Eel-like food product and production method therefor

Abstract

To provide an eel-like food product having a puffy / crispy texture like steamed eel or grilled eel not using eel itself but using alternative feedstock.SOLUTION: In the case of dough obtained by mixing at least one of fish meat, soybean protein, milk protein and albumen with oil / fat and starch materials, phosphoric acid crosslinked starch, nonglutinous rice flour and dextrin are used as the starch materials as required, and thereby, an eel-like food product having puffy and crispy texture typified by unseasoned grilled eel and glaze-grilled eel can be produced.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an eel-like food product and a method for producing the same. [Background technology]

[0002] Eels are rich in vitamins A and B and are highly nutritious, so they are eaten on the Day of the Ox and other days of the Doyo period, and have long been a popular traditional food among Japanese people. However, in recent years, the price of farmed eels has risen sharply due to a decline in the catch of glass eels, which are young eels, making them difficult to obtain, and so eel-like foods have been attracting attention.

[0003] To date, a variety of eel-like foods have been developed, mainly made by molding and heat-processing paste fish meat. Disclosed examples include an eel-like food made by bonding together a top molded piece and a bottom molded piece made from paste fish meat (Patent Document 1), an eel-like food comprising a flesh layer containing protein materials, starch and oils and a skin layer containing gelatin gel (Patent Document 2), and a processed food with the texture of grilled eel made by adding potato-derived dextrin to paste fish meat (Patent Document 3).

[0004] However, the process for obtaining fish paste products having a layered structure as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 is complicated, and in order to approach the texture of grilled eel, not only a plump texture but also a crisp texture is important, so there is room for improvement in the eel-like food disclosed in Patent Document 3, which aims only to reproduce the plump texture. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2015-62346 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2020-156325 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2016-5440 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The object of the present invention is to provide an eel-like food product that has a plump and crisp texture like steamed or grilled eel by using an alternative ingredient instead of eel itself. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The inventors conducted extensive investigations to solve these problems and discovered that the above problems can be solved by using three essential components, namely phosphate cross-linked starch, non-glucose rice flour and dextrin, as starch ingredients in a dough containing one or more of fish meat, soy protein, milk protein and egg white, together with fats and oils and starch ingredients, and thus completed the present invention.

[0008] The present invention comprises the following [1] to

[10] . [1] An eel-like food comprising one or more of fish meat, soy protein, milk protein, and egg white, as well as fats and oils and a starchy raw material, the starchy raw material comprising the following (A) to (C): (A) phosphate cross-linked starch, (B) Glue rice flour; (C) Dextrin. [2] The eel-like food product according to [1], wherein (A) is pregelatinized phosphate cross-linked starch. [3] The eel-like food product according to [1] or [2], wherein (B) is pregelatinized non-glutinous rice flour. [4] The eel-like food product according to [1] or [2], wherein (C) is a dextrin having a DE of 20 or less. [5] The eel-like food product according to [3], wherein (C) is a dextrin having a DE of 20 or less. [6] A method for producing an eel-like food product, comprising the steps of forming a dough containing one or more of fish meat, soy protein, milk protein, and egg white, as well as fats and oils and a starchy raw material, and then heating the dough, wherein the starchy raw material contains the following (A) to (C): (A) phosphate cross-linked starch, (B) Glue rice flour; (C) Dextrin. [7] The eel-like food product according to [6], wherein (A) is pregelatinized phosphate cross-linked starch. [8] The eel-like food product according to [6] or [7], wherein (B) is pregelatinized non-glutinous rice flour. [9] The eel-like food product according to [6] or [7], wherein (C) is a dextrin having a DE of 20 or less.

[10] The eel-like food product according to [8], wherein (C) is dextrin having a DE of 20 or less. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the product and manufacturing method of the present invention, it is possible to produce eel-like foods having a plump and crisp texture, such as eel broiled or kabayaki. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a photograph showing the appearance of the eel-like food product of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] In this invention, "eel-like food" refers to a processed food that does not use eel as the main ingredient, but has a plump, crisp texture like that of unagi (white-grilled) or kabayaki (broiled) eel (hereinafter, also referred to as "eel-like texture"). Specifically, it refers to a food that uses one or more of fish meat, soy protein, milk protein, and egg white as the main ingredients, along with fats and oils and starch ingredients, and, if necessary, secondary ingredients such as salt, sugar, mirin, amino acids, and other seasonings, mixed and stirred to form a dough, which is then heated and processed by methods such as steaming (a method of heating with steam, also known as "steaming"), baking (a method of heating over an open flame, including steaming), or deep-frying.

