Smoked Meats, Smoked Treats, and Other Smoked Foods Still Trending
Smoked proteins and smoke-flavored snacks continue to be popular with consumers. People across the world are looking forward to smoky barbecue in 2022, especially with spices and flavors from locations that they are not familiar with already. This global flavor trend doesn’t appear to be going anywhere soon as consumers continue to search for ‘smoked,’ ‘charred,’ and ‘burnt’ flavors in their snack foods.
This trend is not limited to animal products. New trends include vegan barbecue options (such as grilled avocado and jerk grilled eggplant) alongside traditional regional favorites that are moving into new markets (such as beef brisket, which until recently was regional to only Texas and Kansas City). As consumers continue to explore more restaurants post-pandemic, local pitmasters at barbecue restaurants will be busy innovating their menus to meet demand. And, as food and snack preferences shift, food processors will need to adapt their products to provide new flavor profiles and experiences to their customers.
This raises the idea of how to scale up these techniques to bring these smoky flavors to more consumers. To produce these options at scale, food processors need guidance to find solutions which are tailored to their specific products. Marlen draws on years of experience as a process partner to develop these solutions with custom-built smokehouses and surface treatment equipment to bring these smoky flavors to customers around the globe.
Marlen Batch Smokehouses Bring Smoke-Infused Products to Scale
The Marlen Food Processing Industrial Oven and Smokehouse is custom designed around your product, process, and facility. To provide a uniform product within the batch oven system, Marlen’s Ovens and Smokehouses feature a Smart Balance airflow design. Fans, ducts, and dampers work together with 45° wall-to-floor deflectors to enhance airflow, ensuring repeatable and consistent results. Permanent air balance of supply and return air allows for full control of the ‘breakpoint’ – the physical point at which the high velocity air mass and the low velocity air mass collide – and full control over the location of this breakpoint ensures repeatable process and quality, uniform product.
The Marlen Industrial Oven and Smokehouse is easy to operate and maintain. The efficient air handling system eliminates the need for balancing or adjusting. The unit is controlled by the responsive and intelligent control system which can automatically send cook-cycle data to plant management via email. Marlen Smokehouses are also equipped with a generous service access area that allows for quick maintenance while in production, such as with change-out of wet bulb wicks while the oven is loaded with product.
The unique design of Marlen’s Smokehouse is also more power efficient than single-fan and multi-fan ovens. The unit requires 20-25% less horsepower to deliver the same airflow as single-fan ovens, and 50% less horsepower than multi-fan ovens. This ensures that energy consumption is determined by product and process. This, together with permanent factory air balance and other aspects of the Smokehouse’s design, add up to the lowest possible cost of ownership for food processors.
With the knowledge and experience of Marlen’s thermal processing experts, and the custom design of the Marlen Smokehouse, Marlen is the perfect process partner to bring these popular smoke-infused products to market at scale. The local pitmaster may spend years perfecting their technique and a winning recipe so when this technique is replicated in Marlen’s Industrial Smokehouse, consumers will experience the same high quality product that was developed in the smoke pit.
Marlen’s Rapid Smoke Process
Manufacturers looking for a quicker way to add a smoky element to their product’s flavor profiles can also utilize Marlen’s Rapid Smoke Process which imparts smoky flavor from natural smoke condensates. These authentic smoke- and grill-flavored condensates use real wood and smoke to replicate the delicious flavors and aromatics of cooking with fire.
The high temperature of Marlen’s surface treatment solutions, such as the infrared roaster or the flame searer, accelerate the Maillard reaction and provide a bright, golden-brown color to cooked products. In addition, the Marlen flame grills activate the natural smoke and grill aromatics of the smoke condensates, which improves the taste profile of traditional proteins, plant-based proteins, as well as snack food products. These smoke condensates can be formulated to align with different cultural and geographic tastes and expectations that customers will be looking for in 2022. For some examples, profiles such as Korean barbecue, Jamaican jerk, tandoori, and Texas barbecue have unique smoke and grill tonalities while retaining authentic and delicious barbecue taste.
Whether it’s a custom Marlen Batch Smokehouse or one of Marlen’s surface treatment solutions with a Rapid Smoke Process, Marlen has the application knowledge to be the perfect process partner. Together, food manufacturers and Marlen will find the perfect solution for bringing these new smoke-infused products to market.
