BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to food products, and in particular to a breaded or battered food product that is presented on a breaded or battered skewer, and a method for manufacturing same.  
           [0002]    Battered food products that are presented to consumers on a skewer are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 1,706,491 to Jenkins, for example, discloses an apparatus for preparing a battered food product on a skewer or stick. Jenkins discloses that the stick may be used as a convenient handle for the product. In this way, products may be served to consumers where the normal accoutrements of dining, such as a table, chair, dishes, utensils, and the like, are not available. A well-known example of such foods is the “corn dog,” a battered wiener served on a stick. The first corn dog was sold at the Texas State Fair in the 1930&#39;s, and they are still today commonly found at fairs, amusement parks, and other environments where it might be difficult for persons to consume traditional food products.  
           [0003]    While such products are commonly served to adults and children alike, it has been found that food products presented on a stick or skewer are particularly enjoyed by children. The stick makes consumption easier for young children who have not yet fully developed the fine motor skills necessary to manipulate common eating utensils such as the knife, spoon, and fork. Older children simply enjoy the novelty of eating food presented on a stick, and associate such foods with amusement parks and other such places that they desire to visit.  
           [0004]    The stick used for such products has generally been viewed as only a means by which to conveniently hold the food for consumption. In addition to Jenkins, U.S. Pat. No. 1,778,485 to Davidson and U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,473 to Bissett teach that the purpose of the stick is simply to provide a handle by which the food may be conveniently and sanitarily held for consumption. Sticks may also be used as a means of holding multiple food products together or as a means of holding the food product in a desired position; when used for these purposes, the skewers are usually pointed on at least one end for insertion into the food product. U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,044 to Taylor and U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,614 to Brawley provide examples of this use of skewers in various food products.  
           [0005]    The skewers used with such products have generally not been considered to be a part of the food product itself, as the skewers or sticks are generally formed of wood or other nonconsumable materials. U.S. Pat. No. 2,116,310 to Harvey does, however, teach a food product on a stick where the stick is designed to hold certain flavoring products. Harvey teaches that the stick may be porous or slotted or otherwise designed to receive flavors, such as salt, pepper, mustard, relishes, and the like. The flavor of the stick thus enters the meat upon cooking. The purpose of the flavorings added to the stick is thus the enhancement of the flavor of the meat product, not the flavoring of the stick itself.  
           [0006]    Despite decades of wide popularity for battered food products served on a skewer or stick, it has gone unrecognized that battering on the stick as well as the food product itself may be advantageous or desirable.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    The present invention is directed to a battered or breaded food product presented on a skewer or stick in which the stick itself is breaded or battered along with the food portion of the product. It has been found that children, who are the most important consumer demographic for food products on a stick, find batter or breading on the stick as well as the food itself to be highly desirable. Children often enjoy eating the breading or batter portion of such products as much or more than the eating of the meat or other major food product component. Children are therefore encouraged to eat foods that are served to them by the use of the present invention.  
           [0008]    The present invention is further directed to a method of manufacturing a food product that is battered or breaded and includes a stick that is also battered or breaded during the manufacturing process.  
           [0009]    It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide for a breaded or battered food product on a skewer or stick for which the skewer or stick is itself breaded or battered.  
           [0010]    It is a further object of the present invention to provide for a food product that is particularly enticing to children in order to encourage children to eat foods that are served to them.  
           [0011]    These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood from a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims in conjunction with the drawings as described following:  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 is a partial cut-away perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the first stage of a manufacturing process of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the second stage of a manufacturing process of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]    With reference to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of the present invention may be described. Food product  10  is presented on stick  12  and is encased in coating  14 . Food product  10  is whole-muscle chicken in the preferred embodiment, as whole-muscle chicken is a nutritious, popular, yet relatively inexpensive food. Breast meat (when white meat is preferred) and thigh meat (when dark meat is preferred) are particularly desirable choices. In alternative embodiment, however, food product  10  may consist of processed chicken, or whole-muscle or processed forms of other meats, such as turkey, beef, pork, or the like. In addition, in other embodiments food product  10  may consist of foods other than meat, such as, for example, fruits or vegetables. Various forms of marinade may be used in conjunction with food product  10 , which are applied to food product  10  as described more fully below.  
         [0016]    Stick  12  is formed of wood in the preferred embodiment, since wood is light, inexpensive, safe for use in food products, and most importantly does not negatively impact food flavor when cooked with foods. Other materials may be used in alternative embodiments, however, such as metals or pressed papers. An edible form of stick  12  may also be used in certain embodiments; such sticks could be formed, for example, from highly compressed flour in combination with a binding agent.  
         [0017]    In one preferred embodiment, one or both ends of stick  12  may be color coded as a means of distinguishing the marinade flavor employed with the product. This may be important during early processing, since products with multiple marinade flavors may be processed in succession and confusion might result without some means of distinguishing the products. Once batter and breading are applied to form coating  14 , the color coding on stick  12  may no longer be visible, and therefore the utility of the color-coding feature may be limited to the early stages of processing as described below.  
         [0018]    Coating  14  is preferably formed by covering food product  10  and stick  12  with batter and then breading. Any of the well known and popular forms of batter and breading combinations may be used. Other alternative embodiments may include a coating  14  that consists of only batter or of other edible coating materials.  
