AU753935B2 - Non-fried coatings comprising a browning agent - Google Patents

Description

NON-FRIED COATINGS COMPRISING A BROWNING AGENT The present invention relates to coatings for foodstuffs and to processes for producing coated foodstuffs. In particular, the invention relates to low fat coated foodstuffs having a fried appearance.

Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.

Conventional frying of various foodstuffs produces cooked foods having excellent visual appeal, mouthfeel and organoleptic qualities. However, the safety implications when used on an industrial scale are considerable and disposal of the spent fats S. @0 Sexpensive and difficult. Moreover, the use of oils in the frying process leads to relatively @0 high inclusion levels of fats in the fried products (oil uptake is difficult to control in the 15 drying process), so reducing their appeal to a significant number of consumers.

•There is therefore a need for food products which have the desirable visual appeal, mouthfeel and organoleptic qualities of conventionally fried products, but which do not suffer from these disadvantages.

A process for producing a coated foodstuff having a fried appearance is described herein. The process comprises the steps of coating the foodstuff, disposing a non- S• °enzymic browning agent a Maillard browning agent) at the surface of the coated foodstuff and dry heating the coated foodstuff to flash cook the surface thereof, thereby o: o 25 imparting a fried appearance to the coated foodstuff by activating the browning agent).

According to the present invention there is provided a process for producing a coated foodstuff having a fried appearance, the process comprising coating the foodstuff with an adhesion batter, disposing a crispy particulate coating on the adhesive batter, spraying a browning agent and oil onto the coated foodstuff, and dry heating the coated foodstuff to flash cook the surface thereof, thereby imparting a fried appearance to the foodstuff, wherein the coated foodstuff is dry heated for a period of up to 120 -laseconds or to heat the surface of the foodstuff to about 70'C- 200'C, and wherein the adhesion batter is uncooked prior to the dry heating.

The invention also provides a process for producing a coated foodstuff having a fried appearance, the process comprising coating a uncooked foodstuff core with an adhesion batter, disposing a crispy particulate coating on the adhesive batter, spraying a browning agent and oil onto the coated foodstuff, and dry heating the coated foodstuff to flash cook the surface thereof, thereby imparting a fried appearance to the coating, but without substantially cooking the core, wherein the coated foodstuff is dry heated for a period of up 120 seconds or to heat the surface of the foodstuff to about 0 969 200 0 C. •S S" The invention also provides a coated foodstuff when produced by a process according to the invention.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words 'comprise', 'comprising', and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of"including, but not limited to".

The term "browning agent" is used herein to define any agent which imparts brown colour (either as a colorant or as a colour generating precursor which produces colour during further processing). The brown colour imparted by the browning agent may be any of a number of hues ranging from yellows through golden browns to near-black dark browns which are substantially mimetic of the colours normally generated in deep fried products by inter alia caramelization and/or the Maillard reaction.

As used herein, the term "dry heating" is used to indicate that the foodstuff is heated without full or partial immersion in a heat conducting liquid (such as water or oil). Thus, the process of the invention does not involve a conventional frying or boiling step (but may involve certain steam treatments).

lb- The dry heating may take any form, so long as rapid surface heating (flash cooking) of the surface of the food coating is achieved. Those skilled in the art 0 0 0* 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 S 000 *0 0 0 0 0 00000 0@0 0 0 0 0 0:00 WO 98/53712 PCT/GB98/O1399 2 will appreciate that such flash surface cooking often leaves the core of the foodstuff substantially uncooked, which has advantages in many applications.

In preferred embodiments, the dry heating is achieved through the use of a radiative primary heat source (as oppose to the use of a conducting oil as primary heat source in e.g. deep fat frying).

Any suitable form of dry heating may be used. In preferred embodiments, the dry heating is effected by medium wave, long wave or short wave infrared radiation modulated or pulsed medium wave, long wave or short wave infrared radiation). Other suitable forms of heating include those delivered by impingement, radiofrequency and microwave ovens (the latter especially useful when frozen food portions are processed).

The process of the invention is ideally suited to the production of low or reduced fat products which appear to have been deep fried. Thus, in preferred embodiments, the coated foodstuff is a reduced or low fat foodstuff.

As used herein, the term "low fat" is used to denote a foodstuff which has less than 10% total fat. Particularly preferred are low fat products having up to up to fat. The term "reduced fat" is used to denote products having lower fat concentrations relative to their conventionally pre-fried counterparts.

The coating used in the invention may take any form, so long as it mimics a fried coating after processing.

