HK40119813A - Method for producing battered fried food - Google Patents

Description

Methods for manufacturing fried foods with batter coating

Technical Field

This invention relates to a method for producing a coated fried food that undergoes multiple frying processes.

Background Technology

Deep-fried foods are made by heating the food in oil contained in a tank, i.e., deep-frying. They are broadly categorized into deep-fried foods with a coating, such as plain deep-fried foods, dry-fried foods, and tempura. Plain deep-fried foods are made by directly frying the food without a coating. On the other hand, deep-fried foods with a coating use food with a coating on its surface. The coating, formed by the fried food soaking into the coating, combines the aroma of the oil with the flavor of the food, creating a unique taste and texture that plain deep-fried foods lack, making them very popular. However, because deep-fried foods are more time-consuming to prepare and cook, there has been a trend in recent years of people avoiding cooking them at home. As a result, the sale of pre-cooked deep-fried foods in stores is increasing, but deep-fried foods suffer from a decline in quality over time. This is especially true for deep-fried foods with a coating; while the coating is crispy immediately after frying, the moisture from the food transfers to the coating over time, causing a decrease in crispness.

To address the aforementioned issues, the traditional method involved briefly frying coated fried foods again shortly before consumption to recreate the crispiness of freshly fried food, especially in industrially mass-produced coated fried foods. For example, when serving coated fried foods to customers in a shop, the food was pre-fried to a state before becoming a finished product. Specifically, the conventional practice was to fry the food for about 80% of the time required to achieve the finished product, preparing a large quantity of intermediate products in advance. When an order for the finished product was received from a customer, this intermediate product was then fryed again to become the finished product before being served. Alternatively, the conventional practice was to deliver these intermediate products manufactured in the factory in a frozen or refrigerated state to the shop, where they were then fryed again before being served to customers.

However, if the food is fried multiple times, the batter, containing moisture from the food, becomes hard and crunchy when heated in the oil, sometimes resulting in an undesirable texture. This problem tends to become more pronounced if the time interval between frying cycles becomes longer. Here, batter materials for fried foods are generally categorized into powdered and liquid (so-called batter) based on their form when adhering to the food. The aforementioned problems caused by multiple fryings are particularly severe in coated fried foods using powdered batter materials. This is because powdered batter materials are often thinner on the food compared to batter, and the surface of the food often has portions without batter adhering to it, making the moisture in the food more susceptible to affecting the batter.

Regarding manufacturing techniques for fried foods that undergo multiple frying processes, for example, Patent Document 1 describes a coating material containing wheat flour protein, powdered maltose, fatty acid esters, a leavening agent, and highly hydrogenated oil as a coating material that can improve the texture of frozen tempura after secondary frying. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 describes a method for manufacturing Tatsuta-fried tempura where starch is coated onto the surface of food after a first frying, followed by water, and then a second frying. According to the manufacturing method described in Patent Document 2, Tatsuta-fried tempura can achieve excellent appearance and texture even after a period of time following frying or after freezing.

Patent documents 3 and 4 describe coating materials containing inulin-type fructans, a type of dietary fiber, as coating materials for fried foods that provide excellent resistance to changes over time. Patent document 3 describes a powder-type coating material that is sprinkled onto the food, while patent document 4 describes a batter mixture that is dissolved in water. Neither patent document 3 nor 4 specifically describes repeated frying.

Existing technical documents

Patent documents

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 61-43962

Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-24053

Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-230268

Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-61039

Summary of the Invention

The objective of this invention is to provide a technology for the industrial mass production of fried foods with a good texture and coating.

This invention relates to a method for manufacturing a coated fried food, comprising the following steps: a non-fried food preparation step of attaching a powdered coating material to the surface of an ingredient to obtain a non-fried ingredient; a first frying step of frying the non-fried ingredient to obtain a fried food; and a second frying step of frying the fried food, wherein the coating material contains 1 to 10% by mass of water-soluble dietary fiber, and in the non-fried food preparation step, the coating material is attached to the surface of the ingredient in such a manner that the coating material is present on the outermost surface of the non-fried ingredient.

In addition, the present invention is a coating material, which is a powdered coating material used in the aforementioned method for manufacturing coated fried food of the present invention, and contains 1 to 10% by weight of water-soluble dietary fiber.

