JP7688982B2 - Fried food batter mix - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a mix for coating fried foods.

Fried foods are foods obtained by frying ingredients either directly or with a batter attached. Fried foods include deep-fried foods, in which the ingredients are fried directly, fried foods, in which a batter is attached to the surface of the ingredients, fried foods, karaage, tempura, fritters, etc. Batters are broadly divided into liquid types and powder or granular types (batter types or blenders) that are sprinkled on the ingredients, the latter being easier to use. Furthermore, in recent years, deep-fried batters made from wheat flour or starch mixed with salt, seasonings, spices, etc. have also become commercially available, and seasoned karaage can be easily obtained by sprinkling these directly on the ingredients or dissolving them in water and mixing them with the ingredients, then frying them.

In recent years, for health reasons, it is not uncommon to fry food in small amounts of oil. However, when frying ingredients in a small amount of oil, the temperature drops on the surfaces of the ingredients other than the surface being fried, which can lead to the batter absorbing the oil, resulting in a sticky texture for the resulting fried food. This tendency is particularly noticeable when using a thin, coated batter.

Patent Document 1 describes that fried chicken flour containing friable edible granular materials such as granular vegetable protein, bread crumbs, grains, cracker crumbs, French fries, pasta, steamed dough, and grains granulated with grain flour and starch results in fried chicken with increased unevenness and better texture than conventional fried chicken flour coated with flour. Patent Document 2 describes that fried chicken with coated type granular flour containing granular flour granulated with grain flour and starch added with gelatinized starch can be used to produce fried chicken with juicy and soft ingredients and a good batter texture. Patent Document 3 describes a deep-frying mix containing wheat flour, grain flour other than wheat flour, an emulsifier, and a leavening agent, which can produce fried foods with good appearance and texture even with less oil.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-46712 JP 2005-333861 A International Publication No. 2017/204324

The present invention provides a deep-fried food batter mix that can produce deep-fried foods with batter that has a good texture and is not sticky even when deep-fried in a small amount of oil.

The inventors have discovered that by using a deep-fry food batter mix that contains specific amounts of wheat flour-containing granules, pregelatinized starch, and waxy cornstarch, it is possible to produce deep-fry foods with a crisp batter that has a good texture and is not sticky.

Therefore, the present invention provides a mix for coating deep-fried foods, which contains 50 to 70% by mass of a granular material containing wheat flour, 0.5 to 3% by mass of pregelatinized starch, and 1 to 10% by mass of waxy cornstarch.
The present invention also provides a method for producing fried foods, which comprises applying the deep-fried food batter mix to an ingredient and deep-frying the ingredient.

Deep-fried foods with batter produced using the deep-fried food batter mix of the present invention have a good texture with a crisp batter that is not sticky. The deep-fried food batter mix of the present invention can improve the sticky batter feel of deep-fried foods with batter, so it is suitable as a deep-fried food batter mix not only for deep-frying in a large amount of oil, but also for deep-frying in a small amount of oil.

The deep-fried food coating mix of the present invention (hereinafter also referred to as the mix of the present invention) contains a granular material containing wheat flour, pregelatinized starch, and waxy cornstarch.

The granular material containing wheat flour contained in the mix of the present invention is obtained by granulating a powdered raw material containing wheat flour. Examples of the granular material include wheat flour granular material containing only wheat flour as a powdered raw material; granular material of a mixture of wheat flour and dextrin; granular material of a mixture of wheat flour and unmodified starch, and any one or more of these may be used in combination. The content of the granular material in the mix of the present invention is preferably 50 to 70% by mass, more preferably 55 to 65% by mass, of the total mass of the mix.

The granular material containing wheat flour can be produced by a conventional method. For example, examples of the granular material include the granular wheat flour described in International Publication No. WO2013/039049, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2014-200207, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 2014-200208; the granular wheat flour obtained by subjecting a mixture of wheat flour and dextrin to wet heat treatment described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5192626, but are not limited thereto. Alternatively, the granular material may be wheat flour granulated by a stirring and mixing method, a fluidized bed granulation method, a spray granulation method, or the like, or a granular material of wheat flour and starch produced by the same method. The particle size of the granular material is preferably more than 100 to about 300 μm. The particle size of ordinary wheat flour is about 100 μm or less. In this specification, the particle size refers to the 50% cumulative particle size based on volume by the laser diffraction method.

