Fried food and process for producing same

Abstract: A fried food, consisting essentially of one or more solid foodstuffs and a paste-like foodstuff. The paste-like foodstuff includes a cohesive foodstuff and a noncohesive foodstuff. The cohesive foodstuff includes one or more selected from the group of alginic acid, an alginate and glucomannan. The paste-like foodstuff coheres the solid foodstuffs. A process for producing a fry comprises the steps of swelling one or more selected from the group of to produce a paste-like swollen cohesive foodstuff, including noncohesive foodstuff, cohering one or more solid foodstuffs using the paste-like foodstuff for fly, freezing or drying the foodstuff for fry. The invention provides novel fries having special tastes including solid, liquid, powdered, and/or paste-like foodstuffs. These fries are free from the taste of the cohesive foodstuff, keep the oil clean and are suitable for mass production.

Description: The present invention relates to a technique of frying different foodstuffs, such as potatoes, cheese, mayonnaise and shrimps. Conventionally, wheat flour is used in cohering a solid foodstuff. This is because gluten, protein of wheat flour coheres the solid foodstuff. However, the cohesive force of gluten is very low. Thus, the coherence of the solid foodstuff using wheat flour provides a condition in which the solid foodstuff is mixed with a dough of wheat flower, so that the taste of any fry combined at least two kinds of foods cannot be freed of the taste of wheat flour. Certain proteins are listed as a cohesive substance other than wheat flour. However, they are poor in adhesion with the solid foodstuff, freezing resistance and heat resistance and do not provide a good taste of a fry. The present invention coheres different foodstuffs in order to provide a fried food. In frying a non-cohesive foodstuff, a large volume of a cohesive agent or foodstuff such as wheat flour must be used in order to prevent the foodstuffs from a segregation. From FR-A- 2 639 193 a fried food is known, wherein a minced product like vegetable is coated with a compound like starch. The coating being enhanced by a binder containing alginate. From US-A-4,880,654 a process for fabricating meat analog products is known. Solid foodstuff like potato starch and egg white powder are cohered by means of gelid alginate. The product can be fried. From US-A-5,173,321 a swollen product containing glucomannan and solid components like encapsulated fumaric acid, guagum, salt, sodium carbonate is known. It is admixed with ground beaf. The product is heated in a frying pan. From DE-A-3 242 205 a potato product is known being preshaped and covered with a paste of sodium alginate, sodium chloride, minced potatoes and carboxymethylcellulose. From US-A-4,504,502 it is known to form a substantially continuos edible alginate film along the surface of a food-substrate. An edible filler and/or carrier material may be mixed with the alginate. The carrier materials include potato flakes or granules. From WO 88/01836 and from the Journal FOOD PROCESSING, Chicago, USA, 35(1), 1974, pp. 30f the particular use of alginate as a binder for high moisture foods is known. From WO 92/03935 the adhesive properties of alginate are known. In particular, food products containing such a binder can be fried. From JP-A-61-28043 it is known to use alginic acid and sodium alginate for fried products. However, the inventors have discovered that an utilisation of an unnoticeable, small volume of alginic acid, an alginate or glucomannan has a strong cohesive force in a particular manner of use. Therefore, the present invention can provide a fried food free from the taste of a cohesive component of the fried food combined at least two kinds of foods and a process for producing same although the fried food includes a cohesive foodstuff. The present invention was made on a discovery that since alginic acid, an alginate and glucomannan have high cohesive forces, heat resistance and freezing resistance they are suitable for cohering foodstuffs to be fried, and that the high cohesive forces of them do not exhibit immediately after shaping the foodstuffs to be fried but after a step of freezing or drying them. An object of the invention is to provide a fried food combined at least two kinds of foods, free from the taste of a cohesive foodstuff in fried foodstuffs. In order to achieve this object, in a first aspect of the present invention a fried food is provided having the features of claim 1. The object is also solved by a method having the features of claim 6. The present invention provides different fries having special tastes which were not experienced and comprising