Detailed Implementation

In the manufacturing method of the coated fried food of the present invention, the food to be fried, having a coating material attached to its surface, is fried multiple times. Specifically, the manufacturing method of the present invention includes the following steps: a step of attaching powdered coating material to the surface of a food ingredient to obtain unfried food (hereinafter also referred to as the "unfried food preparation step"); a step of frying the unfried food to obtain fried food (hereinafter also referred to as the "first frying step"); and a step of frying the fried food (hereinafter also referred to as the "second frying step").

As ingredients, there are no particular restrictions on the types of ingredients that have been used in the past for coated fried foods, such as meats like chicken and pork; fish and shellfish like fish, squid, octopus, and shellfish; and vegetables and mushrooms. The size of the ingredients can be set arbitrarily according to the desired size of the coated fried food.

There are no particular restrictions on the method of adhering the coating material to the food. For example, one of the methods described in 1) to 3) below can be performed alone or in combination of two or more.

1) A method for sprinkling a powdered coating composition for fried foods onto food ingredients.

2) A method of putting the powdered coating composition for fried food and ingredients into a bag and shaking it while the opening of the bag is closed.

3) A method of spreading a powdered coating composition for fried food in a wide container such as a plate, and rolling food on the spread composition.

In the manufacturing method of the present invention, there is no particular limitation on the amount of coating material adhering to the food, but it is preferably 5 to 50 parts by weight, more preferably 10 to 40 parts by weight, relative to 100 parts by weight of the food. The coating material may adhere to a portion of the surface of the food, but from the viewpoint of improving the texture of coated fried food, it is preferable to adhere to the entire surface of the food.

In addition, in this invention, the ingredients can be pre-seasoned before the batter is applied to them. Furthermore, after the batter is applied to the ingredients to obtain unfried ingredients, the unfried ingredients can be left to rest for about 5 to 15 minutes before frying, as needed, to allow the batter to blend with the ingredients.

In the first and second frying steps, the frying of the items to be fried can be carried out using conventional methods. Specific examples of frying methods that can be used in this invention include deep frying and pan-frying. Here, "deep frying" refers to frying in a state where the entire item is immersed in oil, while "pan-frying" refers to frying in a state where part of the item is exposed and not immersed in oil.

The first frying step is the first frying step performed only once in a series of frying steps. On the other hand, the second frying step is performed after the first frying step, and can be performed only once or multiple times. In the latter case, in the manufacturing method of the present invention, the food to be fried (unfried food or fried food) is fried three or more times.

Furthermore, the first frying step and the second frying step refer to the process from the moment the food to be fried is placed into the oil until the moment the food to be fried is removed from the oil. Therefore, when the second frying step is performed multiple times, the operation of placing the food to be fried into the oil and soaking it for a specified time is performed in each of the multiple second frying steps.

In the first frying step, when unfried ingredients are fried to obtain fried ingredients, these fried ingredients can be either a ready-to-eat finished product (a coated fried food) or an intermediate product (a coated fried food, i.e., a semi-finished product). The latter can be achieved, for example, by setting the frying time of the unfried ingredients in the first frying step to a time that does not meet the frying time required to obtain the finished product. In the latter case, the semi-finished coated fried food becomes a finished coated fried food through a second frying step performed after the first frying step.

There is no particular limit to the time interval between the preceding frying process and the frying process that follows the preceding frying process (hereinafter also referred to as the "frying interval"). It can range from a few minutes to several days.

The term "frying interval" as used here applies not only to the time interval between the first frying step and the subsequent second frying step, but also, in the case of multiple second frying steps, to the time interval between a preceding second frying step and a subsequent second frying step.

Generally, frying intervals of 10 minutes or more lead to a decline in the quality of coated fried foods, and the longer the frying interval, the more severe the quality decline. However, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, even when the frying interval is 10 minutes or more, a decline in the quality of coated fried foods is not easily observed. Therefore, the manufacturing method of the present invention is particularly useful when the frying interval is 10 minutes or more. When the second frying step is performed multiple times, there are multiple frying intervals, and the usefulness of the present invention can be fully realized as long as at least one of these multiple frying intervals is 10 minutes or more.

In the manufacturing method of this invention, the fried food can also be stored at room temperature, refrigerated, or frozen before being supplied to the second frying step. That is, the fried food obtained in the first frying step can be stored at room temperature, refrigerated, or frozen before being supplied to the second frying step. Alternatively, in the case of multiple second frying steps, the fried food that has undergone the previous second frying step can be stored at room temperature, refrigerated, or frozen before being supplied to the subsequent second frying step. In this way, by storing the fried food before supplying it to the second frying step, it becomes easier to mass-produce coated fried foods industrially.