Preferably, the coating is a batter (for example an adhesion batter). Other suitable coatings include crispy particulate coatings (such as crumb coatings, for example comprising comminuted vegetables, cheese or potato). Also useful are breadcrumb coatings (such as Japanese crumb), though so-called "novel" crumbs are particularly preferred.

The coating may have one or more inclusions incorporated therein, such as for example herbs, spices, seasonings, nuts, fruit, cheese, vegetables etc. Indeed, the dry heating processes of the invention (particularly those involving use of infrared heating) result in products with superior organoleptic properties, the inclusions retaining much of the flavour, colour and aroma that is usually lost or impaired during deep fat frying.

The coating is conveniently a combination of adhesion batter and crispy particulate coating, in which the crispy particulate coating is disposed on the batter.

WO 98/53712 PCT/GB98/01399 3 Particularly suitable for the processes of the invention are adhesion batters which comprise a non-starch polysaccharide gums such as gelatine, agaragar and/or guar) or a coagulable protein albumin and/or whey protein).

Such batters have surprisingly been found to be particularly'effective in maintaining the structural integrity of the coating during processing.

For some foodstuffs (particularly those with relatively high levels of surface moisture), the coating is preferably a laminate comprising a predust in immediate contact with the food surface, an adhesion batter disposed on the predust and a crispy particulate coating disposed on the batter.

The predust composi:ions for use in the invention may comprise a finely-divided moisture absorbing component (such as pregelatinised rice, flour and/or bread crumb fines). They may conveniently include a suitable flavouring agent. Thus, any of a wide range of commercially available predust compositions may be used according to the invention.

The outer surface of the coating preferably comprises a fat or oil to improve the mouthfeel of the foodstuff. In such embodiments, the fat or oil is conveniently disposed at the outer surface of the coating as a constituent of the browning agent, which may be directly applied to the surface of the coating (for example by spraying onto the surface of the coating).

The term "Maillard browning agent" is a term of art which defined a broad class of functional food ingredients which produce colour when activated by heat due to the induction of the Maillard reaction as described in e.g. US 4,886,659 (the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference).

Particularly preferred for use in the process of the invention is either aqueous solubilised browning agent or an emulsion of aqueous solubilised browning agent in an oil. In such emrbdiments, the emulsion preferably comprises about e.g. 70-80% oil and 10-60 20-30%) of an aqueous solution of browning agent.

Alternatively, the browning agent may be associated with adsorbed on or absorbed into) a carrier. In such embodiments, the carrier is preferably an absorbent solid particulate carrier, for example a crispy particulate coating a breadcrumb).

In preferred embodiments, the browning agent comprises: a carbonyl compound dihycroxyacetone and/or hydroxyacetaldehyde), a sugar a monosaccharide), an alkali sodium bicarbonate) and/or an acid citric acid); and/or a liquid smoke composition; and/or a dextrose pyrolysis product.

The term "liquid smoke: is a term of art defining a wide variety of complex mixtures of chemicals produced during pyrolysis of organic matter. A summary of the many constituents found in liquid smoke is listed by Maga in "Smoke in Food Processing:, CRC Press, pages 61-68 (1968). Suitable liquid smoke compositions for use in the invention are described in EP 0 494 966 A (the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference).

The dry heating comprises exposure to infra-red in the long, medium or short wave

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frequencies or radiofrequency heating. However, any suitable heating may be employed, :000 Sincluding convection, microwave, grilling or impingement over cooking.

15 The degree and duration of heating depends on many different parameters, including inter alia the surface texture of the food stuff, its emissivity and the •composition of the batter. The optimum settings can be determined by those skilled in the art by routine trial and error, but in preferred embodiments which protein-based adhesion batters the dry heating step may heat the surface of the foodstuff to about 20 200'C, e.g. 90'C-180°C for up to 120 seconds about 30-60 seconds).

The dry heating may set the coating, reduce the moisture content and/or produce browning (although it should be noted that the browning agent of the invention may impart the desired brown colour ab initio, without the need for further colour 25 development during surface heating).

Preferably, the dry heating does not substantially cook the core of the foodstuff so that the coated products can be supplied in an uncooked (or partially cooked) form.

The process of the invention may employ a functional crispy particulate coating comprising comminuted vegetables, oat barn, cereal, cheese, potato and/or breadcrumb), especially crumb having absorbed therein (or adsorbed thereon) the zJRAK browning agent of the invention. The coating may also comprise inclusions such as for example herbs, spices, seasonings, nuts, fruit, cheese, vegetables etc. Such crispy particulate coatings find particular application in the processes of the invention, and eliminate the need to apply the browning agent by spraying) as a separate step.