solid, liquid, powdered and/or paste-like foodstuffs at desired composition ratios without providing the taste of the cohesive foodstuff. These foodstuffs to be fried do not contaminate a frying oil. On the other hand, the foodstuffs to be fried are frozen or dried in the form suitable for storage and transportation and allow for mass production. Herein, the term fried food comprises a fry deeply fried at a temperature of 120-200 °C (i.e., a conventional frying temperature) and a foodstuff to be fried corresponding to the fry. The fry is obtained by placing foodstuff to be fried in a heated frying oil, replacing a water contented in the foodstuff to be fried with the frying oil to reduce the water content to of 5 to 80 wt%, preferably, 5 to 60 wt%. The produced fry can be frozen and stored for a long period. The cohesive natural polysaccharides used in the present invention must have a heat resistance to endure the frying temperature of 120-200 °C . These polysaccharides are listed below. 1) alginic acids: Polysaccharides present in brown algae and comprise D-mannuronic acid and L-guluronic acid. The polysaccharides are obtained by acid processing crude brown algae and subsequently extracting and filtering them from the processed algae. They react on a bivalent ion such as calcium ion to produce thermally irreversible gel. 2) alginate: Metal salts of alginic acids. Conventionally,univalent metal salts of alginic acids, in particular, sodium alginate are used. 3) glucomannan: A polysaccharide present in a tuberous rood of devil's tongue (or konjac) and consisting mainly of glucose and mannose. It reacts on alkali to produce thermally irreversibly gel, which is marketed as a Konjac. These polysaccharides are swollen with water into tenacious pastes. A process is preferably used which comprises the steps of mixing different foodstuffs with one of the pastes into a paste-like foodstuff to season a final fry and cohering or coating the solid foodstuff with the paste-like foodstuff. An addition of different auxiliary agents to the polysaccharides can improve cohesive force and handleability of fries or cooked food products. The auxiliary agents comprise milk proteins such as casein, gelatin, white of egg such as albumin, wheat protein such as gluten, fish and meat proteins such as myosin and actomyosin, auxiliary cohesive agents of thermally reversible natural polysaccharides such as carrageenan, locust bean gum, guar gum, xanthane gum, pullulan, curdlan , gellan gum, a chitinous substance and chitosan, and processed starch. Solid foodstuffs to be cohered with the cohesive natural polysaccharides comprise all foodstuffs suitable for frying, such as vegetables such as potato, carrot, sweet potato and onion, fishes and shellfishes such as cuttlefish, shrimp, saurel and a scallop ligament, meats such as beef, chicken and pork, grains such as corn, and processed agricultural and marine foodstuffs such as ham, sausage,corned beef and boiled fish paste. The cohesive natural polysaccharides swollen into pastes are mixed with seasonings, flavors to provide a preparation congenial to the solid foodstuff, or indirectly season the solid foodstuff. They can cohere at least two different solid foodstuffs. The seasonings comprise cheese, butter, margarine, mayonnaise, catchup, dressings, soy bean sauce (i.e. shoyu), soy bean paste (i.e. miso), broth, sauce, curry powder and Japanese horseradish (i.e. wasabi). These seasonings are mixed with the cohesive natural polysaccharides swollen to produce paste-like cohesive seasonings of desired viscosities. It is preferable that the paste-like cohesive seasonings cohere the solid foodstuff. On the other hand, the solid foodstuff with a desired size suitable for the fry may be coated with the paste-like seasoning. The paste-like seasoning has been fried causes a cohesive natural polysaccharides present therein to be mixed in the fry and does not have the form of paste. In addition, since the cohesive foodstuffs of the present invention have large cohesive forces, they do not contaminate the frying oil. Therefore, the present invention enables foodstuffs such as cheese and mayonnaise to be fried without a contamination of the frying oil although cheese and mayonnaise have not been directly fried because of the contamination of frying oil. A degree of the contamination from these foodstuffs according to the present invention is 1/20 or less of that according to a prior art. Since the cohesive natural polysaccharides used with the present invention have large cohesive forces, only 0.1-20 wt%, preferably, 0.5-15 wt%, more preferably, 1-10 wt% cohesive natural polysaccharides must be added to the solid foodstuff. When a fried foodstuff is simply