JP7809470B2 - Blender mix for fried food coating - Google Patents

Description

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

Fried foods are foods obtained by frying ingredients either directly or with a batter applied. Fried foods include deep-frying, in which the ingredients are fried directly, and deep-frying, which involves frying ingredients with a batter applied to their surface, as well as fried chicken, tempura, fritters, etc. Batterings are broadly divided into liquid types and powder or granular types (batter types or blenders) that are sprinkled on the ingredients, with the latter being easier to use. Furthermore, in recent years, batters for fried foods made from flour or starch blended with salt, seasonings, spices, etc. have also become commercially available. These can be sprinkled directly on the ingredients or dissolved in water to coat the ingredients, and then simply fried to easily obtain seasoned fried foods.

In recent years, for health reasons, it is not uncommon for ingredients to be deep-fried in small amounts of oil. However, when deep-frying ingredients in small amounts of oil, the temperature drops on the surfaces of the ingredients other than the surface being deep-fried, which can lead to the batter absorbing oil more easily and reducing the crispy texture of the resulting fried food. Furthermore, when the ingredients used in deep-fried foods are relatively large, the batter tends to peel off easily. This tendency is particularly pronounced when using a coating type batter, as the batter becomes thinner.

Patent Document 1 describes a breadcrumb composition containing dried breadcrumbs, pregelatinized starch and/or powdered protein, and a thickening polysaccharide, and states that using this breadcrumb composition, a breaded food product can be obtained with a coating that is uniformly and appropriately browned and crispy by simply baking it in a small amount of oil. Patent Document 2 describes a granulated flour for deep-frying that is obtained by mixing wheat flour and/or starch with pregelatinized starch and water, and granulating the mixture. It states that this granulated flour produces deep-fry food with juicy and tender ingredients and a good coating texture. Patent Document 3 describes a method for producing a coated food product in which a water-retaining powder such as modified starch or a gelling agent, an egg protein-containing liquid, and a coating material such as grain flour are applied to the surface of the food material in that order, followed by deep-frying. It also describes the use of this water-retaining powder in combination with wheat flour, seasonings, etc., or in combination with a water-absorbent powder such as pregelatinized starch.

JP 2012-039913 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-333861 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-126706

The present invention provides a blender mix for batters for fried foods that can be used to produce battered fried foods that have a good, crispy texture and do not easily peel off.

Therefore, the present invention provides a blender mix for batters for deep-fried foods, which contains 3 to 70% by mass of wheat flour, 5 to 30% by mass of pregelatinized starch, and 0.2 to 2% by mass of a thickener.
The present invention also provides a method for producing fried foods, which comprises applying the above-mentioned blender mix for deep-fried food batter to ingredients and deep-frying the ingredients.

Fried foods produced using the deep-fried food batter breeder mix of the present invention have a batter that is less likely to peel off and has a good, crispy texture. The deep-fried food batter breeder mix of the present invention can be used for deep-fried foods that are deep-fried in a large amount of oil, as well as for fried foods that are fried in a small amount of oil, but is more suitable for producing fried foods that are fried in a small amount of oil, which can easily lose the crispness of the batter. Furthermore, because the deep-fried food batter breeder mix of the present invention can prevent the batter from peeling off of batter-coated fried foods, it is suitable for use in producing fried foods whose batters have traditionally been prone to peeling, such as batter-coated fried foods using relatively large ingredients and batter-coated fried foods obtained by frying in a small amount of oil.

The blender mix for deep-fried food coatings of the present invention (hereinafter also referred to as the "mix of the present invention") contains wheat flour, pregelatinized starch, and a thickener.

The wheat flour contained in the mix of the present invention can be any wheat flour commonly used in foods, without any particular restrictions. The wheat flour content in the mix of the present invention is preferably 3 to 70% by mass, more preferably 4 to 55% by mass, and even more preferably 5 to 40% by mass, of the total mass of the mix. Examples of wheat flour include strong flour, semi-strong flour, medium-strength flour, weak flour, and durum flour, and any one or more of these can be used in combination. Of these, one or more selected from weak flour, strong flour, and semi-strong flour are preferred. On the other hand, from the perspective of more effectively preventing the coating from peeling off in coated fried foods, it is preferable to use a mixture of weak flour and strong flour or semi-strong flour. More preferably, the mixture contains strong flour and semi-strong flour in total in an amount of 20 to 60% by mass, and even more preferably 30 to 50% by mass.