The aforementioned "room temperature storage" refers to storing fried food in a manner that preferably maintains the product temperature at 15℃～30℃, more preferably at 20℃～30℃. Room temperature storage can be achieved, for example, using a food warmer and following conventional methods.

The aforementioned "refrigerated storage" refers to storing fried food in a manner that preferably keeps the product temperature of the fried food above 0°C and below 15°C, more preferably above 5°C to 12°C. Refrigerated storage can be carried out, for example, using a refrigerator in accordance with conventional methods.

The aforementioned "freezing preservation" refers to preserving fried food in a manner that preferably keeps the product temperature below 0°C, more preferably below -40°C to -10°C. Freezing preservation can be carried out, for example, using a refrigerator and following conventional methods.

In addition, in recent years, partial preservation in a semi-frozen or slightly frozen state and chilled preservation at near-freezing temperatures have also been developed, and these methods can also be applied.

One of the main features of the manufacturing method of the present invention is that the coating material is a coating material containing 1 to 10% by mass of water-soluble dietary fiber (hereinafter also referred to as "specific coating material").

Dietary fiber is defined in nutrition as "the total amount of indigestible components in food that cannot be digested by human digestive enzymes," and is divided into soluble dietary fiber and insoluble dietary fiber. The raw material used as the coating material in this invention is the former. When insoluble dietary fiber is used instead of soluble dietary fiber as the coating material, the coating of fried foods made with this material will have a crunchy, hard texture, and it may be difficult to achieve a crispy texture.

Water-soluble dietary fiber can generally be divided into high-viscosity and low-viscosity types based on its viscosity. In this invention, one type of high-viscosity and low-viscosity water-soluble dietary fiber can be used alone, or two or more types can be used in combination.

Examples of highly viscous, water-soluble dietary fibers include pectin, glucomannan, alginate, guar gum, and agar.

Examples of low-viscosity, water-soluble dietary fibers include inulin, indigestible dextrin, beta-glucan, polydextrose, and guar gum breakdown products.

When using a coating material containing highly viscous water-soluble dietary fiber, the coating of fried foods sometimes hardens. However, this problem is less likely to occur when using a coating material containing low-viscous water-soluble dietary fiber. Therefore, in this invention, low-viscous water-soluble dietary fiber is preferably used as the water-soluble dietary fiber in the coating material, and inulin is particularly preferred. That is, the coating material used in this invention preferably contains inulin.

The content of water-soluble dietary fiber in a specific coating material is 1 to 10% by mass per 100% of the specific coating material, preferably 2 to 9% by mass, and more preferably 3 to 7% by mass. When the content of water-soluble dietary fiber is less than 1% by mass, it is ineffective; when it exceeds 10% by mass, the coating will have a sticky texture and will easily lack a crisp texture.

In addition to water-soluble dietary fiber, certain coating materials typically contain cereal flours. Here, "cereal flours" refers to powdered substances derived from grains at room temperature and pressure, encompassing both cereal flour and starch. Unless otherwise specified, "starch" refers to "pure starch" isolated from plants such as wheat, distinct from the starch inherent in cereal flour.

Grain flours can include, for example, wheat flour (strong flour, semi-strong flour, medium flour, light flour, durum wheat flour, whole wheat flour, etc.), rye flour, barley flour, rice flour, etc. Grain flours can also undergo heat treatments such as dry heat treatment and wet heat treatment.

As for starch, examples include unprocessed starches such as potato starch, wheat starch, corn starch, glutinous corn starch, cassava starch, and rice starch; and processed starches that have undergone one or more of the following treatments: oil processing, α-modification, etherification, esterification, cross-linking, and oxidation.

Certain coating materials may contain one or more types of cereal flours, but starch is particularly preferred.

The content of cereal flour in a particular coating material is less than 99% by mass in 100% by mass of the particular coating material, preferably 40-98% by mass, and more preferably 50-97% by mass.

Certain coating materials may also contain other ingredients besides those mentioned above (water-soluble dietary fiber, cereal flours). These other ingredients can be used without particular restriction, including those traditionally used in coating materials for fried foods. Examples include sugars; seasonings such as salt and powdered soy sauce; oils; thickeners; proteins; leavening agents; emulsifiers; and insoluble dietary fibers such as cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, chitin, and chitosan. One or more of these ingredients may be used alone or in combination.