coated with the paste-like cohesive foodstuff, a volume of the paste-like cohesive foodstuff used can be reduced. On the other hand, when the past-like cohesive foodstuff is used to cohere fine solid foodstuffs which are then molded, the volume of the paste-like cohesive foodstuff used is slightly increased. In both cases, the paste-like cohesive foodstuff allows the foodstuff to be fried to fully exhibit the taste thereof. The cohesive natural polysaccharides in the inventive fried foods insufficiently exhibit the cohesive forces when the foodstuffs for fry are shaped by pressing or coated with but not frozen nor dried, and segregate in the frying oil. However, once the foodstuffs for fry are frozen or dried, they exhibit sufficient cohesive forces. The foodstuffs for fry which have been frozen or dried can be saved for a long time as six months as much, so that they maintain the good quality and they can be directly fried. A control of the water content in the fried food depends upon the composition of the fried food, a frying temperature and a frying time. There are cases the fried foodstuffs are fried at an elevated temperature for a reduced period of time and at a reduced temperature for an increased time. Which case is selected depends upon materials and uses of the fried foodstuffs. For example, a foodstuff for fast-food hamburger is fried at an elevated temperature for a reduced period of time and a water content of this foodstuff is 30-50 wt%. On the other hand, a foodstuff, such as a snack, having a reduced water content is fried at a long period of time and a water content of this foodstuff is 5-20 wt%. A process for producing a fried food is as follows. First, the cohesive natural polysaccharides are swollen with water to produce cohesive foodstuff. If necessary an auxiliary cohesive agent and different foodstuffs are mixed with the cohesive natural polysaccharides and preparing the auxiliary cohesive foodstuffs. These foodstuffs are mixed with a liquid or pasty seasoning, and subsequent mixing the cohesive natural polysaccharides are used to cohere or coat other different foodstuffs, and preferably freezing and saving the cohered or coated solid foodstuff, and frying the frozen solid foodstuff. Instead of the freezing and saving step, the process for producing the fried food may comprise the step of drying the cohered or coated solid foodstuff using warm air, hot air, microwave, far infrared radiation, sunshine, wind or the like. Since in the present invention the volume of the cohesive natural polysaccharide used is sufficiently reduced, presence of polysaccharide almost does not affect the taste of the fry. Thus, the cohesive natural polysaccharide may be mixed with an optional foodstuff. In addition, since the cohesive natural polysaccharides of the present invention are in the form of paste, other foodstuffs in the form of paste or powdered may be mixed with the cohesive natural polysaccharides. Thus, the cohesive natural polysaccharides can optionally seasoned with different foodstuffs (especially the solid foodstuffs). In summary, the present invention provides a technique of the comprising the steps of selecting as the cohesive foodstuff the cohesive natural polysaccharides enduring a frying temperature and a freezing temperature and firmly cohering solid foodstuffs using the paste-like cohesive foodstuff, and converting the resulting fried foods into a long-term durable form. In a use of the fried foods, it requires no processing and does not contaminate a frying oil. The present invention provides a process for producing the fried food comprising the steps of blending a noncohesive foodstuff, such as cheese, mayonnaise or ketchup with the cohesive natural polysaccharides to produce a paste and firmly cohering the solid foodstuff to enable a person to enjoy a mixed taste of the solid foodstuff and the fluid foodstuff. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples of the present invention will be described hereinafter. Herein, parts in the description of the examples of the present invention are expressed in weight parts. EXAMPLE 1 1) 25 parts of water were added to 250 parts of cheddar cheese produced in Australia. This mixture is melted at a temperature of 45-50 °C . 7.5 parts of a phosphate, 5 parts of sodium chloride and 50 parts of water were added as emulsifiers to the molten mixture to sufficiently emulsify it. Subsequently, the emulsified mixture was heat pasteurized. 2) 50 parts of water were added to 0.5 parts of curdlan, 0.2 parts of gellan gum and 0.25 parts of processed starch. This mixture was heated and unified. 