Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Thin adhesion batter - including native starch and milk protein
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Coarser top coat breading - including decoration, for example, 2% rubbed parsley.
Battered
Battered products originated in Japan as tempura, which is a light batter that is
applied to substrates, originally seafood and vegetables, by dipping and deep frying
to create a light fl uffy battered product. Originally this was a very simple batter
recipe consisting of water, wheat fl our, starch and eggs but on an industrial scale the
tempura coating system has become much more complicated and is now found
applied to almost any substrate. Most industrial tempura systems involve a multi-
stage system consisting of a fi rst stage thin wheat fl our and native starch based
adhesion batter, a second stage intermediate predust or breading, followed by the
outer stage batter. This is then fried to give the light battered product.
As well as correct selection of fl ours, starches and processing conditions most
if not all industrially produced battered products depend on baking powder in its
various guises to produce the light fl uffy texture that is desirous in this product.
As the components of baking powder are synthetic chemicals, this cannot be
considered a natural product. The simplest tempura battered product that most
consumers are familiar with is the British battered fi sh fi llet purchased from a fi sh
and chip shop. This is produced by something closely resembling the original
tempura process - dipping a fi sh fi llet into a batter and frying. The baking powder
produces small bubbles of carbon dioxide in the batter so alternatives have been
sought in order to produce a natural version.
Carbonated water is a simple substitute for the baking powder, although the
most common natural alternative found in commercial battered products is beer,
which is used as a full or partial replacement for the water. On an industrial scale,
however, the carbon dioxide in these natural alternatives is less stable than that
produced by the action of heat on the chemical baking powder. Some work has
previously been undertaken to produce a natural tempura batter by utilising an
aeration process to introduce a matrix of small gas bubbles into the liquid batter
mix by mechanical means in order to replace the chemically produced gas.
However, the product has not yet been industrialised successfully.
13.7 Reduction, replacement and removal of particular
ingredients
In the move towards more natural food products a number of issues continue to be
tackled by the food developer driven by legislation, governmental initiatives, and
consumer and media pressure or demands.
13.7.1 Salt and sodium reduction
Salt or more particularly the sodium content of food is an issue that is currently
challenging the food industry due to concerns by scientists that diets containing
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