Various meat and/or vegetable extracts, powdered soups or stock cubes exist for reconstituting beverages of the consomme, soup, broth or thick-soup type, by immersion and homogenization in a boiling or hot liquid.

Such products are traditionally in pulverulent, pasty or concentrated-liquid form and are thus added extemporaneously to the hot liquid, this being done in a container, then dissolved or homogenized using a utensil such as a spoon or a whisk, for example.

This type of reasonably concentrated product is rather convenient for the consumer, especially when preparing food away from home. However, under such circumstances, outside the home, the product is as complicated to use as it is easy to transport. The product needs to be portioned out or removed from its packaging, which has to be disposed of, the product has to be mixed with hot water in a container, and finally the whole thing has to be stirred to ensure good homogenization. All these operations are simple to perform at home but become

awkward and complicated in other circumstances such as at the workplace or in a confined space, for example.

GB 1 019 552 describes a packaging system in the form of a spoon in which a concentrated product is arranged in the bowl of the spoon and is covered and held in place by a heat-sensitive film. Upon contact with hot water, the plastic film becomes partially or completely detached to release the soluble concentrated product.

Such a system is not ideal because a shred of plastic remains secured to the spoon or remains in the beverage, and this considerably hampers the use of the spoon or consumption of the beverage reconstituted in this way.

US 3 946 652 describes a spoon which is partitioned and perforated with several small holes, containing, in the partition, a soluble ingredient, mainly in the form of powder. Such a utensil is complicated to produce and can be envisaged only for pulverulent ingredients.

The present invention therefore sets out to provide an assembly intended for quickly reconstituting soups or broths and which is simple to manufacture and to use.

To this end, the present invention relates to an assembly comprising a utensil for holding or stirring, secured to a mass of cooking aid made up of 25 to 40%

of fats which are solid at ambient temperature, 20 to 70% of flavourings and 5 to 50% of binders.

A"utensil for holding or stirring"is to be understood in the present description as meaning an object made of a solid material, preferably not soluble in water, such as wood, plastic or metal, for example, and of longitudinal shape having at least two ends, one of which allows holding and/or stirring by hand. This may thus be a spoon, a fork, a stick or a whisk, for example.

The expression"secured"is to be understood as meaning that the utensil for holding or stirring and the mass of cooking aid are combined and/or assembled one inside the other or one on the other so as to form a cohesive mass. Thus, the utensil may be partially trapped in the mass of cooking aid, for example. If the utensil has a cavity, this cavity is filled with the mass of cooking aid. It may thus be the bowl part of a spoon, for example.

In one particular embodiment, the utensil for holding comprises a hollow handle containing a garnish for soup of the dehydrated vegetable, crouton, cereal flake or expanded cereal type, for example. The opposite end to the receptacle of the spoon may be closed using a plastic film, for example. Once the soup has been reconstituted, the film can be removed and the garnish

poured into the soup, thus allowing it to maintain its crunch at the time of consumption.

A"mass of cooking aid"is to be understood as meaning a quantity, of defined or undefined form, of cooking aid which is solid at ambient temperature. this quantity may in general correspond to the dose needed to reconstitute an individual portion of soup or broth.

This mass of cooking aid may thus have an identifiable or unidentifiable particular shape.

Specifically, the cooking aid according to the present invention contains 25 to 40% of fats which are solid at ambient temperature, 20 to 70% of flavourings and 5 to 50% of binders and thus has the particular feature that it can be moulded and can, after cooling and solidification, follow the reliefs of the container into which it is poured. This cooking aid is fluid, and flows easily when heated to a temperature above 45°C, which thus makes it easy to mould. At such a temperature, the cooking aid has a viscosity of the order of that of melted chocolate at around about 40°C.

The fat involved in the composition of the cooking aid of the assembly according to the invention is a fat which is solid at ambient temperature, such as reasonably hydrogenated vegetable or animal fats, used alone or as a mixture. It may thus, for example, be hydrogenated palm kernel or palm oil.

The binders contained in the mass of cooking aid may be chosen from the group comprising starches, chemically and/or physically modified starches, dextrins, maltodextrins, glucose syrups of varying DE, gums, flours, low-fat milk solids, used alone or as a mixture, for example. The cooking aid according to the invention may also contain emulsifiers used alone or as a mixture. These may be soya lecithin, or mono-and/or di-glycerides, for example.

The flavourings contained in the mass of cooking aid may be chosen from the group comprising salt, sugars, spices, monosodium glutamate, powders, flavourings or extracts of vegetables, meat or cheese, used alone or as a mixture, for example. The spices may be pepper, paprika, curry powder, garlic, onion, for example.