[0012] The "eel-like food" of the present invention uses one or more of the following protein sources as one of the main ingredients: fish meat, soy protein, milk protein, and egg white. There is no limitation on the type of fish meat, but fish meat from fish and shellfish such as Alaska pollock, cod, Atka mackerel, croaker, lizardfish, sardine, and scallop can be used alone or in combination, and eel can also be used as part of the fish meat. There is also no limitation on the form of the fish meat, and it is possible to use fillets of fish meat harvested after removing large bones and fins, fish meat from which small bones and skin have been removed, paste-like surimi made by grinding up such fish meat, and even frozen fish meat surimi made by adding a stabilizer such as sugar and freezing it. There is no limitation on the type of soy protein, and examples thereof include full fat soy flour, defatted soy flour, isolated soy protein, soy milk powder, tofu, and soybean lees, and the form of the soy protein may be solid, regardless of whether it is granular, fibrous, powdery, etc. Also, examples of milk proteins include casein, and examples of egg whites include raw egg white, frozen egg white, and dried egg white, but it is preferable to use fish meat or soy protein as the main raw protein source for the eel-like food product of the present invention, and more preferably to use fish meat.

[0013] There are no limitations on the amounts of the above fish meat, soy protein, milk protein and egg white used in the eel-like food product of the present invention, but in order to form the skeleton of the eel-like food product it is preferable that they account for 5% or more of the raw materials, and in order not to impair the eel-like texture and flavor it is preferable that they account for 80% or less. In other words, the amounts of fish meat, soy protein, milk protein and egg white used in the eel-like food product of the present invention should be 5% to 80%, preferably 20% to 80% of the raw materials, and even more preferably 40% to 80% of the raw materials.

[0014] The eel-like food product of the present invention contains fats and oils as one of the main ingredients, and the fats and oils are not particularly limited as long as they are edible fats and oils, and examples thereof include vegetable fats and oils such as soybean oil, rapeseed oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, corn oil, coconut oil, rice oil, olive oil, and sesame oil, animal fats and oils such as milk fat, lard, beef tallow, chicken oil, and fish oil, and fractionated oils and transesterified oils thereof. These fats and oils may be either liquid or solid at room temperature, but are preferably solid. The amount of fats and oils used in the eel-like food product of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably 5 to 20% of the raw materials.

[0015] The eel-like food product of the present invention contains a "starchy raw material" as one of its main raw materials. "Starchy raw materials" are, for example, cereal flour, starch, dextrin, etc. Examples of cereal flour include wheat flour, rice flour, corn flour, tapioca flour, potato flour, sweet potato flour, buckwheat flour, soy flour, rye flour, barley flour, millet flour, and barnyard millet flour, and examples of starch include unmodified starch, chemically or physically modified starch, and pregelatinized starch.

[0016] The "starch raw material" used in the eel-like food product of the present invention is characterized by containing three essential components: phosphate cross-linked starch, non-glutinous rice flour, and dextrin.

[0017] The term "phosphate cross-linked starch" used in the present invention refers to starch in which intramolecular or intermolecular hydroxyl groups of starch are cross-linked by phosphate groups by chemical treatment, and is a processed starch obtained by reacting raw starch in the presence of a cross-linking agent, salt, and water for a predetermined time and temperature while adjusting the pH, and includes phosphate cross-linked starch that has been esterified or etherified. The phosphate cross-linked starch of the present invention is preferably one having a high degree of cross-linking, specifically, a sedimentation volume of 2.5 or less, more preferably 2.0 or less, and even more preferably 1.5 or less. The sedimentation volume is an index showing the degree of cross-linking in processed starch, and is measured by the following procedure: a solution consisting of 10% zinc chloride, 26% ammonium chloride, and 64% water is prepared, 15 ml of this solution is weighed into a test tube, 150 mg of a starch sample is added to the test tube, and the solution is heated in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes and immediately cooled to 25°C with running water, and 10 ml of the solution is transferred to a 10 ml measuring cylinder and left to stand at room temperature for 20 hours. The volume of starch that did not gelatinize and settled (if the mixture is separated into two layers, a transparent supernatant layer and a translucent layer, read the scale at the interface) is the "sedimentation volume" value.

