“To be tender or not to be tender, that is the question.”
—HAMlet, Act 3, Scene 1
According to studies, U.S. adults eat just over 2 pounds of ham per year on average. Though that might not seem like a lot at first glance, multiply it by 258.3 million adults. You’re suddenly looking at an industry selling well over 500 million pounds of ham every year.
That’s more ham action than on stage at a junior high Shakespeare production. (Although we love that kind of ham too!)
To make the most of this market, many top ham producers use Challenge RMF Meat-on-Meat Massage™ technology in their processing plants. As the leader in massaging and “tumbling” equipment, a Challenge RMF massager/marinater delivers uniform and dependable performance for marinating, curing, and tenderizing bone-in and pork muscle products—with the least amount of product loss and machine downtime!
Contact us to discover how Challenge RMF can make your ham products the star of dinner table productions and of your sales. And read on to learn how Meat-on-Meat Massage™ helps—in the words of HAMlet—”Suit the action to the muscle, and the muscle to the action.”
Who knew Shakespeare could talk so much hock?
All the Work Is a Stage
Processors cure ham in stages. Once they choose each pork shoulder or hind leg for quality, size, and type of final product, they trim and prepare it to accept pre-smoke flavorings and brining.
Stage 1: Injection
Many Challenge RMF clients inject these bone-in or deboned muscles with their pickle/brine agent. These injections can include:
- Pickle
- Brining salts
- Nitrates
- Spices
- Brown sugar
- And others
Once the ham processor injects their bespoke ingredients, the muscles can head into the Challenge RMF massaging and “tumbling” equipment.
Stage 2: There’s a Method in Our Massaging
“Tenderize, tenderize, tenderize.”
The Challenge RMF massager/marinater delivers amazing meat tenderization without destroying muscle structure—an absolute necessity for top-quality ham production.
The proprietary mechanical action inside our massager/marinater tenderizes even the largest pork muscle. This massaging activates proteins at the muscle’s core without inflicting damage to the surface, meat fibers, or connective tissues.
Something Is Awesome in the State of Denmark
The Challenge RMF massager/marinater (unlike the average “meat tumbler” or “marinater tumbler”) uses specially designed and welded helical flights inside the drum.
Because of how we engineer these flights, they:
- Produce gentle yet aggressive Meat-on-Meat Massage™ Massage action.
- Don’t lift and drop the muscles like average meat tumblers.
- Have continuous welds to greatly reduce product damage and loss.
- Reinforce the drum integrity for longer run life—even under large loads.
How the Challenge RMF Massager/Marinater Works
For massaging and “tumbling” equipment needs, our massager/marinater sets the standard for usability and durability. Ham producers use the Challenge RMF massager/marinater for custom processing times, and they get higher yields and longer work life through our drum design and manufacture.
When you load whole-muscle ham meat (bone-in or boneless) into the Challenge RMF massager/marinater, the helical flights cause the muscles to rub against each other as the meat rolls over and moves along the curved courses.
Also, this turning over action alternately compresses and relaxes the muscles as they move from top of the drum load to the bottom and back again. The continuous rolling and massaging motion also stretches and compresses the connective tissue fibers, reducing their elasticity while diminishing any chewiness or toughness of the tissue—without damaging the meat structure.
Though each load of meat can be extremely large—up to 22,000 lbs in our MM-10 Model—the massaging process makes connective tissue delicate and tender while keeping overall muscle integrity intact.
Wet-Curing Ham
The old-school approach to wet-curing ham involved packing the hams into barrels of curing solution and letting it “soak in” over several days or weeks. Processors used this technique to tenderize the connective tissue matrix, improve moisture retention, and enhance flavor.
As the industry evolved, ham producers also began injecting pickling solutions containing salt and phosphates to improve saturation within the denser muscle structure. In this wet-curing method, meats mature over days or weeks at 40°F (4.4°C) or slightly below to prevent premature pH drops.
Again, each processor tightly packs the meat into barrels or vats to prevent air exposure and oxidation. This improved tenderization, since muscle cells deeper in the meat could also absorb the curing solution. In the end, producers delivered hams that were both juicy and tender for enhanced texture and mouth-feel.
Today, ham producers inject pickle deep into muscle tissue prior to massaging. The rolling action created by the helical flights in a Challenge RMF massager/marinater distributes that pickle evenly and quickly over the course of a few hours. This greatly reduces the time that vat- or barrel-curing requires—by up to 5 days or more.
Using Vacuum Marination/Massaging for Pickle Penetration and Distribution
Ham producers can also use our vacuum massager/marinater capability to pull vacuum and create a zero-atmospheric-pressure environment inside the drum. When this happens, muscles get larger, open up more to accept the injections, deconstructing collagen sheets around fibers so that the pickle penetrates more deeply and evenly.
Stage 3: This Ham is Smokin’!
Whether you smoke your ham or cook it without smoke, you now utilize pork muscles injected, tenderized, and massaged for best quality and yield. The end result: a great product for your ham clients.
