Food coating compositions

Claim 1

A method of coating a food coating composition onto a food substrate to provide a frozen food product for reconstitution by the application of microwave energy, which comprises: (a) coating said food substrate with a first component comprising a predust as a first layer, said predust comprising a particulated combination of powdered egg albumen and powdered pregelled high density breadcrumbs having a bulk density of about 0.5 to about 0.75 g/cc, a total absorption of about 375 to about 500, an absorption rate of about 15 to about 60 seconds and a moisture level of about 6 to about 10 wt.%, said particulated combination being sized so that none of the particles is coarser than 16 mesh and up to 40% pass an 80 mesh screen, said predust comprising about 1 to about 10 wt.% of said powdered egg albumen; (b) coating the substrate resulting from step (a) with a second component comprising a batter as a second layer, said batter comprising a dispersion of batter-making components in water at a consistency which permits the batter to be applied to the predusted food substrate and wherein about 85 to about 125 parts by weight of water are used for 100 parts by weight of batter-forming components, said batter-making constituents comprising about 40 to about 70 wt.% of flour, about 10 to about 40 wt.% of corn starch, about 1 to about 5 wt.% of at least one chemical leavening agent and about 4 to about 10 wt.% of at least one plastic fat having solid fat index as follows: at 10° C.--up to 75%; at 27° C.--about 15 to about 75%; at 40° C.--about 5 to about 45%; (c) coating the substrate resulting from step (b) with a third component comprising particulated low density breadcrumbs as a third outer layer, said low density breadcrumbs being sized at about 15 wt.% coarser than about 8 mesh and having a bulk density of about 0.20 to about 0.40 g/cc; and (d) providing said food substrate with said food coating compositions thereon in a frozen condition for storage; said three components being used in proportions relative to the food substrate whereby said substrate can be reconstituted by the application of microwave energy resulting in a cooked product having a combination of textural qualities of moistness in the substrate and crispness in the coating.

Claim 2

A method of coating a food coating composition onto a food substrate to provide a frozen food product for reconstitution by the application of microwave energy, which comprises: (a) coating said food substrate with a first component comprising a predust as a first layer, said predust comprising a particulated combination of powdered egg albumen and powdered pregelled high density breadcrumbs having a bulk density of about 0.5 to about 0.75 g/cc, a total absorption of about 375 to about 500, an absorption rate of about 15 to about 60 seconds and a moisture level of about 6 to about 10 wt.%, said particulated combination being sized so that none of the particles is coarser than 16 mesh and up to 40% pass an 80 mesh screen, said predust comprising about 1 to about 10 wt.% of said powdered egg albumen; (b) coating the substrate resulting from step (a) with a second component comprising a batter as a second layer, said batter comprising a dispersion of batter-making components in water at a consistency which permits the batter to be applied to the predusted food substrate and wherein about 85 to about 125 parts by weight of water are used for 100 parts by weight of batter-forming components, said batter-making constituents comprising about 40 to about 70 wt.% of flour, about 10 to about 40 wt.% of corn starch, about 1 to about 5 wt.% of at least one chemical leavening agent and about 4 to about 10 wt.% of at least one plastic fat having solid fat index as follows: at 10° C.--up to 75%; at 27° C.--about 15 to about 75%; at 40° C.--about 5 to about 45%; (c) coating the substrate resulting from step (b) with a third component comprising particulated low density breadcrumbs as a third outer layer, said low density breadcrumbs being sized at about 15 wt.% coarser than about 8 mesh and having a bulk density of about 0.20 to about 0.40 g/cc; and (d) providing said food substrate with said food coating compositions thereon in a frozen condition for storage; said three components being used in proportions relative to the food substrate whereby said substrate can be reconstituted by the application of microwave energy resulting in a cooked product having a combination of textural qualities of moistness in the substrate and crispness in the coating.