Prebrowned Fried Chicken

Abstract

As a result of research on methods of preparing a prebrowned chicken product, a new method was developed. This consisted of (1) predusting, battering and breading, (2) frying briefly, (3) steaming until done, then (4) retrying, after which it is refrigerated or frozen for reheating later. However, adhesion of the crust was a problem, and an investigation was made of the effectiveness of a number of materials as predusts. These can be classified as protein materials, starches, and gums and alginates. The chicken pieces were dusted with the selected predust material, battered and breaded, then cooked as described above. They were judged for degree of adhesion by a panel of 10 judges, both as soon as cooled and reheated after frozen storage. Yields were also calculated. In general, high protein materials produced crusts with better adhension than starches, gums and alginates. Materials producing the best adhesion, in order, were dried egg albumen, vital wheat gluten and soy concentrate, the first two being very acceptable, the third moderately acceptable. High adhesion scores also result in low cooking losses and high yields, with dried albumen producing the lowest cooking loss (8–9%) and highest yields (116%).