Method for making expanded potato based snack products

Claim 1

A method for making a potato based food snack product from a dough comprising the steps of mixing the dough and extruding a piece from the dough in preparation for frying the dough piece in hot cooking oil so that at the time the dough is immersed in the hot cooking oil it consists of a mixture of a. solids consisting essentially of cooked potato solids and ungelatinized starch, and b. water, c. in which the solids are more than 40 percent and up to about 50 percent by weight of the dough, and d. in which the solids contain between about 30 to about 70 percent ungelatinized starch by weight, with the balance being cooked potato solids containing sufficient available free gelatinized starch to cause the dough piece to expand between 1.6 to 3.0 times when fried, cooking the dough piece in the hot cooking oil at a sufficiently high temperature and for a long enough period of time to cause the dough piece to expand to a thickness of between about 1.6 to about 3.0 times that of the original smallest dimension of the piece during extrusion to form a finished fried potato snack, and thereafter removing the fried potato snack from the oil.

Claim 2

A method for making a potato based food snack product from a dough comprising the steps of mixing the dough and extruding a piece from the dough in preparation for frying the dough piece in hot cooking oil so that at the time the dough is immersed in the hot cooking oil it consists of a mixture of a. solids consisting essentially of cooked potato solids and ungelatinized starch, and b. water, c. in which the solids are more than 40 percent and up to about 50 percent by weight of the dough, and d. in which the solids contain between about 30 to about 70 percent ungelatinized starch by weight, with the balance being cooked potato solids containing sufficient available free gelatinized starch to cause the dough piece to expand between 1.6 to 3.0 times when fried, cooking the dough piece in the hot cooking oil at a sufficiently high temperature and for a long enough period of time to cause the dough piece to expand to a thickness of between about 1.6 to about 3.0 times that of the original smallest dimension of the piece during extrusion to form a finished fried potato snack, and thereafter removing the fried potato snack from the oil.

Claim 8

A method for making a potato based food snack product from a dough comprising the steps of mixing the dough and extruding a piece from the dough in preparation for frying the dough piece in hot cooking oil so that at the time the dough is immersed in the hot cooking oil it consists of a mixture of (a) solids consisting essentially of dehydrated cooked potato solids and ungelatinized starch, and (b) water, (c), in which the solids are more than 40 and up to about 50 percent by weight of the dough, and (d) in which the solids contain between about 30 to about 50 percent ungelatinized starch by weight, with the balance being cooked potato solids containing sufficient available free gelatinized starch to cause the dough piece to expand between 1.6 to 3.0 times when fried, cooking the dough piece in hot cooking oil at a sufficiently high temperature and for a long enough period of time to cause the dough piece to expand to a thickness of between about 1.6 and about 3.0 times that of the original smallest dimension of the piece during extrusion to form a finished fried potato snack, and thereafter removing the fried potato snack from the oil.

Claim 9

A method for making a potato based food snack product from a dough comprising the steps of mixing the dough and extruding a piece from the dough in preparation for frying the dough piece in hot cooking oil so that at the time the dough is immersed in the hot cooking oil it consists of a mixture of (a) solids consisting essentially of dehydrated cooked potato solids and ungelatinized starch, and (b) water, (c), in which the solids are more than 40 and up to about 50 percent by weight of the dough, and (d) in which the solids contain between about 30 to about 50 percent ungelatinized starch by weight, with the balance being cooked potato solids containing sufficient available free gelatinized starch to cause the dough piece to expand between 1.6 to 3.0 times when fried, cooking the dough piece in hot cooking oil at a sufficiently high temperature and for a long enough period of time to cause the dough piece to expand to a thickness of between about 1.6 and about 3.0 times that of the original smallest dimension of the piece during extrusion to form a finished fried potato snack, and thereafter removing the fried potato snack from the oil.