The wheat flour used in the mix of the present invention may contain granulated wheat flour. Granulated wheat flour is obtained by granulating a powdered ingredient containing wheat flour. The wheat flour contained in the powdered ingredient can be any of the wheat flours described above. Of these, weak flour is preferred because it produces a coating with a light, crispy texture. The wheat flour content of the powdered ingredient is preferably 10% by mass or more, more preferably 20% by mass or more, of the total mass of the powdered ingredient. Alternatively, the entire amount (100% by mass) of the powdered ingredient may be wheat flour.

The powdered raw material may contain starch and/or dextrin. The starch may be any starch commonly used in foods, without particular limitation, and examples include potato starch, wheat starch, rice starch, corn starch, waxy corn starch, etc. The dextrin may be derived from any of the starches listed above. Any one or a combination of two or more of the starches and dextrins listed above may be used. Of these, potato starch is preferred because it produces a coating that is not too hard and has a light, crispy texture. The total content of starch and/or dextrin in the powdered raw material is preferably 90% by mass or less, more preferably 80% by mass or less, of the total mass of the powdered raw material.

The granulated wheat flour can be produced by conventional methods. For example, the granulated wheat flour can be produced by adding water to the powdered raw materials containing the wheat flour, and mixing and granulating them. Preferably, the granulated wheat flour can be produced by granulating the powdered raw materials containing the wheat flour using a stirring and mixing method, a fluidized bed granulation method, a spray granulation method, or the like.

Examples of granulated wheat flour that can be used in the mix of the present invention include granulated powder raw materials consisting solely of wheat flour; granulated mixtures of wheat flour and dextrin; and granulated mixtures of wheat flour and starch. More specific examples include granulated wheat flour obtained by moist heat treatment of a mixture of wheat flour and dextrin, as described in International Publication No. WO 2013/039049; granulated wheat flour obtained by granulating wheat flour using pregelatinized wheat flour as a binder, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-200207; and granulated wheat flour obtained by granulating wheat flour-containing raw material flour and water under non-heating conditions, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-200208. These granulated wheat flours can be used alone or in combination of two or more. The particle diameter of the granulated wheat flour is preferably greater than 100 μm to approximately 300 μm. Note that the particle diameter of ordinary wheat flour (non-granulated flour) is approximately 100 μm or less. In this specification, particle size refers to the 50% cumulative particle size on a volume basis measured by laser diffraction method.

The amount of granulated wheat flour used in the mix of the present invention is determined depending on the amount of wheat flour contained in the granulated wheat flour (i.e., the amount of wheat flour contained in the powder ingredients). For example, if the mix of the present invention contains only granulated wheat flour as wheat flour, the amount of wheat flour contained in the granulated wheat flour is the wheat flour content in the mix of the present invention. Also, for example, if the mix of the present invention contains wheat flour itself and granulated wheat flour, the sum of the amount of wheat flour and the amount of wheat flour contained in the granulated wheat flour is the wheat flour content in the mix of the present invention.

The degree of gelatinization of the pregelatinized 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 pregelatinized starch in the mix, a film-like structure can be formed around the ingredients, allowing the coating of fried foods to have a crispy, satisfactory texture even when fried in a small amount of oil. The content of pregelatinized starch in the mix of the present invention is preferably 5 to 30% by mass, more preferably 8 to 25% by mass, and even more preferably 10 to 20% by mass of the total mass of the mix. Note that, 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 using 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: Prepared 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) Pulverize the starch sample using a homogenizer to a size of 100 mesh or less. Place 0.08 to 0.10 g of this pulverized 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 tube to the required volume with 0.8 M acetic acid-Na acetate buffer to create a test group.
4) To the other tube, add 0.2 mL of 10 N sodium hydroxide solution and react at 50°C for 3 to 5 minutes to completely gelatinize. After that, add 1.0 mL of 2 N acetic acid solution to adjust the pH to around 6.0, and then make the volume to the constant level with 0.8 M acetic acid-Na acetate buffer to create the gelatinized sample.
5) Take 0.4 mL of each of the test solution and gelatinized solution 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 reaction mixture and boil in a boiling bath for 15 minutes. After boiling, cool in running water for 5 minutes, add 1.0 mL of Nelson reagent, stir, and leave for 15 minutes.
7) Then, add 8.00 mL of demineralized water, stir, and measure the absorbance at 500 nm.

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

The thickener contained in the mix of the present invention can be one commonly used in foods. Examples of such thickeners include guar gum, xanthan gum, gellan gum, gum arabic, curdlan, pullulan, glucomannan, carrageenan, pectin, and alginic acid, and any one or more of these can be used in combination. These thickeners can be purified from their raw materials, such as plants, or commercially available products can be used. Thickeners contained in the mix of the present invention are preferably those with high pseudoplasticity. Examples of such thickeners include xanthan gum and guar gum, with guar gum being more preferred. The content of the thickener in the mix of the present invention is preferably 0.2 to 2% by mass, more preferably 0.5 to 1.5% by mass, of the total mass of the mix.

