Snack/convenience foods and the like having external and/or internal coating compositions

Abstract

The disclosure describes new forms of chip-type and other fried or baked snack-type and/or convenience food items, including sweet goods such as cookies, doughnuts, etc., which are externally coated with or which directly incorporate into their dough matrix certain starch-based compositions. Methods of using the compositions to make the food products, and the finished food products themselves are described. As external coatings the compositions significantly increase the crispness and tensile strength of the food item after it is cooked with the coating in place, and so change the organoleptic qualities as to provide a new form of the underlying food product. On sweet goods, the coating also provides a surface barrier that stabilizes sugar icing on the outside of the product, preventing it from becoming tacky, moist, or wet, while simultaneously reducing moisture loss from the dough, adding crispness at the surface and greatly retarding staling.

The invention claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method of making a coated food product comprising the steps of:
 providing a food substrate having an exterior surface wherein the food substrate is chosen from the group consisting of: chips made from a sliced, raw or cooked, vegetable or fruit, having a thickness of about one-sixteenth inch; a tortilla chip; a taco shell; a cereal; a doughnut; a muffin; a pastry; and a biscuit and a coating composition applied to the substrate prior to cooking the substrate and s cooked in place along with the substrate to form a cooked food product, and wherein the coating composition formed on the substrate at least partially maintains a natural appearance of the substrate after cooking the substrate, and wherein the coating composition comprises:   at least 53.02 weight percent of a first component consisting of at least one modified food starch selected from the group consisting of a modified potato starch and a modified cornstarch wherein the modified food starch has been modified by a process chosen from the group consisting of pregelatinization, oxidation, enzymatic modification, cross-linking, acetylation, hydroxypropylation or any combination thereof;   from 10 to 30 weight percent of a second component selected from the group consisting of rice flour and corn starch: and   from 4 to 20 weight percent dextrin; and wherein all amounts are based upon weight percent of the dry components;   applying the coating composition to the exterior surface of the food substrate; and   drying the at least the coating composition to produce the coated food product.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coating composition provides a flat-laying coating on the exterior surface of the food substrate and the step of drying comprises cooking the coated food product. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the food substrate is a doughnut and the coating composition further composes a sweetener and an emulsifier. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the coating composition is free of salt, the sweetener is sugar and the sugar is present in an amount of from 10-15 weight percent. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the coating is not visible to a consumer of the cooked food product, and the coating composition is applied to the surface of the food substrate prior to cooking the food substrate and cooked in place along with the substrate. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the coating composition comprises: 60 to 68 weight percent first component; 15 to 20 weight percent second component wherein the second component consists of rice flour; leavening in an amount of less than 5 weight percent; 5 to 10 weight percent salt; 10 weight percent dextrin: and a stabilizer in an amount of less than 1 weight percent; and wherein all weight percentages are based upon the weight of the dry ingredients. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the food substrate is chosen from the group consisting of a tortilla chip and a taco shell and wherein the first component consists of a modified potato starch and the modified potato starch comprises at least 80 weight percent of the coating composition and modified potato starch is the only starch ingredient in the coating composition. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the coating composition is combined with water to form a batter or slurry and the batter or slurry is applied to the exterior surface of the food substrate, wherein the first component consists of a modified potato starch and the modified potato starch comprises at least 80 weight percent of the coating composition and the modified potato starch is the only starch ingredient in the coating composition. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the food substrate is in the form of a chip and the coating composition is free of rice flour and the second component consists of an unmodified, dent corn starch. 
     
     
         10 . A method of producing a coated food product comprising;
 providing a food substrate chosen from the group consisting of a doughnut wherein the doughnut has an exterior surface, a coating composition and a water soluble icing; wherein the coating composition stabilizes the water soluble icing and comprises the following components as a percent by weight of dry components:
 at least one modified corn starch wherein the at least one modified corn starch consist of at least 53.02 weight percent of the coating composition and wherein the modified corn starch has been modified by a process chosen from the group consisting of pregelatinization, oxidation, enzymatic modification, cross-linking, acetylation, hydroxypropylation or any combination thereof; and 
 an emulsifier having both a water phobic side and an oil phobic side; and 
   applying the coating composition to the exterior surface of the doughnut to produce a coated doughnut having a coated surface that is coated with the coating composition; and   applying a water soluble icing to the coated surface of the coated doughnut such that the coating composition acts as a surface barrier to moisture migration between the doughnut and the water soluble icing applied over the coating composition.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the emulsifier is an emulsifier chosen from the group consisting of a soybean emulsifier, a lactylate, a polysorbate, and a lecithin and wherein the coating composition further comprises at east 10 weight percent of a rice flour; from 4 to 20 weight percent dextrin; from 0.1 to 15 weight percent of a sweetener; and the water soluble icing comprises sugar and wherein the method further comprises the step of cooking the coating composition formed on the substrate at least partially maintains a natural appearance of the substrate after cooking the substrate. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the emulsifier consists of lecithin and the emulsifier anchors to the doughnut and repels moisture in the water soluble icing. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the emulsifier is present in an amount of about 1.25 weight percent of the coating composition and the coating composition further comprises xanthan gum in an amount less than 1 weight percent of the coating composition. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the coating composition is free of salt and wherein the coating composition further comprises a sweetener in an amount of from 11 to 15 weight percent of the coating composition. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the emulsifier is a fatty acid containing emulsifier present in the coating composition in an amount of about 1.25%. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the at least one modified corn starch is the only starch that has been modified in the coating composition. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the coating composition comprises dry components and from about 36% to about 52% of the coating composition is mixed with from about 64% to about 48% water for form a slurry and the coating composition is applied as a slurry to the exterior surface of the doughnut. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one modified corn starch is the only starch that has been modified in the coating composition. 
     
     
         19 . A method of producing a coated food product comprising:
 providing a coated food product chosen from the group consisting of a doughnut wherein the doughnut has an exterior surface, a coating composition and a water soluble icing, wherein the coating composition stabilizes the water soluble sugar icing and the coating composition consists of at least one modified corn starch wherein the at least one modified corn starch has been modified by a process chosen from the group consisting of pregelatinization, oxidation, enzymatic modification, cross-linking, acetylation, hydroxypropylation or any combination thereof and a sweetener;   applying the coating composition to the exterior surface of the doughnut to produce a coated doughnut having a coated surface that is coated with the coating composition; and   applying a water soluble icing to the coated surface of the coated doughnut such that the coating composition is a surface barrier to moisture migration between the doughnut and the water soluble icing applied over the coated surface of the coated doughnut.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  further comprising the step of:
 combining the coating composition with water for form a wet slurry; and 
 wherein the step of applying the coating composition to the exterior surface of the doughnut comprises applying the wet slurry containing the coating composition to the exterior surface of the doughnut.