Claim 16

A method for making a potato based food snack product from a dough comprising the steps of mixing the dough and extruding a piece from the dough through an extruder die opening in preparation for frying the dough piece, the mixing and extruding steps resulting in essentially no gelatinization of the ungelatinized starch in the dough, and the extruded dough being immediately thereafter cut into a dough piece and then immediately immersed in hot cooking oil so that at the time the dough is immersed in the cooking oil it consists of a mixture of (a) solids consisting essentially of ungelatinized starch and gelatinized starch solids provided by cooked potato solids; and (b) water; (c) in which the solids are more than 40 and up to about 50 percent by weight of the dough; and (d) in which the solids contain between about 30 to about 70 percent ungelatinized starch by weight, with the balance being said gelatinized starch solids containing sufficient available free gelatinized starch to cause the dough piece to expand between 1.6 to 3.0 times when fried; cooking the dough piece in hot cooking oil at a sufficiently high temperature and for a long enough period of time to cause the dough piece to expand to a thickness of between about 1.6 and about 3.0 times that of the extruder die opening to form a finished fried snack product; and thereafter removing the fried potato snack from the oil.

Claim 17

A method for making a potato based food snack product from a dough comprising the steps of mixing the dough and extruding a piece from the dough through an extruder die opening in preparation for frying the dough piece, the mixing and extruding steps resulting in essentially no gelatinization of the ungelatinized starch in the dough, and the extruded dough being immediately thereafter cut into a dough piece and then immediately immersed in hot cooking oil so that at the time the dough is immersed in the cooking oil it consists of a mixture of (a) solids consisting essentially of ungelatinized starch and gelatinized starch solids provided by cooked potato solids; and (b) water; (c) in which the solids are more than 40 and up to about 50 percent by weight of the dough; and (d) in which the solids contain between about 30 to about 70 percent ungelatinized starch by weight, with the balance being said gelatinized starch solids containing sufficient available free gelatinized starch to cause the dough piece to expand between 1.6 to 3.0 times when fried; cooking the dough piece in hot cooking oil at a sufficiently high temperature and for a long enough period of time to cause the dough piece to expand to a thickness of between about 1.6 and about 3.0 times that of the extruder die opening to form a finished fried snack product; and thereafter removing the fried potato snack from the oil.

Claim 22

A method for making a potato based food snack product from a dough comprising the steps of mixing the dough and roller-forming a piece from the dough in preparation for frying the dough piece in hot cooking oil so that at the time the roller-formed dough piece is immersed in the hot cooking oil it consists of a mixture of (a) solids consisting essentially of ungelatinized starch and gelatinized starch solids provided by cooked potato solids; and (b) water; (c) in which the solids are more than 40 and up to about 50 percent by weight of the dough; and (d) in which the solids contain between about 30 to about 70 percent ungelatinized starch by weight, with the balance being said gelatinized starch solids containing sufficient available free gelatinized starch to cause the dough piece to expand between 1.6 to 4.5 times when fried; cooking the dough piece in cooking oil at a sufficiently high temperature and for a long enough period of time to cause the dough piece to expand to a thickness of between about 1.6 and about 4.5 times that of the original smallest dimension of the piece during the roller-forming step to form a finished fried potato snack; and thereafter removing the fried potato snack from the oil.

Claim 23

A method for making a potato based food snack product from a dough comprising the steps of mixing the dough and roller-forming a piece from the dough in preparation for frying the dough piece in hot cooking oil so that at the time the roller-formed dough piece is immersed in the hot cooking oil it consists of a mixture of (a) solids consisting essentially of ungelatinized starch and gelatinized starch solids provided by cooked potato solids; and (b) water; (c) in which the solids are more than 40 and up to about 50 percent by weight of the dough; and (d) in which the solids contain between about 30 to about 70 percent ungelatinized starch by weight, with the balance being said gelatinized starch solids containing sufficient available free gelatinized starch to cause the dough piece to expand between 1.6 to 4.5 times when fried; cooking the dough piece in cooking oil at a sufficiently high temperature and for a long enough period of time to cause the dough piece to expand to a thickness of between about 1.6 and about 4.5 times that of the original smallest dimension of the piece during the roller-forming step to form a finished fried potato snack; and thereafter removing the fried potato snack from the oil.