In addition to the wheat flour, pregelatinized starch, and thickener described above, the mix of the present invention may further contain, if necessary, other ingredients that can be incorporated into typical deep-fried food batters. Examples of such other ingredients include cereal flours other than wheat flour; modified starches other than pregelatinized starch and unmodified starches; sugars; proteins; oils and fats; seasonings; spices; coloring agents; leavening agents; emulsifiers; dietary fiber, etc., and one or more of these may be used in appropriate combination. The total content of such other ingredients in the mix of the present invention is preferably 91% by mass or less, more preferably 87% by mass or less, and even more preferably 84% by mass or less, of the total mass of the mix. Preferably, the mix of the present invention contains unmodified starch. The content of the unmodified starch in the mix of the present invention is preferably 90% by mass or less, more preferably 85% by mass or less, and even more preferably 80% 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 ingredients using conventional methods. The mix of the present invention produced in this manner may be mainly in powder form, or may contain larger granules, particles, or small pieces. The mix of the present invention can be used to produce a variety of fried foods. The types of fried foods produced using the mix of the present invention are not particularly limited, but examples include fried chicken (including fried chicken), tempura, and fries. Preferably, the mix of the present invention is used to produce fried chicken.

The mix of the present invention is a coating material, i.e., a blender mix. When producing fried foods using the mix of the present invention, the mix is applied to the surface of the ingredients as a blender to prepare ingredients for the fried foods.

Examples of ingredients to which the mix of the present invention can 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 size of the ingredients is not particularly limited. On the other hand, since the coating of fried foods produced using the mix of the present invention is difficult to peel off, the mix of the present invention is suitable for use with large ingredients that are prone to peeling off, for example, ingredients weighing 100 g or more. The ingredients may be pre-seasoned if necessary. Furthermore, to increase the adhesiveness of the mix of the present invention, the ingredients may be dusted with flour or other powder before applying the mix of the present invention. Alternatively, water, seasoning, egg liquid, batter, etc. may be applied to the ingredients before applying the mix of the present invention.

The mix of the present invention is preferably applied in an amount of 10 to 50 parts by weight, more preferably 15 to 40 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of the ingredient. The mix may be applied to only a portion of the surface of the ingredient, but is preferably applied to the entire surface of the ingredient.

In one embodiment, the mix of the present invention is in powder form, consisting of the aforementioned wheat flour, pregelatinized starch, thickener, and, if necessary, other ingredients, and is blended to adhere to ingredients. Methods for adhering the mix of the present invention to ingredients include common procedures, such as 1) sprinkling the mix of the present invention over the ingredients, 2) placing the mix of the present invention and 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 top of it or pressing the ingredients onto the mix. If necessary, to allow the mix to blend better with the ingredients, the ingredients with the mix attached may be left to stand for approximately 5 to 15 minutes before frying.

In another embodiment, a granular blender mix is used, which is a mixture of the powdered mix of the present invention and a small amount of aqueous liquid. Preferably, the powdered mix of the present invention and a small amount of aqueous liquid are stirred and mixed to prepare the granular blender mix. For example, the mix of the present invention and the aqueous liquid can be stirred and mixed by placing them in a bag and stirring them thoroughly with a spoon or the like, or by closing the bag and shaking it well. The aqueous liquid used in preparing the granular blender mix can be any aqueous liquid used for food, such as pure water, acidic water, or alkaline water. The amount of the aqueous liquid added is preferably 10 to 40 parts by mass, more preferably 15 to 35 parts by mass, per 100 parts by mass of the mix of the present invention.
The granular blender mix is adhered to the ingredients as a blender. For example, the granular blender mix can be adhered to the ingredients in the same manner as in the case of the powdered mix of the present invention described above. The amount of the granular blender mix adhered to the ingredients is the same as that of the mix of the present invention, i.e., preferably 10 to 50 parts by mass, more preferably 15 to 40 parts by mass, per 100 parts by mass of the ingredients, converted into the amount of the mix of the present invention. The granular blender mix adhered to the surface of the ingredients can adhere to each other to form a stronger coating, which makes the coating of the resulting fried food less likely to peel and gives it a crispier, lighter texture.