         [0019]    Referring now to FIG. 2, the first stage of a process for manufacturing a product according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention may now be described. At step  20 , fresh, whole-muscle, boneless, skinless chicken (breast or thigh meat) is received at the processing facility. The chicken is transferred to a cooler for storage at step  22  in anticipation of further processing.  
         [0020]    Ingredients to be used in the marinade for the product are received at step  24 , and stored at step  26 . Such materials are mixed according to the recipe to be used with potable water from step  28 , with the resulting marinade created at step  30 . The chicken is then vacuum tumble marinated at step  32 . The marinated chicken is then transferred to storage in a cooler at step  34  to await further processing.  
         [0021]    The marinated chicken is loaded into a basket at step  36  in order to facilitate weighing and further processing. The product is weighed at step  36  in order to ensure that a consistent quantity of product is simultaneously processed through with each basket. The sticks or skewers  12  are then inserted in the marinated chicken (food product  10 ) at step  38 . It may be noted that while the preferred method of skewer insertion at step  38  is by automated machinery, skewers  12  may also be inserted manually by workers. If color-coded skewers  12  are to be used as described above with respect to a preferred embodiment, then the color marked on the skewer must match the particular marinade flavor chosen for this product. The preferred color marking medium is a food-grade dye, but other non-toxic marking materials may be used as well.  
         [0022]    At step  40 , the chicken is mechanically cut into strips such that individual food products are formed. Metal slats are then inserted into one side of the baskets at step  42  in order to separate the layers of chicken formed in the baskets. The baskets may then be opened and the slabs of skewered product placed on a conveyor belt, still at step  42 . The skewered products may then be separated into individual products, and individually quick frozen (IQF) at step  44 . It should be noted that to the extent the IQF process is incomplete with respect to certain individual products, the products may be resent through the separation and freezing process at step  46 . Further, carbon dioxide used in the IQF process may be received at step  48  and stored in tank facilities at step  50 . IQF is a process well known in the art for creating a frozen product that may be easily separated from like products packaged in the same container while still in the frozen state, thereby simplifying preparation or further processing. Alternatively, step  44  may be skipped in favor of conventional freezing of the product at step  52 .  
         [0023]    At step  54 , the separated and frozen product is weighed and placed in shipping containers. Packaging materials for the shipping containers are received at step  56  and stored at step  58  to await use at step  54 . The packaged product is stored in a freezer at step  60  until it is shipped to a coating facility at step  62 . Alternatively, the facilities for initial processing and for coating may be located at the same physical plant, in which case one or more of steps  62 ,  60 ,  54 ,  58 ,  56 ,  44 ,  52 , and  46  may be omitted.  
         [0024]    Referring now to FIG. 3, a second stage of product processing according to a preferred embodiment of the invention may be described. At step  64 , frozen chicken is received and placed in a freezer at step  66  until further processing is commenced. The frozen product is placed on a conveyor belt and run through a water bath at step  68 , which wets both the chicken and the portion of the skewer that extends from the chicken. Alternatively, a batter may be used in place of water at step  68 , with the batter being described below. At step  70 , the chicken and skewer are pre-dusted in preparation for receiving the batter coating. The dusting material ingredients are received at step  72  and stored at step  74 . In a preferred embodiment, dusting material may comprise bleached enriched wheat flour (which contains niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, and folic acid), bread crumbs (which contain bleached wheat flour, dextrose, yeast, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil—soybean and/or cottonseed, and salt), salt, spices, garlic powder, whey, dextrose, extractives of paprika, and malted barley flour.  
         [0025]    At step  76 , a battering coat is applied to both the chicken and skewer  12 , such that the entire product including the skewer  12  is coated with batter. Batter ingredients are received at step  78  and stored at step  80 . In a preferred embodiment, the batter ingredients may comprise yellow corn flour, enriched bleached wheat flour, salt, leavening (which contains sodium acid pyrphosphate and sodium bicarbonate), guar gum, whey, and soy flour. Water received at step  82  is mixed with the batter ingredients to form batter at step  84 ; the batter is then made available to step  76  for battering of the product. Once batter is applied at step  76 , breading is applied to the product at step  86 . Breading ingredients are received at step  88  and stored until needed by step  86  at step  90 . In a preferred embodiment, the breading ingredients may comprise bleached enriched wheat flour, bread crumbs, salt, spices, garlic powder, and extractives of paprika.  
         [0026]    At step  92 , the now battered and breaded product is pre-cooked for a short period of time in order to set the batter and breading. In a preferred embodiment, the pre-cooking time is set in order to complete pre-cooking with a cooking temperature of approximately 350 degrees. The product is then run through a spiral freezer, as are well known in the art, for IQF processing at step  94 . When the product exits the freezer, it is graded for quality and weighed at step  96 . The product is also bagged at this step, with cooking instructions either printed onto the bag directly or inserted into each bag for the use of the consumer or other food preparer. In the preferred embodiment, the product bags are heat sealed or taped, but other types of bag or container sealing may also be used.  
         [0027]    The packaged product is passed through a metal detector at step  100  in order to ensure that no metal has entered the product during the course of processing. Code dating information and labels identifying the product may be applied to the packaging at this time. The product is then shipped to customers at step  102 .  
         [0028]    The present invention has been described with reference to certain preferred and alternative embodiments that are intended to be exemplary only and not limiting to the full scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.
A skewered food product in which not only the food portion but also the skewer itself is battered and breaded is disclosed. A method for manufacturing such a product for retail or foodservice sale is also disclosed.