Development of a baked, breaded vegetable product with defined nutrient level

The objectives of this study were to explore the potential for preparing a baked, breaded vegetable product with a defined nutrient level, to evaluate the use of a hot air impingement oven to cook the product, and to determine the effect of selected vegetable matrices and reheating methods on chemical, physical, and sensory attributes of the product.

Two vegetable matrices with defined nutrient levels were selected by a computer program designed to combine the nutrient densities of four vegetables such that their maximum nutrient levels were obtained. The vegetables were obtained and frozen, mixed with 1 % yeast, compressed inside a mold, sliced, covered with a thin dough, and cooked in a hot air impingement oven. The composition of the products before cooking were 75 % of vegetables + yeast and 25 % of dough. The cooked product was kept frozen until it was evaluated. Two reheating methods were used, heating in a conventional oven and in a microwave oven.

The product with the vegetables designated as matrix 1 contained a greater amount of crude fat and yielded greater total and maximum shear forces as compared to the product with vegetables of matrix 2. The hot air impingement oven that was used to cook the product produced a product with a lighter color on the top side of the product as it was passed through the oven as compared to the color on the bottom side. Heating the frozen, cooked product in a microwave oven produced an external color that was less yellow color product as compared to heating in a conventional oven. Samples of the product were cooked in a deep-fryer also. The mean percentage crude fat in the deep-fried samples was 44 % higher than the mean fat content of samples cooked in hot air.

The panel scores for color of the vegetable, moistness of crust, overall texture, flavor, and overall acceptability of the product were widely dispersed on the scale from "like extremely" to "dislike extremely." The means for overall acceptability were in the range of "dislike slightly" to "like slightly."