Fried foods can be produced by frying ingredients coated with the mix of the present invention. Ingredients coated with the mix of the present invention can be fried using standard procedures. Methods for frying include deep frying and frying in a small amount of oil (so-called deep-frying), and are not particularly limited. Of these, deep-frying is preferred because it is a cooking method in which the coating easily peels off and does not achieve a crispy coating, thereby better demonstrating the effects of the present invention. For deep-frying, for example, oil is poured into a shallow pot such as a frying pan to a depth of about 1 to 3 cm, and the coated ingredients are placed in the pan and fried.

The present invention will be explained in more detail below using examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

(Reference Example 1: 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 with stirring at 90°C for 45 minutes, dehydrated by suction filtration, spread thinly on a flat plate, and dried to form a sheet of pregelatinized starch. The dried pregelatinized 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 of a portion of the obtained pregelatinized starch was measured by the β-amylase-amyloglucosidase method, and was found to be 96%.

Test Example 1
A powdered blender mix for deep-fried food coating was prepared by mixing the ingredients according to the composition shown in Table 1. A 300 g piece of chicken breast was cut in half and formed into 150 g pieces. Each piece of chicken breast was coated with 30 g of the blender mix for deep-fried food coating. The resulting deep-fried food material was placed in a frying pan filled with oil heated to 170°C to a depth of 1 cm, and fried for 4 minutes, turning the pieces every 20 seconds, to produce fried chicken. The condition and texture of the coating on the produced fried chicken were evaluated by a panel of 10 experts according to the following evaluation criteria, and the average of the 10 evaluations was calculated. The results are shown in Table 1.

<Evaluation criteria>
(Clothing coming off)
5: No peeling of the coating at all, very good.
4: There are some areas where the batter has lifted off the ingredients, but the batter has not come off and is in good condition.
3: The batter is partially floating away from the ingredients, and there are cracks in the floating parts, making it slightly unsatisfactory.
2: Part of the coating peeled off and fell off, and upon visual observation, the ingredients were exposed within 20% of the surface area, which was poor.
1: Part of the coating peeled off and fell off, and upon visual observation, more than 20% of the surface area of the ingredients was exposed, which was extremely poor.
(Crunchy)
5: The batter is very crispy and extremely good.
4: The batter is crispy and good.
3: The coating is slightly hard or soft and not very crispy, so it is slightly poor quality.
2: The coating is hard or soft and not crispy enough, poor quality.
1: The coating is very hard or very soft, not crispy at all, and extremely poor.

Test Example 2
A blender mix for deep-fried food coating was produced in the same manner as in Test Example 1, except that the composition of the blender mix was changed as shown in Tables 2 to 5. Fried chicken was produced using the blender mix and evaluated. The results are shown in Tables 2 to 5.

(Reference Example 2: Production of granulated wheat flour)
200 g of wheat flour (soft 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 onto the mixture with a spray bottle to granulate it. The granules were then sieved, and the fraction that passed through a 250 μm sieve and remained on a 100 μm sieve was collected. The 50% cumulative particle size on a volume basis measured by laser diffraction was 212 μm.

Test Example 3
A blender mix for deep-fried food coating was produced in the same manner as in Test Example 1, except that the composition of the blender mix was changed as shown in Table 6. Fried chicken was produced using the blender mix and evaluated. The results are shown in Table 6.

Test Example 4
The ingredients were placed in a waterproof bag with the composition shown in Table 7 and mixed lightly. 20 parts by mass of fresh water was added to 100 parts by mass of the mixture, and the mixture was thoroughly stirred with chopsticks to prepare a granular blender mix for deep-fried food coating. Fried chicken was produced using this granular mix in the same manner as in Test Example 1, and evaluated. The results are shown in Table 7. For reference, Production Examples 1 to 3 are also listed in Table 7.

Claims (8)

A blender mix for deep-fried food coating containing 5 to 70% by mass of wheat flour, 5 to 30% by mass of pregelatinized starch, and 0.5 to 1.5 % by mass of a thickener. The blender mix of claim 1, wherein the thickener comprises guar gum. The blender mix according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pregelatinized starch has a degree of pregelatinization of 60% or more. The blender mix according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the wheat flour includes granulated wheat flour. A granular blender mix for deep-fried food coatings comprising a mixture of 100 parts by mass of the blender mix for deep-fried food coatings according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and 10 to 40 parts by mass of an aqueous liquid. A method for producing fried foods, comprising applying the blender mix for deep-fried food batters according to any one of claims 1 to 4, or the granular blender mix for deep-fried food batters according to claim 5, to ingredients and frying the ingredients. The method of claim 6, wherein the frying is pan-frying . The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the amount of the filling is 100 g or more per piece.