The content of the other raw materials mentioned above in the specific coating material is preferably 40% by mass or less, more preferably 30% by mass or less, and even more preferably 20% by mass or less in 100% by mass of the specific coating material.

Furthermore, when using insoluble dietary fiber as the other raw materials mentioned above, from the viewpoint of preventing the coating of fried foods from becoming crunchy and hard, the content of insoluble dietary fiber in a particular coating material is preferably 3% by mass or less per 100% by mass of the coating material.

Specific coating materials can be manufactured by mixing the above-mentioned raw materials. The raw materials are usually in powder form at room temperature and pressure. Specific coating materials are typically powder-based, but may also contain particles, granules, or flakes with a particle size larger than powder.

In addition, one of the main features of the manufacturing method of the present invention is that, in the preparation process of non-fried food, the specific coating material is attached to the surface of the food in such a way that the surface of the non-fried food has a specific coating material (a coating material containing 1 to 10% by mass of water-soluble dietary fiber).

In other words, in the manufacturing method of the present invention, the specific coating material is used as a breading powder, not as a dusting powder. When the specific coating material is used as a dusting powder, typically, after the specific coating material (dusting powder) is adhered to the surface of the food, a batter and/or breadcrumbs without the specific coating material are further adhered to the surface of the food. Therefore, the batter and/or breadcrumbs are present on the outermost surface of the unfried food, while the specific coating material (dusting powder) is substantially absent. Even if such unfried food without the specific coating material on its outermost surface is fried multiple times, the intended effect of the present invention cannot be achieved. This will become clear from the comparison between the embodiments described later and Comparative Example 2.

From the viewpoint of ensuring that the specific coating material reliably adheres to the outermost surface of the unfried food, it is preferable to use the specific coating material as the final ingredient to be attached to the surface of the food during the preparation process of the unfried food. Therefore, when using other coating materials besides the specific coating material as ingredients for the unfried food, it is preferable to attach them to the surface of the food in the order of the other coating material followed by the specific coating material. Examples of such other coating materials include, for instance, dusting powder, water, seasoning liquid, egg liquid, and batter, which have compositions different from the specific coating material.

This invention includes the powdered coating material used in the manufacturing method of the present invention described above, specifically the powdered coating material used in the manufacturing method of coated fried food subjected to multiple frying processes, which contains 1 to 10% by mass of water-soluble dietary fiber. The above description of the manufacturing method (specific coating material) of the present invention can be appropriately applied to the coating material of the present invention.

Example

The present invention will be described in more detail below through embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

(Manufacturing of face coating materials)

Mix the raw materials according to the formulas shown in Tables 1 and 2 below and stir until homogeneous to produce a powdered coating material at room temperature and pressure. The raw materials used are as described below.

• Water-soluble dietary fiber: inulin, manufactured by Fuji Nippon Sugar Co., Ltd.

• Indigestible dextrin: Manufactured by Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.

• Glucomannan: Manufactured by Shimizu Chemical Co., Ltd.

·Wheat flour: Thin flour, manufactured by Nissin Milling Co., Ltd.

Starch: Potato starch

[Examples 1-13, Comparative Examples 1, 4, 5: Manufacturing of Fried Foods with Batter]

Using any one of the coating materials described above (in the preparation of coating materials), a type of coated fried chicken is manufactured. Specifically, first, multiple 55g pieces are cut from a single chicken thigh and seasoned with a seasoning liquid containing soy sauce, sake, and ginger juice. Next, the coating material, as a coating powder, is sprinkled and adhered to the seasoned pieces of meat (ingredients) in an amount of 25 parts by weight relative to one chicken thigh, resulting in an unfried ingredient. The aforementioned "coating material as a coating powder" is present on the outermost surface of the unfried ingredient thus obtained.

In addition, add rapeseed oil to the fryer, making sure the depth of the rapeseed oil is 15cm from the bottom of the fryer, and adjust the product temperature (oil temperature) of the rapeseed oil to 180℃.

Then, the unfried ingredients are placed in rapeseed oil at 180°C and fried for 5 minutes and 30 seconds to obtain the fried ingredients (first frying step). The fried ingredients are then removed from the rapeseed oil and placed on a wire mesh that allows oil to pass through. They are then left to stand at room temperature (around 25°C) for 4 hours. After storage, the fried ingredients are again placed in rapeseed oil at 180°C and fried for 1 minute to create the desired deep-fried chicken (fried food with batter) (second frying step).

