Encased instantly cookable pasta

Abstract

Described herein are method and apparatus for producing instantly cookable pasta including various kinds of pasta and Chinese and Japanese noodles, and an encased instantly cookable pasta produced by such method and apparatus. According to the invention, part of raw dough of a starting mixture, which contains wheat flour as a major component, is subjected to preliminary steam-cooking, and then mixed with the remaining uncooked part of the starting mixture. The resulting mixture is then processed through shaping, steam-cooking and drying stages to obtain instantly cookable pasta, enshrouding the instantly cookable pasta product in a water-permeable casing before shipment. Due to suppression of thermal degeneration of gluten, the instantly cookable pasta possesses favorable resiliency and is free of the smell inherent to raw wheat flour and cohesion of individual pasta cords. In order to restore the cooked edible state, the encased pasta can be put in hot water together with the casing, permitting hot water to impregnate uniformly into the pasta. The water-permeable casing facilitates the handling of the pasta in cooking and improves its restorative quality to obtain cooked pasta of palatable touch and flavor.