Prediction of surface and “under surface” temperatures on poultry muscles and poultry skins subjected to jets of superheated steam

An apparatus was designed and built to apply short, homogeneous and controlled superheated steam treatments at the surface of solid products. Experiments were carried out on Teflon® and poultry samples. The treatment which uses a jet of superheated steam can be broken down in four steps: (1) initial steam condensation, (2) evaporation of condensates, (3) convective heating in superheated steam, (4) final air-cooling of the surface. A transfer model was developed to analyse and predict experimental results based on assumptions of film condensation and film evaporation. Good agreement was found between calculated and experimental results obtained on Teflon® for the highest jet temperatures. For lower jet temperatures, the model has to be adjusted to mimic droplet evaporation. When applied to poultry, the model requires adjustments due to complex cooking-related phenomena.