Abstract:
The function of batter and/or breading is defined as a coating adhering to the food product after cooking. The batter can be defined, as a liquid mixture comprised of water, flour, starch,and seasonings into which food products are dipped prior to cooking” and Breading is referred to as “a dry mixture of flour, starch and seasonings, coarse in nature and applied to moistened or battered food products prior to cooking.
In Sri Lanka food manufacturing companies still do not have strong branded product and expend billion of rupees to import batter and breading mixture to the country. Local
consumers are preferred to eat more hot spices with meat product but they are not satisfied with currently available foreign sweet batter mix for meat product.
Experiments were carried out for the formulation and development of batter and breading mixture for meat based products. The specific objectives were to determine the best seasoning, optimum wheat/ com flour combination for batter, determine optimum water percentage for batter mix, optimum wheat/ com flour combination for breading, optimum salt percentage for breading mix, analyses of physiochemical properties of products and shelf life evaluation.
Sensory evaluation tests were conducted to find out optimum levels and conditions for the above factors using 9-point Hedonic scale subjectively. Shelf life evaluation studies were carried out in chemical and microbiological aspects. Results were analyzed using computer aided MINTTAB Statistical Analysis package according to One-way ANOVA after
confirming normal distribution by normality test at 5 % level of significance.
The conclusion of the studies can be interpreted as pungency spicy note 65 %, Full-bodied
spicy notes 30%, Medium aromatic notes 1.7% and Light sweet top notes 1.6% were selected as a best seasoning. The best wheat flour and com flour ratio was identified as 30% and 25% respectively to obtain optimum coating characteristic for batter. The experiment shows 65 ml of water and lOOg of batter is the best combination for obtaining optimum coating performance. Best wheat flour and com flour combination is 62% and 26% respectively. 14% of salt for breading mix is the best salt combination for end product. The quality parameters of the batter and breading were retained constant for 2 Vi months.
