Improvement of crunchiness of battered fish nuggets

In this study, two strategies to improve the crunchiness of fish nuggets for microwave final cooking were employed: addition of dextrin into batter formulation, and using a package containing a susceptor material, which improves heat transmission and increases the temperatures reached in the microwave. In this work, two dextrins (one of high solubility and other of medium solubility) were used to study their effect in battered, prefried fish nuggets, finally cooked by three different procedures: deep frying, microwaving and microwaving with susceptor packaging. In addition, all tests were performed with and without batters containing methylcellulose in order to assess the effect of oil uptake. The crunchiness of fish nuggets was evaluated by a recently developed method which simultaneously registered texture and sound measurements during the cutting of the nuggets. The profiles of the fried nuggets had numerous force and sound peaks and a typical jagged plateau shape, whereas those of the microwaved samples had force peaks that disappeared and the profiles adopted a smooth ascending curve. However, the use of the susceptor slightly improved the number of sound peaks. In addition, sensory crunchiness and other sensory attributes were measured by a trained panel. When the dextrins-containing nuggets were cooked by microwave and susceptor, they were perceived as crunchier as and oilier than the other samples.