Batter coating for food pieces

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/227,394 filed on Sep. 15, 2005, which is a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 10/209,057 filed on Jul. 31, 2002, the disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

This invention relates to: a batter coating; the preparation of food pieces using the batter coating, such as pieces of meat, poultry (e.g. chicken), fish, vegetables (e.g. potatoes, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, onion rings, zucchini) and dairy (e.g. cheese) products; and such and other food pieces coated with the batter coating. The food pieces so prepared have extended crispness holding qualities in high humidity and high temperature situations such as those encountered in restaurant take-out applications, e.g. where food pieces are portioned in closed boxes to be taken home prior to serving and consumption.

A batter coating containing a modified and cross linked starch in combination with lecithin, and other non essential ingredients, has been found by the applicants to provide extremely long hold times once reconstituted, and to have the additional benefit of enabling the reconstituted product, once the product has cooled, to be micro-waved to yield a hot and crispy food product. The initial application of this batter was to potato pieces (per applicants\' patent application Ser. No. 10/209,057). Further experimental work was performed to determine if such a coating would impart similar characteristics to other foods. For the purpose of this experimentation, cheddar cheese, mushrooms (portobello and button types), onion rings and chicken were used as food products. Unlike potato products, these products in the prior art tend to be coated with very heavy coatings of either a batter or batter and breading. In many instances, the batter and breading make up 30% of the total finished product weight. As discussed further herein, these experiments on other food products showed that such a coating imparts similar characteristics to those noted with the initial experiments on potato pieces, e.g. French fry strips.

Retention of crispness of French fries and other foods is of great concern for take-out food operations which package the food pieces, such as French fry strips, after finish frying, into various types of packages for transport to consumers\' homes. While being transported home, such foods are subjected to conditions of high heat and humidity in the packages. The result is re-hydration of the batter on the surface of each food piece and, consequently for example, an undesirably limp, soggy and tough French fry. Various procedures have been proposed for extending the crispness-holding quality of French fries after finish frying.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,639 relates to a procedure for extending the crispness-holding time of French fries through application of a pre-coating containing a hydrocolloid prior to coating the strips with a batter.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,759 relates to a procedure whereby potato strips with increased crispness are obtained by coating the strips prior to par-frying with an aqueous slurry containing chemically modified, ungelatinized potato starch, chemically modified, ungelatinized corn starch, and rice flour.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,227 relates to coating potato strips, prior to deep frying, with a coating of high amylose starch for the purpose of increasing the crispness of the strips.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,410 discloses application of a glaze coating of hydrolysed starch with a DE of less than 12 at pH levels of 5.5-8.5, to increase the crispness of French fry strips.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,944 relates to use of a batter mix containing a leavening agent, a blend of starch and high amylose starch, dextrin and a food gum to increase crispness.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,741 discloses that strips coated with a slurry of corn flour, corn starch and low solubility dextrin prior to par-frying yields a product which, upon re-frying, exhibits increased crispness.

These prior procedures have met with qualified success in the food processing industry. All of these procedures appear to address the need for a French fry with improved crispness over an extended period of time. However, they all only address the need for enhanced or extended crispness under conditions found in fast-food and eat-in restaurants, e.g. where French fries or other food products are either served immediately upon reconstitution, or held under sophisticated holding stations and/or operating procedures until served. None of the patents address the loss of crispness of food products, either coated or uncoated, when they are subjected to the high heat and humidity conditions imposed by take-out restaurant operations. There is, therefore, a need for a means to extend the duration of crispness of take-out food products under take-out food conditions.

The invention provides a novel batter coating for food pieces, preferably of meat, poultry, fish, vegetable or dairy products, prior to par-frying of the food pieces. The batter coating is a slurry comprising a dry batter mixed in water, i.e. a “batter slurry” herein. The dry batter comprises from 97.4% to 99.8% by weight of a modified food starch batter base or flour batter base, wherein the batter base comprises a modified food starch of from 10 to 60%, preferably from 30 to 50% by weight of the dry batter, from 0.1 to 0.7% by weight of de-oiled lecithin and from 0.0 to 1.0% by weight of calcium lactate, preferably from 0.1 to 1.0% of calcium lactate. The modified food starch is acetylated, cross-linked, or acetylated and cross-linked. A “modified food starch batter base” herein is a batter base in which there is more modified food starch than any other constituent. A “flour batter base” herein is a batter base in which there is more flour than any other constituent. Preferably, the flour is a wheat flour. The term “food pieces” used herein and throughout this application includes food pieces of various shapes and sizes, and the pieces may be cut or shaped.

In another aspect the invention also provides a process for producing either non-frozen refrigerated, or frozen, par-fried food pieces, which, when heated for consumption, have extended crispness in relatively high humidity food storage environments. The process comprises applying the foregoing described batter slurry of the present invention to food pieces for par-frying to produce battered food pieces, then par-frying the battered food pieces to produce par-fried food pieces, and then freezing, or refrigerating without freezing, the par-fried food pieces.

In a further aspect the invention provides for par-fried food pieces, frozen or unfrozen, which are coated with the foregoing described batter slurry of the present invention.

The par-fried food pieces, e.g. potato pieces, of the present invention, upon reconstitution, retain a crisp, tender surface texture and mealy interior for extended periods of time in take-out containers. The extended holding ability of this product, i.e. excellent crispness and resistance to re-hydration, is believed to be due to the unique, synergistic combination of the modified food starch and de-oiled lecithin ingredients within the batter formulation which is the subject of the invention.

The batter slurry described herein may be applied at varying thickness to any food piece, e.g. any cut of French fry, depending upon the desired degree of crispness retention and surface smoothness desired. Thicker batters, i.e. having higher solids content, will retard crispness loss to a higher degree and, therefore, would be preferable for use in more challenging conditions.

It has been found that food pieces, such as potato pieces, prepared in accordance with the present invention can retain their crispness for periods in excess of 10 minutes when sealed in impervious containers immediately after finish frying. This performance far outperforms any commercially available existing product, or product described by the patents discussed herein above.