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Use of vacuum-frying in chicken nugget processing

Abstract:

The goal of this research was to test vacuum-frying as an alternative process in order to make fried chicken nuggets healthier. The compositional, textural and sensory properties of vacuum-fried chicken nuggets (130, 140 and 150 C) were evaluated and compared with the properties of deep-fat-fried nuggets (165 C) at 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 min. A sensory analysis of the fried products was conducted to assess consumer preferences. The higher rate of moisture loss observed during the first 2 min of frying in vacuum conditions. The decrease (p < 0.05) in the L∗ coordinate with frying time was more pronounced in vacuum conditions. a∗ and b∗ coordinates both increased significantly (p < 0.05) with frying time and temperature, indicating that the temperature was the principal factor affecting the Maillard reaction for both treatments. Sensory analyses showed that vacuum-frying produced chicken nuggets with normal organoleptic characteristics but oil uptake was not significantly reduced. Industrial relevance Despite many studies have evaluated the effect of vacuum frying on fruit and vegetables, the researches on protein-based food vacuum frying are really scarce. Vacuum frying allows the use of low temperature and short oxygen rate during cooking process which it would be an interesting alternative in the output features in the frying industry. This study realized that chicken nuggets fried under frying vacuum conditions could provide products with compositional characteristics and sensory attributes similar to those from chicken nuggets fried by conventional deep fat frying, in addition to be crunchier.