One of the questions we may get asked is – How does Jet Cook differ from traditional Steam Jacketed Kettle Cooking? We put this to the test this week during trials in our South African Test Kitchen with one of the food industries leading branded companies.

We demonstrated some of DCN Jet Cook’s benefits and versatility on two very different products – Chilli Sauce and a Dried Breakfast Cereal.  The customer had previously had issues with burn-on using their existing Steam Jacketed Kettles, which affected taste and cleaning times.  They also wanted to see how they could reduce energy costs by shortening processing times.

Using DCN’s Jet Cook, In-Vessel Homogeniser and Braising Bar, we were able to produce the following results:

Chilli Sauce

Jet Cook Process:

In-Tank Jet Cook rapidly hydrates the starches.
Addition of vegetables and sugar.
Product heated to 95°C.
Discharge.

Results:

Zero burn-on and 100% gelatinisation of the starches.
DCN’s process used approximately 55% less energy.
The Kettle only needing cleaning once, at the end of the day.
The finished product had good viscosity, particulate integrity, colour and flavour.

Dried Breakfast Cereal

 Jet Cook Process:

DCN’s In-Tank Jet Cook System and In-vessel Homogeniser produced a high brix and high viscosity paste, containing more than 27% powders.
The paste is pumped to a drying line for further processing.

 Results:

 Zero burn-on.
100% yields.

If you would like to book a trial with our experienced product and process team in either our UK or South African Product Development Kitchens – please contact on info@dcnorris.com

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Earlier in the month, we welcomed DCN North America’s Vice-President Matt Klein to our UK headquarters.

Over three days Matt met with the UK team and learnt more about our manufacturing processes and capabilities.  We also ran a series of trials in our Product Development Kitchen for Wild Mushroom Sauce, Creamy Caramel and ending with premium Pet Food, showing the range of products that can be produced on our versatile Kettle Systems.

These visits are instrumental in maintaining the strong relationship between the two companies, and in turn developing further strategies to expand the North American branch.

You can see DC Norris NA at the NRA Show in Chicago this year, where they will be exhibiting from 20-23rd May

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This week DCN are in Qatar running advanced Jet Cook training and processing with the team at Al Manal Central Production Unit in Doha.

Following on from a very successful FIFA World Cup campaign, the team are now getting ready for the Asia Cup, as well as now suppling their own facilities with fresh meals every day.

We always enjoy working together with Al Manal as their team have a fantastic work attitude, willingness to learn and their progress is exceptional, from both the Chefs and Managers.

We produced a variety of products including Bangladeshi Dhal and a selection of Vegetable Masalas using both Jet Cook and our Braising Bar Technology.

We have supplied 6 x Ready-2-Cook Cooking Kettles with our patented Jet Cook Technology, Tumble Chillers, Pump Fill Stations, Bratt Pans and Sous Vide Systems, which are certainly being used to the fullest.

We look forward to returning soon and we wish them every success with Asia Cup and new ventures.

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January and the start of a new year often leads to people making healthy resolutions to improve their eating and drinking habits. This may mean ‘Dry January’ or ‘Veganuary’ for some, or simply an intention to eating better and exercising more.

We are all aware that too much fat and salt in our diets can harm our health, and salt reduction has been a feature of UK food policy for two decades and is accepted globally as a cost-effective strategy to improve public health.

At DC Norris, we have certainly noticed in the past few years that food manufacturers are placing more importance on the nutritional value of the meals and foods that they are producing.  There are many more ranges available such as low-calorie, vegan, vegetarian, plant-based and ‘free from’, and we have had to adapt our processes to allow for these.

Working with Sainsbury’s to remove 70% in fat and 50% in salt in their Italian Range

We began working with a group of Companies including Sainsbury’s back in 2017, when we received an £1m Innovate UK government grant to develop a system or process to reduce the fat and salt in ready meals, sauces and soups.

For two years we undertook product and process trials on Sainsbury’s recipes, using many ingredients such as starches, pre-made roux, cream and full fat milk.   It was proven that the Generation 4 Jet Processing unit could produce a healthier product whilst also matching the taste and texture of the existing full fat and salt products.  As an additional benefit the Jet Processing System reduces the processing time from 60 minutes to less than 15 minutes,

“Jet Process could remove the equivalent of 23 London double decker buses of fat and salt from Sainsbury’s Italian sauces and soups in 12 months!” 