Colours may also be contained in the cooking aid, either in the form of spices such as curry powder or paprika, or in the more conventional form of food colours, for example.

The binders and the flavourings contained in the mass of cooking aid may be in pulverulent form and the mean particle size may be between 10 and 500 pm, preferably between 20 and 200 pm and more preferably still between 50 et 100 pm. The small mean size of the particles of binder and flavouring contained in the mass of cooking aid plays a part in obtaining a mixture that can easily be moulded, if desired.

However, the mass of cooking aid may also contain visible elements the size of which exceeds the size of the particles of flavourings and binders."Visible elements"is to be understood as meaning particles that are readily identifiable with the naked eye. Such elements may be croutons, pieces of vegetables, meat or shellfish, cereals in the form of flakes or somewhat expanded extruded particles, for example.

The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing the present assembly, comprising the following steps: - heating 25 to 40 parts of fats until they melt, - adding 5 to 50 parts of binder and 20 to 70 parts of flavourings, - homogenizing so as to obtain a pourable mixture, - pouring into a cavity of a utensil for holding or stirring, and - cooling the assembly until the mixture solidifies.

If the utensil of the assembly has no cavity, then the method of manufacturing this assembly comprises the following steps: - heating 25 to 40 parts of fats until they melt, - adding 5 to 50 parts of binder and 20 to 70 parts of flavourings, - homogenizing so as to obtain a pourable mixture,

- pouring into a mould, - partially inserting a utensil for holding or stirring into the mixture before it solidifies, - cooling the assembly until the mixture solidifies, and - removing the assembly from the mould.

The mould used may be a mould with or without reliefs.

An assembly is thus obtained which comprises a means of holding and/or of stirring and enough mass of cooking aid to quickly reconstitute soups or broths by stirring directly into a hot or boiling liquid. The consumer can easily stir the said assembly in a mug of boiling water to very quickly obtain a broth or a thick soup, for example, this being by virtue of the quick melting and dissolving of the ingredients of the cooking aid of the assembly according to the invention.

Finally, the present invention relates also to a method for quickly reconstituting a broth by stirring an assembly comprising a utensil for holding or stirring secured to a mass of cooking aid made up of 25 to 40% of fats which are solid at ambient temperature, 20 to 70% of flavourings and 5 to 50t of binders in a hot liquid.

EXAMPLE 1 Soup spoon The following pulverulent ingredients are mixed in a Hobart mixer: Fine salt 50 g Glutamate 20 g Sugar 60 g Powdered tomato 200 g Potato starch 100 g Wheat flour 200 g Powdered onion 10 g Powdered garlic 5 g The pulverulent ingredients in the above mixture have a mean particle size of 120 m. The fat (330 g of hydrogenated palm oil) is melted at a temperature of the order of 50°C. The pulverulent mixture is added to the fat and the whole thing is mixed and homogenized at a temperature of 50°C in a thermostatically controlled mixer.

The mixture is then poured into the bowl part of a plastic soup spoon then cooled by passing it through a refrigerated cabinet at 4°C.

All that is then required is for the spoon to be stirred in a mug containing 200 ml of boiling water for the cooking aid to melt quickly and a delicious soup thus to be obtained.

This spoon can be packaged in a plastic film and easily carried around in a bag to be used as the consumer desires, without complicated handling.

EXAMPLE 2 Soup spoon with a hollow handle containing croutons.

The assembly is identical to the one described in Example 1, except that the handle of the spoon is hollow, with a square cross section having a side length of 1 cm, and contains 2 g of croutons with a side length of 0.5 cm and 2 g of carrot flakes. The opposite end to the receptacle of the spoon is closed using a plastic film. Once the cooking aid has been melted and the soup has been obtained, the film is removed and the filling is tipped into the soup, allowing it to keep its crunch at the time of consumption.

EXAMPLE 3 Soup-stick The ingredients that make up the mixture and the method of manufacturing the mixture are identical to those described in Example 1. In this case, the thermostatically controlled mixture at 50°C is poured into parallelepipedal moulds measuring 4x2x1 cm. Prior to cooling and solidification, a wooden stick of the ice-lolly-stick type is inserted halfway into the still soft mixture. The assembly is then cooled as indicated

in Example 1 and the whole thing is released from the mould by applying vibration. All that is then required is for the soup-stick to be stirred in a mug containing 200 ml of boiling water so that the cooking aid quickly melts and a delicious soup is thus obtained.