Fried food products having reduced fat content

摘要

Methods of making reduced-fat or fat-free fried food products, and products made according to the methods, in which food pieces are coated with an aqueous adhesion mixture including a protein, and an oil absorption minimizing agent including an edible lipophilic material, where the coating is adhered to the food pieces, in order to provide for food products having the texture, flavor, and other characteristics of conventional full-fat fried food products. According to a preferred embodiment, the aqueous adhesion mixture includes from about 65 to about 95% by weight water, from about 4 to about 25% by weight protein, from 0 to about 2% by weight hydrocolloid, and from 0 to about 10% by weight protein stabilizing agent.

主权项

1. A method of making a coated food product, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a plurality of food pieces; (b) exposing the plurality of food pieces to an enzyme solution comprising one or more active enzymes to coat the surface thereof; after step (b), (c) blanching the plurality of food pieces for a time sufficient to inactivate enzymes on the surface of the food pieces; after step (c), (d) optionally, drying the blanched food pieces to remove moisture; and after step (d), (e) coating the food pieces with an aqueous adhesion mixture comprising an effective amount of up to about 2% by weight of a hydrocolloid, an effective amount of up to about 10% by weight of one or more cations, and an effective amount of up to about 30% by weight of a protein selected from vegetable proteins, rice proteins, corn proteins, soy proteins and wheat proteins, wherein the aqueous adhesion mixture comprises the hydrocolloid and one or more cations in amounts sufficient to crosslink between the hydrocolloid, the one or more cations, and the protein to form a protein-hydrocolloid matrix that provides a barrier to oil absorption.