As the wheat flour used as the powder ingredient of the wheat flour-containing granular material, any wheat flour normally used in food products can be used without any particular restrictions, and examples of such wheat flour include weak flour, medium strength flour, semi-strong flour, strong flour, and durum flour. Of these, weak flour is preferred because it produces a coating that is not too hard and has a light, crispy texture. The wheat flour content in the granular material is preferably 5 to 30% by mass, more preferably 8 to 25% by mass, of the total mass of the granular material.

The powder raw material of the granular material may contain unmodified starch and/or dextrin. As the unmodified starch, any starch normally used in food may be used without any particular limitation, and examples thereof include potato starch, wheat starch, rice starch, corn starch, and waxy corn starch. As the dextrin, a starch derived from any of the starches exemplified above may be used. The unmodified starches and dextrins exemplified above may be used alone or in combination of two or more. Among these, potato starch is preferred because it provides a light, crispy coating that is not too hard. The total content of the unmodified starch and/or dextrin in the granular material is preferably 70 to 95% by mass, more preferably 75 to 92% by mass, of the total mass of the granular material.

The degree of gelatinization of the gelatinized starch contained in the mix of the present invention is preferably 60% or more, more preferably 70% or more, even more preferably 80% or more, and even more preferably 90% or more. By including gelatinized starch in the mix, a membrane-like structure can be formed around the ingredients, and even when deep-fried in a small amount of oil, the coating of the fried food can be prevented from feeling sticky. The content of gelatinized starch in the mix of the present invention is preferably 0.5 to 3 mass% of the total mass of the mix, and more preferably 0.8 to 2.5 mass%. In this specification, the degree of gelatinization of starch can be determined by the β-amylase-amyloglucosidase method. An example of the procedure for measuring the degree of gelatinization by the β-amylase-amyloglucosidase method is described below.

(A) Reagents The reagents used are as follows:
1) 0.8 M acetic acid-Na acetate buffer solution 2) 10 N sodium hydroxide solution 3) 2 N acetic acid solution 4) Enzyme solution: 0.017 g of β-amylase (Nagase ChemteX, #1500S) and 0.005 g of amyloglucosidase (Sigma Aldrich, 10115-1G-F) were dissolved in the 0.8 M acetic acid-Na acetate buffer solution of 1) above to make 200 mL.
5) Inactivated enzyme solution: Prepare by boiling the enzyme solution in 4) above for 10 minutes.
6) Somogyi and Nelson reagents (reagents for measuring reducing sugars)

(B) Measurement method 1) Crush the starch sample with a homogenizer to a size of 100 mesh or less. Place 0.08 to 0.10 g of this crushed powder in a glass homogenizer.
2) Add 8.0 mL of demineralized water to this, and disperse by moving the glass homogenizer up and down 10 to 20 times.
3) Place 2 mL of the dispersion liquid from 2) above into two 25 mL graduated test tubes, and dilute one of the tubes to volume with 0.8 M acetic acid-Na acetate buffer to use as the test group.
4) To the other tube, add 0.2 mL of 10N sodium hydroxide solution and react at 50°C for 3 to 5 minutes to completely gelatinize. After that, add 1.0 mL of 2N acetic acid solution to adjust the pH to around 6.0, and then make the volume constant with 0.8M acetic acid-Na acetate buffer to create the gelatinized section.
5) Take 0.4 mL of each of the test and gelatinized test solutions prepared in 3) and 4) above, add 0.1 mL of enzyme solution to each, and allow the enzyme reaction to occur at 40°C for 30 minutes. At the same time, prepare a blank by adding 0.1 mL of inactivated enzyme instead of the enzyme solution. The enzyme reaction is carried out while occasionally stirring the reaction solution during the reaction.
6) Add 0.5 mL of Somogyi reagent to 0.5 mL of the above reaction solution, and boil in a boiling bath for 15 minutes. After boiling, cool in running water for 5 minutes, add 1.0 mL of Nelson's reagent, stir, and leave for 15 minutes.
7) Then, 8.00 mL of demineralized water is added, stirred, and the absorbance at 500 nm is measured.