[0018] The origin of the starch used as the raw material for the phosphate cross-linked starch of the present invention may be any starch, such as potato, rice, wheat, tapioca, corn, pea, mung bean, sago, sweet potato, etc., regardless of whether it is a non-glutinous, glutinous, or high amylose variety, but it is preferably one or more of corn and potato, and more preferably corn. Furthermore, the phosphate cross-linked starch used in the present invention does not need to be gelatinized and dried by a method such as drum drying or spray drying (hereinafter referred to as "gelatinization treatment"), but it is preferable that it has been gelatinized. The gelatinization treatment may be performed only on the phosphate cross-linked starch, or may be performed after mixing it in advance with other starchy raw materials such as non-glutinous rice flour described below.

[0019] The "japonica rice flour" used in the present invention is made by soaking non-japonica rice and grinding it into a powder form using a flour mill or stone mill, and is sometimes called by special names such as joshinko, joyoko, and shinko. This non-japonica rice flour can be used as is, but it may also be gelatinized, and the gelatinization can be carried out after mixing with a starchy raw material such as the above-mentioned phosphate cross-linked starch. In the eel-like food product of the present invention, it is preferable to use gelatinized non-japonica rice flour.

[0020] The "dextrin" used in the present invention is a starch hydrolyzate obtained by hydrolyzing starch with an enzyme or acid, and is cold water soluble. The DE (abbreviation for dextrose equivalent, when completely hydrolyzed to glucose, the DE is 100) value of the dextrin used in the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably 20 or less, more preferably 10 or less, and most preferably 5 or less. The source of starch that is the raw material for dextrin is not particularly limited, and may be any species such as tapioca, sweet potato, corn, rice, potato, wheat, and glutinous species thereof, but from the viewpoint of efficiently obtaining the effects of the present invention, it is preferable that the starch is one or more species selected from tapioca, sweet potato, corn, and glutinous corn.

[0021] The amount of the "starch raw material" used in the present invention is not particularly limited, but in order to impart an eel-like texture, it is preferable that it is 3% or more in the raw material, and more preferably 3 to 20%. Furthermore, the amounts of the above three essential components that make up the starch raw material are preferably 1 to 5% phosphate cross-linked starch, 1 to 5% non-glutinous rice flour, and 1 to 10% dextrin, respectively, in the raw material.

[0022] The eel-like food product of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned ingredients, and other auxiliary ingredients can be used as long as they do not impair the effects of the present invention. Examples of auxiliary ingredients that can be used include monosaccharides, disaccharides, sugar alcohols, oligosaccharides, salts, glutamine monosodium, mirin and other seasonings, thickening polysaccharides, peptides, amino acids, sweeteners, emulsifiers, vitamins, preservatives, flavors, extracts, and colorings.

[0023] The eel-like food of the present invention can be produced by molding a dough containing the above-mentioned ingredients and then subjecting it to a heating process such as steaming, baking or deep-frying, and can also be coated with a seasoning such as sauce or browned on the surface using a burner or the like. The eel-like food thus obtained can be eaten as is, or can be stored in a refrigerator and then eaten as is or after reheating, or can be stored frozen and then thawed naturally or after reheating.

[0024] The present invention will be described in detail and specifically below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. In the following examples, unless otherwise specified, "parts" refers to parts by mass, and "%" refers to % by mass. EXAMPLES

[0025] (Starchy ingredients used) Table 1 shows the starch raw materials used in the following tests. The names in parentheses in the table are product names, with "Powder Rice D" being a product of Niigata Flour Milling Co., Ltd., "Motil B" being a product of Joetsu Starch Co., Ltd., and all others being products of Matsutani Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. The sedimentation volume of phosphate cross-linked starch was measured as follows; first, 150 mg of starch sample (solid equivalent) was weighed into a test tube, and 15 mL of a reagent (prepared with 26% ammonium chloride, 10% zinc chloride, and 64% water) was poured into it. Next, the starch sample in the test tube was uniformly dispersed using a bench vibrator, and immediately fixed in a boiling bath and heated for 10 minutes, and then cooled to 25-35°C. The starch sample in the test tube was dispersed again using a bench vibrator, and 10 mL was poured into a 10 mL measuring cylinder. After leaving it at 25°C for 20 hours, the scale value (ml) of the precipitate was read and used as the sedimentation volume. The results were: "Food Starch NE-1" was 0.7, and "Matsutani Hyotan" was 0.85.