[Comparative Example 2: Manufacturing of Deep-Fried Foods with Batter]

Using the coating material prepared in the above-described (preparation of coating material) as a dusting powder, a non-fried food was prepared. Specifically, the coating material was sprinkled and adhered to a seasoned piece of meat (food) in an amount of 25 parts by weight relative to one chicken leg, and then a batter was wrapped around the food to prepare the non-fried food. As the batter, a batter obtained by dissolving 100 parts by weight of wheat flour in 150 parts by weight of water was used. The batter component was present on the outermost surface of the non-fried food thus obtained, and the "coating material as a dusting powder" was not actually present. Except for the above points, fried chicken (fried food with coating) was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1.

[Comparative Example 3: Manufacturing of Deep-Fried Foods with Batter]

Using the coating material prepared in the above-described (manufacturing of coating material) process, a batter (liquid coating material) is prepared, and this batter is used to prepare non-fried food. Specifically, 100 parts by weight of the powdered coating material prepared in the above-described (manufacturing of coating material) process is dissolved in 100 parts by weight of water to prepare a batter. The batter is then applied to a seasoned piece of meat (food) in an amount of 50 parts by weight relative to one chicken leg, thus preparing non-fried food. Except as described above, fried chicken (fried food with coating) is prepared in the same manner as in Example 1.

[Experimental Example]

According to the evaluation criteria below, 10 professional judges evaluated the taste of the deep-fried chicken (baked fried food) produced in each example and comparative example, and calculated the average score of the 10 judges. The results are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below.

<Criteria for evaluating taste>

5 points: The coating is very crispy when chewed, which is excellent.

4 points: The coating has a crispy texture when chewed, which is good.

3 points: It can be felt crispy when chewing, and the coating is slightly hard or soft, but it is an acceptable texture.

2 points: No crispness can be felt when chewing, the coating is slightly hard or slightly soft, poor.

1 point: No crispness can be felt when chewing, the coating is hard and difficult to chew or soft and sticky, which is extremely poor.

As shown in Table 1, each embodiment directly uses a powdered coating material containing water-soluble dietary fiber as a coating powder to prepare non-fried food. Since the coating material is present on the outermost surface of the non-fried food, the fried food with coating has a better taste compared with the comparative examples that do not meet this condition.

As shown in Table 2, the fried foods with batter coatings have a superior taste compared to the comparative examples that do not meet this condition, since the content of water-soluble dietary fiber in the batter material is 1 to 10% by mass.

Industrial availability

According to the present invention, a technology is provided for the industrial mass production of coated fried foods with good texture (method for manufacturing coated fried foods, coating material).

Specifically, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, because multiple fryings are performed, the final frying can be carried out in accordance with the timing of consumption of the coated fried food, thus providing coated fried food with a good crispy texture. Therefore, the manufacturing method of the present invention is particularly useful for the industrial mass production of coated fried food. In addition, if multiple fryings are performed, there is a concern that the texture of the coating will become hard and undesirable. However, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, by using a material containing 1 to 10% by mass of water-soluble dietary fiber as the coating material, this concern can be eliminated. Therefore, the coating does not become too hard, and coated fried food with a crispy texture can be consistently produced.

Claims (6)

1. A method for manufacturing a fried food with a batter coating, comprising the following steps: The process of preparing non-fried food by adhering powdered batter to the surface of food ingredients. The first frying process involves frying the unfried ingredients to obtain fried ingredients; and The second frying process involves frying the already fried ingredients again. The coating material contains 1-10% by weight of water-soluble dietary fiber. In the preparation process of the non-fried food, the coating material is attached to the surface of the food in such a way that the coating material is present on the outermost surface of the non-fried food. 2. The method for manufacturing a coated fried food according to claim 1, wherein the water-soluble dietary fiber contains inulin. 3. The method for manufacturing a coated fried food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second frying process is performed multiple times. 4. The method for manufacturing a coated fried food according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the time interval between the preceding frying step and the frying step performed following the preceding frying step is 10 minutes or more. 5. The method for manufacturing a coated fried food according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the fried food is stored at room temperature, refrigerated or frozen before being fed into the second frying step. 6. A coating material, which is a powdered coating material used in the manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, and contains 1 to 10% by weight of water-soluble dietary fiber.