(C) Calculation of the degree of gelatinization The degree of gelatinization is calculated by the following formula.

Commercially available waxy cornstarch can be used. The content of waxy cornstarch in the mix of the present invention is preferably 1 to 10% by mass, more preferably 3 to 8% by mass, of the total mass of the mix.

The mix of the present invention may further contain other ingredients that can be blended into normal coating materials for deep-fried foods, if necessary. Examples of such other ingredients include normal wheat flour (non-granulated); flours other than wheat flour; unprocessed starch (non-granulated); processed starch; sugars; proteins; fats and oils; seasonings; spices; colorants; leavening agents; emulsifiers; thickeners; dietary fiber, and the like, and one or more of these may be used in appropriate combination. The total amount of the other ingredients in the mix of the present invention is preferably 40% by mass or less, more preferably 30% by mass or less, and even more preferably 20% by mass or less of the total mass of the mix.

The mix of the present invention can be produced by mixing the above-mentioned wheat flour-containing granules, pregelatinized starch, and waxy corn starch, and optionally other ingredients, in a conventional manner. The mix of the present invention is mainly in powder form (including granules) and may contain larger grains and small pieces.

The mix of the present invention can be applied to the production of various fried foods. The types of fried foods produced using the mix of the present invention are not particularly limited, but examples include fried chicken, tempura, and fries. Preferably, the mix of the present invention is used to produce fried chicken.

The mix of the present invention may be used as a coating material in either a sprinkle type or liquid type. That is, when a fried food is produced using the mix of the present invention, the mix may be applied to the surface of the ingredients in powder form as a so-called blender (specifically, fried chicken flour, dusting flour, etc.), or the mix may be mixed with a liquid in a mass ratio of 50 to 200% to prepare a so-called batter liquid (specifically, tempura batter liquid, etc.), and the batter liquid may be applied to the ingredients by coating them with it.

Examples of ingredients to which the mix of the present invention may be applied include, but are not limited to, meats such as chicken and pork, seafood such as fish, squid, octopus, and shellfish, vegetables, and mushrooms. The ingredients may be pre-seasoned as necessary. In addition, to increase the adhesiveness of the mix of the present invention, the ingredients may be pre-dusted with flour or other powder. Alternatively, water, seasoning, egg liquid, batter liquid, etc. may be applied to the ingredients before the mix of the present invention is applied.

In order to obtain the effects of the present invention more effectively, it is preferable to avoid the mix of the present invention coming into contact with a large amount of water before it is attached to the ingredients. Therefore, the mix of the present invention is preferably a coating material of a sprinkling type (so-called blender) that can be sprinkled on the ingredients to adhere to them. Methods for "sprinkling" the mix of the present invention on the ingredients include general operations such as 1) sprinkling the mix of the present invention from above the ingredients, 2) putting the mix of the present invention and the ingredients in a bag and shaking the bag with the opening closed, and 3) spreading the mix of the present invention in a relatively wide container such as a plate and rolling the ingredients on it.

When carrying out the above-mentioned coating operation, it is preferable to add a small amount of water in addition to the mix of the present invention to the ingredients, since this allows the mix to adhere more uniformly to the ingredients, resulting in a coating with a crisper and lighter texture. The amount of water used to mix is preferably 20 parts by mass or less, for example 2 to 20 parts by mass, more preferably 5 to 15 parts by mass, per 100 parts by mass of the mix. For example, the ingredient can be sprinkled with that amount of water, and then the mix of the present invention can be sprinkled on top, or the mix of the present invention, the ingredient, and the amount of water can be placed in a bag and shaken.

Deep-fried foods can be produced by frying ingredients to which the mix of the present invention is applied. The ingredients to which the mix of the present invention is applied can be fried in a normal manner. The procedure for frying can be deep-frying, frying in a small amount of oil (so-called deep-frying), etc., and is not particularly limited. Of these, deep-frying is preferred because it is more likely to cause the batter to become sticky and the effects of the present invention can be more effectively achieved. For deep-frying, for example, oil can be poured into a shallow pot such as a frying pan to a depth of about 1 to 3 cm, and the batter-coated ingredients can be placed there and fried.