This multi-functional simultaneous process creates droplets of fat and water to sub 1 micron levels, and has resulted in DCN being able to

remove the equivalent of 23 London double decker buses of fat and salt from Sainsbury’s Italian sauces and soups in 12 months.  A 70% reduction in fat and 50% reduction in salt has been proven and documented by both Nottingham University and Sainsbury’s UK.

Vegan / Plant-based / Free-from Ranges

DC Norris has also been working with customers to overcome some of the challenges that they have seen when producing these new types of convenience foods. One of these issues is long processing times which can damage sensitive ingredients if using a traditional Steam Jacketed 

Kettle.  There are also challenges when you remove standard key ingredients, for example dairy, flour and eggs.   Ingredient replacements such as soya, whey proteins and vegetarian cheese are very sensitive to heat and excess agitation which can damage the product taste, structure and appearance.

DCN put their experience into practice when working with Dragon’s Den’s Kirsty Henshaw who launched a new factory which only creates ‘free from’ products.  She enlisted the help of DCN’s Product and Process Team to convert her recipes from traditional jacketed processing methods to Jet Cook.

If you would like to speak to our experienced Product and Process Team about your recipes and product range and how we can help, please get in touch – info@dcnorris.com

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DCN’s Jet Process Systems for Condensed Milk continue to be popular due to the high-speed processing, small footprint and large throughputs.  Food Manufacturers can also expect to see a dramatic energy reduction compared to when using a traditional processing method.

By replacing liquid milk with milk powder, we remove the expense and need for chilled transport and storage.  If using liquid milk, it may have come from a variety of different sources, which then require a lengthy stage to pre-prepare the milk.  There is also a high degree of wastage as when you heat and evaporate liquid, you are losing 60% of the quantity.

Here we examine Jet Process in more detail:

Reduced Processing Times

A Jet Process System we designed, manufactured, and installed earlier this year in Kuala Lumpur can produce quantities of 5000kg in 23 minutes. Throughputs can be increased up to 12 tonnes per hour, with the addition of multiple Jet Cook Units – however the small footprint remains the same.

The lengthy multi-stage processing of the traditional method is replaced with a single-stage system with a small footprint.  In the comparison below, step 1 in traditional processing takes 1 day, whereas with Jet Process this milk preparation stage is removed completely and the whole process takes just 23 minutes.

Watch the video

Improved Product Quality

Product quality is improved when using DCN’s system, as ingredient flavours are enhanced due to the reduced thermal impact of rapid heating and mixing.

Product trials which we ran after the commissioning of the new system showed the Condensed Milk had a brix of 72, and a particle size of 3 micron, ensuring a smooth creamy texture with highlighted dairy notes. The simultaneous heating, shearing of the oil, powders and sugar creates a homogeneous finish without the requirement of a high pressure mechanical homogeniser.

Traditional Condensed Milk Process (liquid milk)

Testing and adjusting the incoming liquid milk prior to processing:
Fat levels
Solids Non-fat
Micro-loading

Pasteurisation through heat exchanger to 120◦C for 1-3 minutes or:
Chilling to 70◦C before entering the evaporator
Mechanical homogenising
Cooling prior to canning

Typical Condensed Milk Jet Process System (milk powder)

Cook/Sterilisation/Entrain/Emulsify are all carried out simultaneously as one step:

Jet Cook – single or multi in-line (up to 4 units) – simultaneously and rapidly heat and shear the product to the final required temperature.

Jet Sterilisation – replaces a traditional heat exchanger, which can cause damage to the proteins due to the hot surface. The excess surface temperature can also cause a maillard effect, where lactose reacts with ε-amino group of lysine residue of milk proteins.  This can have a negative impact on the flavour and colour of the product. The other disadvantage of a heat exchanger is long cleaning times of the tubes, and the volume of product left inside them after processing.  The Jet Sterilisation pipework can be as little as two metres with no moving parts, and can be disassembled in a matter of minutes.

Jet Entrain – entrains 400kgs of powder in 4 minutes. The patented hopper and injector nozzle creates ultimate vacuum to disperse the powders into the liquid without any blockages, which can occur if there is wetting of the powder.

Non-mechanical In-Line Emulsification – using the In-line Jet Cooks on high shear whilst they also rapidly heat.

Lactose Seeding – not usually required with this system but can be added by customer request – as was the case with this customer.

The same system has the flexibility to make different products such as oat milk, evaporated milk, milkshakes, long shelf-life juices, sugar syrups, creamer, as well as maheu and brushera for the African markets.

To find out more about DCN’s Jet Process Condensed Milk systems, please contact info@dcnorris.com / +44 (0) 1767 677515

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