120 parts of a 4 % solution of sodium alginate were added to the heated and unified mixture to produce a paste-like cohesive foodstuff. Subsequently, the heat pasteurized mixture of the step 1) was added to the paste-like cohesive foodstuff to produce a paste-like cohesive foodstuff A. 3) Potato which had been partially fried and subsequently cooled in a process of producing fried potato were coated with the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A of about 10 wt% to the amount of the potato. The potato coated with the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A was frozen in a freezer at -25 °C for a week. 4) When taken out of a freezer, the frozen potato had been uniformly coated with the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A. Subsequently, the potato was placed into a fryer and fried at 180 °C for 3 min in a frying oil. The paste-like cohesive foodstuff A maintained adhering to the potato. In addition, since the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A well cohered, no part of the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A transferred to the frying oil during the frying step and the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A kept the frying oil clean. 5) Cheese in the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A was directly fried to improve the taste of it and well harmonized with the intrinsic taste of the potato, so that a tasty potato product which would not have existed was obtained. EXAMPLE 2 1) At a step of producing potato shells, 65 parts of a hollow potato shell were filled with 35 parts of the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A. Subsequently, the potato shell being packed with the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A was shaped by pressing to provide a composite potato product and frozen at -25 °C for a week. 2) When the frozen composite potato product was taken out of a freezer, the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A had adhered to the potato shell. Subsequently, this composite potato product was placed into a fryer and fried at 180 °C for 5 minutes in a frying oil. The composite potato product maintained the the original shape. Frying the composite potato product kept the frying oil clean. 3) A direct frying of the composite potato product provided the surface of cheese in the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A with a light brown color and an aromatic, smart tactual sense of a fry. EXAMPLE 3 1) In a process of producing diced potatoes, 65 parts of the paste-like cohesive foodstuff A were mixed with 35 parts of diced potatoes. This mixture was shaped into a disc with a 8-cm diameter and a 1-cm thickness. The disc was frozen in a freezer at -25 °C for a week. 2) When taken out of the freezer, the disc had maintained a uniform texture and water was not released. Subsequently, the disc was placed in a fryer and fried in an frying oil at 180 °C for 5 minutes. The fried disc maintained the original shape and kept the frying oil clean. 3) Sampling the fried disc provided a good taste. EXAMPLE 4 The fried disc produced in EXAMPLE 3 was sandwiched between commercially available bands (i.e. a pair of slices of bread for hamburger.) The sandwich having a lettuce added was sampled. This sandwich made the most of tastes of potato and cheese and increased advantages of both foodstuffs unlike a conventional hamburger. EXAMPLE 5 1) 150 parts of whole egg liquid, 150 parts of vinegar, 20 parts of sodium chloride and 5 parts of a seasoning were uniformly blended. 2) 2 parts of curdlan , 1 part of processed starch, 0.01 parts of calcium hydroxide and 60 parts of water were blended and heated. 35 parts of wheat flour, 25 parts of oligosaccharide, 20 parts of glucomannan, 0.2 parts of xanthene gum and 300 parts of water were fully blended to produce a paste-like cohesive foodstuff B. 3) The blends produced at the steps 1) and 2) were mixed. 260 parts of salad oil were added little by little to this mixture while the mixture of the blends produced at the steps 1), 2) and salad oil were agitated and emulsified. The emulsified mixture was heat pasteurized and provided a mayonnaise-like foodstuff C. 4) 60 parts of a commercially available potato shell (Munch Skins produced by Lamb-Western Co., U.S.A.) were filled with a blend of 30 parts of the mayonnaise-like foodstuff C and 10 parts of shrimps cut in the form of block. Subsequently, this composite potato product was shaped by pressing and frozen in a freezer for a week. 5) When the frozen composite potato product was taken out of the freezer, the mayonnaise-like foodstuff C maintained adhering to the potato shell. Subsequently, the composite potato product was fried in a fryer in a frying oil at 180 °C for 5 minutes. The fried composite potato product maintained the shape and kept the frying oil clean. 