The invention also contemplates a coated food product obtained by (or obtainable by) the process of the invention.

A system for use in the process of the invention comprises: a browning agent as defined above); an adhesion batter as defined above); a crispy particulate coating as defined above); and optionally a predust as defined above) and/or a maillard browning agent (as defined above).

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00 Alternatively, the system may comprise: the functional crispy particulate i *0 coating described above; and an adhesion batter as described above); and optionally a predust as defined above) and/or a maillard browning agent (as defined above).

000 0* 0 6600 The process of the invention may be used for producing a low fat snack comprising 000 coating the snack with oil and/or a browning agent (preferably aqueous browning agent) as defined herein and subjecting the snack to the dry heating process (as defined herein).

20 The aforementioned invention finds application in the production of any of a wide range of snacks, including (for example) starch-based snacks, sliced potatoes (crisps), prefabricated snacks and extruded snacks.

The invention will now be described by reference to several Examples. These Examples are purely exemplary and are not intended to be limiting in any way. All percentages states are on a dry weight basis, unless otherwise indicated.

Example 1: Adhesion batter Wheat flour Maize flour Starch 6% Wheat gluten 7% RI Egg White Whole egg S ,c Salt 6% 5a Na bicarbonate 1% Example 2: Predust Crumb fines 92% 0e 0e 0

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0 S 60 0 WO 98/53712 PCT/GB98/01399 6 Salt Pepper 1% Herbs spices 2% Example 3: Maillard browning agent The ingredients listed below were blended together to yield an emulsion.

Oil: 72% Browning agent 11 Water 12% Flavour 3% Emulsifier' 2% Polyglycerolpolyricinoleate (PGPI 9 0 TM, Danisco) Example 4: Chicken in breadcrumbs Pieces of chicken were coated with the predust composition described in Example 2. The dusted chicken pieces were then dipped into an adhesion batter prepared as described in Example 1. The battered chicken pieces were then coated with breadcrumbs. Finally, the Maillard browning agent emulsion prepared as described in Example 3 was sprayed onto the breadcrumbs.

The coated chicken pieces were then passed through a medium wave infrared oven. This flash surface heating set the batter, activated the browning agent (to yield a golden brown "fried" colour) and reduced the moisture content of the coating to yield a crisp texture.

Chicken pieces having an excellent crisp surface texture and good golden brown colour were produced. The products resembled flash fried products, but had a very low fat content. They could be cooked in a convection or microwave combination oven.

Claims (8)

1. A process for producing a coated foodstuff having a fried appearance, the process comprising coating the foodstuff with an adhesion batter, disposing a crispy particulate coating on the adhesive batter, spraying a browning agent and oil onto the coated foodstuff, and dry heating the coated foodstuff to flash cook the surface thereof, thereby imparting a fried appearance to the foodstuff, wherein the coated foodstuff is dry heated for a period of up to 120 seconds or to heat the surface of the foodstuff to about 70'C- 200'C, and wherein the adhesion batter is uncooked prior to the dry heating.

2. A process for producing a coated foodstuff having a fried appearance, the process comprising coating an uncooked foodstuff core with an adhesion batter, disposing So°: a crispy particulate coating on the adhesive batter, spraying a browning agent and oil onto the coated foodstuff, and dry heating the coated foodstuff to flash cook the surface thereof, thereby imparting a fried appearance to the coating, but without Vo substantially cooking the core, wherein the coated foodstuff is dry heated for a S'o. period of up to 120 seconds or to heat the surface of the foodstuff to about 0 C- 200 0 C.

3. A process according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the dry heating is effected by •means of an infra red oven. .00 20 4. A process according to claim 3 wherein the dry heating is effected by means of medium wave infrared radiation. •0 0 A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the flash cooking is effected by dry heating the surface of the foodstuff to a temperature in the range 0 C -180 0 C.

6. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the dry heating is carried out for a period of 30 60 seconds.

7. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the coating has one or more inclusions incorporated therein.

8. A process according to claim 7 wherein the inclusions are selected from herbs, spices, seasonings, nuts, fruit, cheese and vegetables.

9. A process according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the browning agent is a Maillard browning agent. A process for producing a coated foodstuff having a fried appearance, substantially as herein described with reference to any one of the examples but excluding comparative examples.

11. A coated foodstuff when produced by a process according to any one of the preceding claims. DATED this 6 th Day of September 2002 KERRY INGREDIENTS (UK) LIMITED Attorney: PAUL G. HARRISON Fellow Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia .so of BALDWIN SHELSTON WATERS 0 00 .00. ,00 000* 0