Meat + Poultry - June 2009 - 90

GRILLED CHICKEN

Unitherm manufactures ﬂame-grill systems
utilizing ﬂoating branding irons that use a
ﬂame-grill process to sear and produce grill
marks reminiscent of the backyard grill. (Photo
courtesy of Unitherm Food Systems Inc.)

designed our bar marker that allows it
to produce an indiscriminant pattern
so that everything coming off the line
does not look identical," Howard says.

On the ﬂip side

"Engineering innovation also allows products to be
bar-marked on both sides."
marks stamped on them. Equipment
companies have committed signiﬁcant
engineering resources to allow for processors to offer customers what looks
like "off-the-grill" chicken by producing
authenticity in product color and taste
while maximizing yield and providing
this at an aggressive rate of speed.
Properly processed poultry requires
properly searing and sealing the product to preserve the moisture prior to
cooking. This allows the product to retain its natural or marinated attributes.
In a processing environment, quality
means not only rapid throughput but
producing products that have realisticlooking colors, including variations in
shading. Often this is a challenge with
more traditional grilling systems relying on caramelizing to paint on marks.
Unitherm Food Systems Inc. Bristow,
Okla., manufactures ﬂame-grill systems
utilizing ﬂoating branding irons that use
a ﬂame-grill process to sear and produce marks while imparting ﬂavor that
is reminiscent of the backyard grill.
With four belt sizes available ranging in size from 20 inches to 60 inches,
Unitherm boasts optimum appearance,
90

MEAT&POULTRY

June 2009

ﬂavor, uniformity across the belt and
the ability to preserve yield by searing
in natural juices and marinades with 12
ribbon burners. It is the ribbon burners
that provide the color between the grill
marks, which are applied next. Marking
product prior to cooking using "cherryhot" branding irons comes next prior to
the cooking phase, which requires less
time because of the heat absorbed during the searing and marking process.
"This is a better quality product. The
color development is much more natural
looking," says David Howard, CEO.
Taking grill-marking a step closer to
the backyard derived variety, Unitherm
offers customers the option of varying
bar marking, including diagonal and
cross-hatched marks. "You don't have
to have just a straight line across the
product," Howard says, pointing out the
equipment can be adjusted to produce
diamond-shaped patterns or marks that
are designed to rotate and mark products with various and non-uniform grill
marks for an even more home-made
appearance. "When you grill at home
and you are ﬂipping the steak or chicken, the pattern is not uniform. We have

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Engineering innovation also allows products to be bar-marked on both sides. To
facilitate this, bar markers can be installed
both above and below the conveying
belt. By managing the size of the belt,
says Howard, it is possible to bring the
branding head through the belt to apply
marks from the bottom, which isn't possible with previous generations of grilling systems. Ensuring proper operation
of the bar markers requires the heat to
remain "cherry red," says Howard. "By
keeping it in the cherry-red condition, it
remains a non-stick surface."
Another method of applying bar marks
on both sides is to use the conveyor as
the branding surface by heating it up. Using this application, "the belt itself - much
like the grill at home - becomes the bar
marker," says Howard, adding that one
Unitherm client designs the conveyor to
deliver grill marks exactly like a Weber
grill. "The end result is very much like
the home style you get from a domestic unit," he adds. For these types of requests, Unitherm engineers will customize an existing conveyor belt to deliver
on the customer's needs. Too often, the
pre-cooked meats sold at retail are compromised in terms of quality because of
equipment that cannot accommodate
ﬂexibility, according to Howard. "It is
what it is because of the machinery that's
available right off of the shelf. It makes
limitations on the quality of that product," which doesn't have to be the case.
"If the machine requires some customization to improve the product, the machine should be customized rather than
the product being sacriﬁced."
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Meat + Poultry - June 2009

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