The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

(Reference Example 1: Production of granular material)
200 g of wheat flour (weak flour) and 800 g of potato starch were placed in a bowl, and while stirring with a hand mixer, a small amount of water was sprayed with a spray bottle to granulate the mixture, which was then sieved to obtain the fraction that passed through a sieve with 250 μm openings and remained on a sieve with 100 μm openings. The obtained granular material was used in the following examples.

(Reference Example 2: Production of pregelatinized starch)
A starch slurry was prepared by adding 300 parts by mass of water to 100 parts by mass of commercially available wheat starch (average particle size 20 μm, degree of gelatinization 2%). This slurry was heated at 90° C. for 30 minutes with stirring, dehydrated by suction filtration, spread thinly on a flat plate and dried to form a sheet-like gelatinized starch. The dried gelatinized starch sheet was pulverized, and the fraction passing through a sieve with 50 μm openings was collected and used in the following examples. The degree of gelatinization was measured by the β-amylase-amyloglucosidase method using a portion of the obtained gelatinized starch.

[Test Example 1]
The ingredients were mixed according to the composition shown in Table 1 to prepare a powdered mix for deep-fried food coating. Chicken thighs were cut into pieces and molded so that each piece weighed 25 g. 3 g of the deep-fried food coating mix was sprinkled on each chicken thigh. The resulting ingredients with coating were placed in a frying pan filled with oil heated to 170°C to a depth of 1 cm, and deep-fried for 4 minutes while turning the pieces every 10 seconds, and then fried. The texture of the produced fried chicken was evaluated by a panel of 10 experts according to the following evaluation criteria, and the average of the evaluations by the 10 experts was calculated. The results are shown in Table 1.

<Evaluation criteria>
(Crunchy)
5: The batter is very crispy and extremely good.
4: The batter is crispy and good.
3: The coating is slightly hard or slightly soft and not very crispy, so it is slightly poor.
2: The coating is hard or soft and not crispy enough, defective.
1: The batter is either very hard or very soft, with no crispiness, and is extremely poor.
(Sticky feeling)
5: The batter is dry and not sticky at all, extremely good.
4: The batter is dry and not sticky at all, good.
3: The batter is slightly sticky and slightly defective.
2: The batter is sticky and defective.
1: The batter is very sticky and extremely poor.

[Test Example 2]
A deep-fried food batter mix was produced in the same manner as in Test Example 1, except that the composition of the mix was changed as shown in Tables 2 to 4, and fried foods were produced using the mix and evaluated. The results are shown in Tables 2 to 4.

[Test Example 3]
A granular material was produced in the same manner as in Reference Example 1, except that the raw materials were changed as shown in Table 5, and a mix for deep-fried food coating was produced using the granular material in the same manner as in Test Example 1. Using the produced mix, deep-fried food was produced and evaluated in the same manner as in Test Example 1. The results are shown in Table 5.

[Test Example 3]
Using commercially available potato starch or corn starch as a raw material, pregelatinized starches having the degrees of pregelatinization shown in Table 6 were produced in the same manner as in Reference Example 2, except that the water content of the starch slurry and the heating conditions were changed. A mix for coating fried foods was produced using the obtained pregelatinized starch in the same manner as in Test Example 1, and fried foods were produced using this mix and evaluated. The results are shown in Table 6.

Claims (8)

The mix for coating fried foods contains 50 to 70% by mass of granular material containing wheat flour, 0.5 to 3% by mass of pregelatinized starch, and 1 to 10% by mass of non-pregelatinized waxy cornstarch. The mix according to claim 1, wherein the granules contain 5 to 30% by weight of wheat flour and 70 to 95% by weight of unmodified starch or dextrin. The mix according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the degree of gelatinization of the pregelatinized starch is 60% or more. The mix according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is a sprinkle-type mix. The mix according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is a mix for deep-frying . A method for producing fried foods, comprising applying the deep-fried food batter mix according to any one of claims 1 to 5 to ingredients and deep-frying the ingredients. The method according to claim 6, further comprising adding 20 parts by weight or less of water per 100 parts by weight of the mix to the ingredients when the mix is applied to the ingredients. The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the frying is deep-frying .