Impact of pre- and post- frying treatments on meat-analog based batter coated fried food

This study describes how pre- and post-frying procedures affect meat analog based coated foods. A meat-analog was coated with batter systems made with wheat and rice flour that had varying (1:1, 1:1.3, 1:1.5) solid-to-water ratio (SWR) as pre-frying treatments. The coated meat analogs were fried for 4 minutes at 180°C before being treated with hot air blow (HAB), centrifuge-aided absorbent paper (CAP), and pressure-assisted absorbent paper (PAP). The physiochemical (crust moisture: 0.09-0.51db, total moisture:0.54-1.09db, crust fat:0.43-0.13db, total fat:0.40-0.20db, maximum force to break:0.76-4.27 N, distance at maximum force:0.93-4.80 mm, slope at maximum force:0.14-4.6 N/mm), thermal (glass transition temperature: -21.09 to -22.97°C), and structural (crust thickness:1.21-3.08 mm, area density:0.18-0.47 g/cm 2 , volumetric density:1.25-2.12 g/cm 3 , surface opening: 3.12-23.35%, fractal dimension: 2.692-2.886) characteristics of coated meat-analog, as well as batter rheology (consistency index: 1.17-78.37 Pa.s n , flow behavior index: 0.25-0.56, water retention ability: 49.42-99.17%, batter pickup: 24.12-77.87%) and process parameters (frying loss:7.70-22.3%, cooking yield: 2.53-84.17%), were all significantly (p