Framtagning av ett nytt recept för clear-coat batter av pommes frites
En teknisk och sensorisk utvärdering
The requirements of good quality and appetizing fast food increases continuously as a consequence of a community where food is always available. The crispiness of French fries is an issue that must be considered in this context, since it tends to decrease and give the fries a soft surface not appreciated by the consumer. To prolong the crispiness, the fries can be coated by a batter, a mix of starches. The batters used often consists of modified starches, e.g. cross-linked, acetylated and dextrinizated to increase and prolong crispiness, flour to stabilize the batter and sodium bicarbonate to make the batter ?rise?.The cross-linked starch keeps the granules in a swelled state and prevents them from breaking when exposed to heat or processing: therefore, it delays the gelatinization and decreases the stickiness of the batter. The acetylated starch delays the retrogradation since it prevents amylose from packing when retrograded. It also stabilizes the batter. The dextrin added consists of heat and acid processed starch and decreases the gelatinization temperature of the batter. It also gives an appetizing color to the French fries.The aim of this project is to give further understanding of the ingredients´ functions, and to find alternative ingredients in a recipe already used, since the price of some ingredients has increased rapidly during the last few years. By studying an existing recipe and by doing a literary research some of the ideas were applied in the laboratory, followed by sensory and technical evaluations where color, appearance, crispiness, hardness and, to some degree, taste were evaluated. The viscosity of the starch solutions was measured since it indicates the pick-up (the amount of batter attached to the French fries). Pick-up and texture were also analyzed.Experiments confirmed the hypothesis that the acetylated starch was unnecessary and could be replaced by cross-linked starch. A high degree of cross-linking seemed to decrease the crispiness, which may depend on the prevented granule swelling. Replacing the cross-linked starch with native potato starch did not work since the batter became way too sticky. The flour could, to some degree, be replaced by native potato starch since the crispiness was very distinct. Too high concentrations of native starch made all batters very sticky, though, probably because of the early granule ?explosion? caused by processing and high frying temperatures. Maize flour was an alternative to the flour currently used, since the color, appearance and crispiness of the French fries were very good according to the sensory evaluations. Although the difference between the batters seemed evident when evaluated sensory, statistics made sure that it was not significant.More research and tests needs to be done to assure the results of this project. It is also necessary to verify that the laboratory results are identical to those in industry. However, the study gave further understanding of the function of the ingredients and confirmed that there are several ways of improving an already good concept.