Standardization of process for preparation of batter-breaded albumen rings

Albumen rings (dia 3.8 cm, thickness 0.5 cm, height 0.7 cm) were prepared by blending chicken egg albumen with 5% rice flour and 0.5% salt, placing about 8 ml of blended mixture in ring mold and steam cooking at ambient pressure for 5–6 min. Rings were cooled for 10 minutes, battered in wheat flour (WF) or corn flour (CF) coatings alone (WF: 40% in water, CF: 30% in water, w/v) or in composite coatings containing WF or CF with black gram flour (BGF) or gram flour (GF) at 10, 15 and 20% levels, rolled into bread crumbs and deep fried at 205ºC oil temperature for 15–20 seconds. All groups were evaluated for coating pick-up, cooked yield, proximate composition and microbiological and sensory quality. Inclusion of 15% BGF in WF batter significantly (P<0.05) improved the coating pick-up and % cooked yield and resulted in higher moisture and lower lipid contents than other WF-based coatings. Organoleptically the rings battered in WF coatings containing 15 or 20% BGF had highest coating adhesion scores followed by those containing 15 or 20% GF. Panelists preferred 25% WF+15% BGF group over others as evident from highest overall acceptability scores, although it was not significantly different from those containing 15 or 20% GF and 20% BGF. In CF-based batter groups, highest coating pick-up was obtained with 15% CF + 15% BGF batter, while coated groups had higher cooked yield and moisture content and lower lipids than uncoated control. In general, low aerobic plate counts (log 1.46 to 2.01/g) were found in all CF-based treatments with complete absence of staphylococci, coliforms, yeast and moulds and anaerobes. The rings coated with CF batters containing 10% BGF or GF had highest overall acceptability scores and were liked most. Comparison of most desirable coatings from each treatment in respect to coating adhesion and sensory quality revealed that 25% wheat flour +15% black gram flour coating was best among all for preparing batter-breaded albumen rings.