6) A composite potato fry of a unique taste was obtained. The EXAMPLE 5 used salad oil. However, utilizing butter or margarine provided a tasty composite potato product. EXAMPLE 6 1) 30 parts of commercially available diced potatoes (Soup Cube produced by Lamb-Western Co., U.S.A.), 10 parts of boiled tuna and 60 parts of the mayonnaise-like foodstuff C in EXAMPLE 5 were mixed and shaped into a disc with 8-cm diameter and 1-cm thickness. The disc was coated with a dilute butter suspension and fried in a fryer in a frying oil at 180°C for 5 minutes. The frying oil was kept clean. 2) The fried disc was frozen in a freezer for a week. When taken out of the freezer, the disc maintained the original texture of the foodstuff C, the boiled tuna and the diced potatoes and water was not released. 3) The frozen disc was baked in a frying pan. The baked disc maintained the original shape. 4) Sampling the fried and baked disc provided a unique taste of a food product making the most of the unique tastes of mayonnaise, tuna and potato. EXAMPLE 7 1) 100 parts of tomato puree, 14 parts of vinegar of 6% acidity, 10 parts of sodium chloride, 0.5 parts of a seasoning, 0.3 parts of potassium sorbinate and 48 parts of water were mixed and agitated into a liquid blend. 2) 50 parts of the paste-like cohesive foodstuff B produced in EXAMPLE 5 were added to the liquid blend produced at the step 1) to produce a mixture. This mixture was heat pasteurized at 80 °C for 20 minutes and produced a ketchup-like foodstuff D. 3) 25 parts of the ketchup-like foodstuff D were mixed with 15 parts of queen crab flesh. 60 parts of a potato shell were filled with the mixture of the ketchup-like foodstuff D and the queen crab flesh to produce a composite potato product. The composite potato product was shaped by pressing and frozen in a freezer for two weeks. 4) After being taken out of the freezer, the frozen composite potato product was fried in a frying oil in a fryer at 180 °C for 5 minutes. Sampling the fried composite potato product provided a taste making the most of the tastes of potato and tomato. EXAMPLE 8 1) 5 parts of the paste-like foodstuff B produced in EXAMPLE 5 were uniformly blended with 15 parts of a pizza sauce (produced by Heinz Co., U.S.A.). This blend was heat pasteurized at 80 °C for 20 minutes, resulting in a paste-like foodstuff E including the pizza sauce as a major component. 2) 300 parts of a potato shell was filled with a mixture of 20 parts of the paste-like foodstuff E, 40 parts of diced potatoes and 40 parts of the paste-like foodstuff A produced in EXAMPLE 1 to produce a composite potato product. This composite potato product was shaped by pressing and frozen in a freezer for two weeks. 3) The frozen potato product was fried in a frying oil in a fryer at 180 °C for 6 minutes. Sampling the fried potato product provided a taste of the most of potato, cheese and the pizza sauce. EXAMPLE 9 1) The fried products of the step 3) produced in EXAMPLE 6 was sandwiched between freezing-resistant bands and frozen in a freezer at -25 °C for four weeks. 2) The frozen sandwich was thawed by an electronic cooking range. The thawed sandwich was baked in an oven at 200 °C for 7 minutes. Sampling the baked sandwich provided a sufficient taste as a fast food. EXAMPLE 10 (not part of the present invention) 1) A commercially available scallop ligament was untied and partially dried. 60 parts of partially dried scallop ligament were mixed with the paste-like foodstuff B produced in EXAMPLE 5. This mixture was shaped by pressing into a square pillar of 5 cm × 2 cm × 1 cm and subsequently heated and dried by microwave in an electronic cooking range for 50minutes. 2) The dried square pillar was fried in a frying oil in a fryer at a temperature of 150-160 °C for 8 minutes, so that the water content was 20 % or less. 3) Sampling the this fry provided a smart tactual taste making the most of the taste of scallop ligament. The fry was good relish for beer. EXAMPLE 11 1) 40 parts of the mayonnaise-like foodstuff C produced in EXAMPLE 5 were mixed with 60 parts of corned beef. This mixture was shaped by pressing into a square pillar of 10.5 cm × 11.5 cm × 0.5 cm and subsequently frozen at -25 °C for a week. 2) The frozen pillar was directly fried in a frying oil in a fryer at a temperature 160-170 °C for 5 minutes so that the water content was 50 % or less. 3) The fried pillar was sandwiched between two commercially available eight cut slices of bread for sandwich. The sandwich was divided in quadrant. 4) Sampling the sandwich provided a good taste in which tastes of bread, mayonnaise and corned beef were harmonized with one another.