Don’t Stumble With a Tumbler
We add quotes whenever we say “tumbler,” because Challenge RMF’s helical flights work much differently, and much better, than tumbler tech—making massaging and tumbling equipment two completely different approaches.
The biggest difference involves “hydraulic shock.” Most meat tumblers tenderize muscles using straight flights within the drum. These flights act as shelves that catch the meat, lift it up, and then drop it.
Imagine trying to tenderize a prize cut of pork by taking it up a ladder and then dropping in on your work floor. Now imagine doing that over and over and over. Not pretty, both in process and results.
What Tumblers Do (That We Don’t)
Basically, tumblers disrupt the meat’s outer layers, causing muscle fibers to break down. As the meat tumbles, the impact forces muscle cells to rupture, releasing proteins.
This results in a pulpy texture on the meat’s surface, extending only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. The muscle’s core receives no tenderization, and the injected pickle, brine, and/or spices don’t get worked evenly into the tissues.
When a customer cuts into that cooked ham, they see dark areas with a dry, rough, hard texture surrounded by lighter, softer, and over-moist areas. When they press on these lighter areas, free liquid exudes from between adjoining muscles for less-than-choice experience. Quality takes a hit—a very palpable hit.
Tumbling doesn’t deliver the eating experience your customers expect, and that will tarnish your brand’s reputation.
Why Tumbler Manufacturers Don’t Use Helical Flights
Simply put, straight flights provide the manufacturer the fastest and easiest way to weld inside a drum. The efficiency doesn’t do much for your product, but it does help the tumbler manufacturer boost their own bottom line.
Real World Tenderizing With Challenge Massagers
For decades, we have helped ham producers create some of the country’s most coveted and successful products.
Here, we share some real-world examples of how a producer makes better ham.
Full Muscle, Cook-in-Bag Hams (No Cook Shrink)
These products first have the meat processed in massaging and “tumbling” equipment for the best brine penetration and muscle tenderization before the smoking and cooking steps.
Massaging/Marinating Time
Choose a massaging session time that’s as long as possible in line with your production goals.
Force
Use the highest drum RPM as possible. In addition, you can change the customizable drum incline position to increase the force impact on meat.
Friction
Begin with a pickle-to-meat content ratio of 25% to 35%. As the massage process increases absorption, gradually increase the pickle content.
When the product reaches a very high absorption rate of over 50% to 60%, producers usually decrease the RPM in stages down to 8, to 6, to 4 RPM toward the end of the massage cycle. This avoids releasing any already absorbed pickle.
Boneless Full Muscle Hams (With Cook Shrink)
Because whole muscles require careful massage to ensure they retain their shape and internal matrix, your Challenge RMF massager/marinater allows extremely versatile adjustability for gentle to vigorous massage. This procedure does not tenderize as intensely as others, making it less suitable for cook-in-bag products.
Massaging/Marinating Time
The meat will massage gently to absorb pickle while keeping the muscle structure tight and intact. You can use muscles without prior mechanical tenderizing, but massaging helps create a more palatable and flavorful final product.
Force
This procedure starts with a higher RPM, usually between 8 and 10, and then the speed reduces to 4 to 2 RPM over the time of each massage cycle. Producers find this works especially well for whole, fully laid open hams (European wet-cure style).
Friction
Producers use up to 45% injection solution-to-meat ratios at massage speeds of 10 to 12 RPM, and 50% injection solution-to-meat ratios at 8 RPM.
After 2 to 3 hours, producers add additional required pickle in stages of 10% maximum. As this happens, they decrease RPM after each pickle addition, taking it from 8 to 6 to 4 RPM.
Bone-In Full Muscle Hams (With Cook Shrink)
Most of our ham producer clients use a dry-cure style for their bone-in full muscle hams. However, many are discovering that utilizing our massaging and “tumbling” equipment in a similar fashion as boneless full-muscle hams produces a more even saturation of pickle for improved yield, along with a more moist and enjoyable product from hock to butt.
As a bonus benefit, allowing bone-in hams to cycle through a Challenge RMF massager/marinater also helps erase injection needles marks for a more visually appealing product.
Get Thee to a Telephone
Though Shakespeare won’t answer the call, we do have ham pros who understand the process from farm to table, and we can help you find the right custom equipment for your processing plant. Call us, and we’ll set up a time to speak about your needs and goals.
You can also request a quote online. With a few clicks and some simple info, we can send you an estimate for your investment in better quality equipment for a better quality product.
About Challenge RMF
For over 45 years, we’ve designed and built massager/marinaters, vacuum loaders, dumpers, cryogenic marinating technology, and more for meat processors.
Challenge RMF has helped companies the world over, manufacturing and installing customized products in a diverse number of production situations.
From brand-new equipment to replacement parts and repair service, we’re there when you want us and here when you need us. Come explore what’s possible with Challenge RMF.
