Cross-linking of wheat starch improves the crispness of deep-fried battered food

Wheat starches with different degrees of cross-linking were used to study the effect of starch gelatinization in the batter and crust characteristics of deep-fried battered food. Pasting properties, viscosity and batter pick up as well as moisture and oil content and crispness of the fried crusts were evaluated. In batters prepared with a constant solids/water ratio, the cross-linked starches increased batter viscosity and consequently the batter pick up. Batters, with comparable viscosity were prepared by varying the solid/water ratio which gave the same batter pick up. The pasting properties of cross-linked starches showed that the higher the cross-linking the more resistant was the starch to gelatinization and granule disintegration. In batters with a constant solids/water ratio, batter with high cross-linked starch had more water loss during frying. Cross-linked starches had lower moisture content after storage and less oil was retained after frying. Crispness, measured instrumentally as sound intensity, was the highest for the high cross-linked starch at 1 and 20 min after frying. Batters prepared with the same viscosity were used to study the effect of cross-linked starches when the pick up was the same. To obtain comparable viscosities between the batters, the batter with native starch was prepared using the lowest mixing water content and the one with high cross-linked starch with the highest. The batter with the high cross-linked starch, although it had the highest addition of water, had the best crispness after frying. In conclusion, high cross-linking of wheat starch enhances crispness perception of deep-fried battered food.