Claims: A fried food, consisting essentially of: at least one solid foodstuff and a paste-like foodstuff; said paste-like foodstuff coating said solid foodstuff; said paste-like foodstuff comprising a cohesive foodstuff selected from the group consisting of alginic acid, alginate and glucomannan; said paste-like foodstuff being mixed with seasonings selected from the group consisting of cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup; and 5 - 80 wt% water. The fried food of claim 1, wherein the solid foodstuff is selected from vegetables such as potato, carrot, sweet potato and onions, from fishes and shellfishes such as cuttlefish, shrimp, saurel, and scallop ligament, from meats such as beef, chicken and pork, from grains such as corn, and from processed agricultural and marine foodstuffs such as ham, sausages, corned beef and boiled fish paste. The fried food of claim 1 or 2, wherein the seasonings comprise butter, margarine, dressing, soy bean sauce, soy bean paste, broth, sauce, curry powder, Japanese horseradish. The fried food of one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cohesive foodstuff comprises auxiliary agents as milk proteins such as casein, gelatin, white of egg such as albumin, wheat protein such as gluten, fish and meat protein such as myosin and actomyosin, auxiliary cohesive agents of thermally reversible natural polysaccharides such as carrageenan, locust bean gum, guar gum, xanthane gum, pullulan, curdlan, gellan gum, a chitinous substance and chitosan, and porcessed starch. The fried food of one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the cohesive foodstuff is added in an amount of 0.1 to 20 wt%, preferrably 0.5 to 15 wt%, and more preferrably 1 to 10 wt%. A process for producing a fry, comprising the steps of: swelling at least one selected from the group of alginic acid, an alginate, and glucomannan to produce a swollen cohesive foodstuff; producing a paste-like foodstuff from the cohesive foodstuff and seasonings selected from the group consisting of cheese, mayonnaise, ketchup, curry powder, and Japanese horseradish; covering at least one solid foodstuff by means of the paste-like foodstuff to produce a cover foodstuff; freezing or drying the covered foodstuff; and frying the frozen or dried foodstuff into a fry. The process for producing a fry of claim 6, comprising the steps of : using at least one solid foodstuff; using a paste-like foodstuff, said paste-like foodstuff including a cohesive foodstuff and a non-cohesive foodstuff, the cohesive foodstuff including at least one selected from the group of alginic acid, an alginate and glucomannan, said paste-like foodstuff cohering said solid foodstuff; and frying the final fried food to 5 - 80 wt% water content. The process of producing a fry of claim 6 or 7, wherein said solid foodstuff is potato. The process of producing a fry of one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the seasonings are cheese. The process for producing a fry of one of claims 6 to 9, comprising the steps of using a paste-like cohesive foodstuff for binding solid foodstuff for fried food, including a cohesive foodstuff and a non-cohesive foodstuff in the form of powder, paste, liquid or small tips, the cohesive foodstuff including at least one selected from the group of alginic acid, an alginate and glucomannan.

Inventors: HARADA SEIKI, IKEDA MASAYUKI, HARADA, SEIKI, IKEDA, MASAYUKI
Applicants: UNIE COLLOID KK, UNI COLLOID KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1993
Main classification: A23L1
IPC codes: A23L1, A23P1