BCH Bratting Pan.

The term bratting or sweating is usually applied to the rapid sealing of meats and other products, so as to retain flavours and juices prior to cooking.

BCH Ltd of Spring Place, Millfold, Whitworth, Lancashire, tel:[phone] manufacture bratting systems for a wide variety of products including meat, bacon, mushrooms, onions and ethnic foods, with rapid sealing being obtained by means of a heating medium that makes use of thermal oil, steam or gas.

Both manually operated and automatic systems are available.

The manual version comprises a flat bed, rectangular-shaped vessel with the option of a jacket on the underside for heating the product or it can be directly gas heated. Draw-off valves are provided in the side of the vessel, which is provided with a lid to retain heat and minimize steam emission. To empty the vessel, one uses a hand-operated pump to tilt it.

The automatic system uses a bin tipper to load product by elevating and tipping particulates into the vessel, which is hemispherical. A horizontal agitator with scrapers is provided, along with a heating jacket. The temperature in this jacket is maintained by an indicator/controller or the system can be provided with a PLC control and data acquisition system. Discharge from the vessel is achieved by automatic tilting under controlled conditions.