[0026] [Table 1]

[0027] <Test 1: Production of eel-like food 1> Eel-like foods were produced according to the basic recipe shown in Table 2 and the process shown in Table 3. The moldability of the dough was evaluated on a three-point scale, with "◎" indicating "not sticky and easy to mold," "○" indicating "somewhat sticky but moldable," and "×" indicating "sticky and unable to mold." The texture of the resulting eel-like foods, i.e., "plumpness" and "crispness," was evaluated on a four-point scale, with 4 points being comparable to real eel, 3 points being very close, 2 points being somewhat close, and 1 point being slightly different. The texture was evaluated after storing the resulting eel-like foods at 4°C for one day. The evaluation results are shown in Table 4, and a photograph of the appearance of the resulting eel-like foods is shown in Figure 1.

[0028] [Table 2]

[0029] [Table 3]

[0030] [Table 4]

[0031] As shown in the evaluation results in Table 4, dough containing the three starch ingredients phosphate cross-linked starch, rice flour and dextrin was easy to mold, and the resulting eel-like food product had a good fluffy texture and crispness (Examples 1 and 2). On the other hand, eel-like food products that did not contain any one of the three ingredients did not have a fluffy texture (Comparative Examples 1 to 4), and when neither phosphate cross-linked starch nor rice flour was included, the crispness was even worse (Comparative Examples 1 and 2). The presence or absence of hydroxypropylated starch did not affect the evaluation results.

[0032] <Test 2: Examination of the effects of starch origin and processing> Next, we investigated the effects of the origin of the raw materials and processing (gelatinization, DE) on the effects of the three components, phosphate cross-linked starch, rice flour, and dextrin. Using the composition shown in Table 5, eel-like foods were produced in the same manner as in Test 1 and evaluated.

[0033] [Table 5]

[0034] [Table 6]

[0035] As shown in the evaluation results in Table 6, phosphate cross-linked starch produced an eel-like food with a texture close to that of eel even without gelatinization (Example 3), but gelatinization gave an eel-like food with better moldability of the dough and a texture after steaming that was comparable to that of real eel (Example 2). Furthermore, whether the raw material origin was corn or potato, the dough was easy to mold, and an eel-like texture was obtained when the dough was steamed, but corn (Example 2) had a texture closer to that of real eel than potato (Example 4). Meanwhile, with regard to rice flour, non-glutinous rice produced dough with good moldability and texture (Example 2), but glutinous rice lacked plumpness and crispness and could not be said to have an eel-like texture (Comparative Example 5). Regarding dextrin, the moldability and texture of the dough were good regardless of the DE used, but the texture improved as the DE decreased (Examples 2, 5, and 6).

[0036] <Test 3: Production of eel-like food 2> Next, we attempted to make an eel-like food using tofu instead of fish paste. Specifically, we made the eel-like food according to the recipe shown in Table 7 and the process shown in Table 8. Even when tofu was used instead of fish paste, the dough was easily moldable, and the eel-like food obtained by steaming had a good texture.

[0037] [Table 7]

[0038]

Table 8

Claims

1. An eel-like food comprising at least one of fish meat, soy protein, milk protein, and egg white, as well as fats and oils and a starchy raw material, the starchy raw material comprising the following (A) to (C): (A) phosphate cross-linked starch, (B) Glue rice flour; (C) Dextrin.

2. 2. The eel-like food product according to claim 1, wherein the component (A) is a pregelatinized phosphate cross-linked starch.

3. 3. The eel-like food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein (B) is pregelatinized non-glutinous rice flour.

4. 3. The eel-like food according to claim 1 or 2, wherein (C) is a dextrin having a DE of 20 or less.

5. 4. The eel-like food according to claim 3, wherein the (C) is a dextrin having a DE of 20 or less.

6. A method for producing an eel-like food product, comprising the steps of forming a dough containing one or more of fish meat, soy protein, milk protein, and egg white, as well as fats and oils and a starchy raw material, and then heating the dough, wherein the starchy raw material contains the following (A) to (C): (A) phosphate cross-linked starch, (B) Glue rice flour; (C) Dextrin.

7. 7. The eel-like food product according to claim 6, wherein said (A) is pregelatinized phosphate cross-linked starch.

8. 8. An eel-like food product according to claim 6 or 7, wherein (B) is pregelatinized non-glutinous rice flour.

9. 8. The eel-like food according to claim 6 or 7, wherein (C) is a dextrin having a DE of 20 or less.

10. 9. The eel-like food according to claim 8, wherein (C) is a dextrin having a DE of 20 or less.

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