1#8 hours to prepare combined meat.

3) The third step: Making of frying batter Add 50-70 wt. % of 4~15 C refined water to 30-50 wt. % of frying powder composed of 70-90 wt. % of wheat flour, 5-25wt. % of corn starch, 0.1 #1.2 wt. % of refined salt, 0. 1#1. 5 wt. % of seasoning, and 2. 5-3. 5 wt. % of spice, and stir up them for 60-180 seconds by a mixer, to make a frying batter.

4) The fourth step: Shaping and frying Add 5-60 wt. % of the sauce prepared from the first step cut in the cube type with 5-100m X 5-150m X 5-20mm in width X length X height to 20-80 wt. % of the combined meat in accordance with the second step, and shape them. Apply 15 #40 wt. % of frying batter, and fry them for 15-240 seconds by using soybean hardened oil preheated at 150-190 °C, then freeze them for 20-90 minutes below - 20 °C in a freezer. Then, pack them to be stored below -10°C.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY Sauce of the present invention can be stored at room temperature, thus it is easy to process, and consumers can enjoy the same taste and sense of eating as a case when eating prior heat-treated meat with sauce because the sauce becomes

fluid after cooked at high temperature. Moreover, consumers can easily enjoy without another source bowels or sauce while moving.

The sauce of the present invention is treated at high temperature, and is solid at room temperature, thereby implementing an excellent preservation for a long time without little possibility of pollution caused by bacterial food poisoning. In addition, the sauce of the present invention can add various kinds of sauce containing Jajang, curry or Kimchi to heat-treated meat except prior sauce; therefore it services a new type of food satisfying various tastes of consumers.

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be constructed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.