A process for preparing frozen french fried potatoes which when finish fried closely resemble french fried potatoes prepared directly from fresh potatoes, in which potatoes are peeled, trimmed, cut into french fry sized strips, washed, dehydrated without prior blanching to remove a substantial amount of moisture, blanched in steam, partially fried, and then frozen.
This invention relates to a process for manufacturing potato chips using chemically treated frozen potatoes which exhibit the good quality of promptly harvested potatoes. Potato slices are dipped in a heated solution containing ultraphosphate. Subsequently, the dipped slices are frozen and stored. Eventually, the frozen slices are thawed and fried for consumption.
The surfaces of formed flats of snack dough at a moisture content of about 25-50% are moistened immediately before frying in deep fat. The moisture content of the surface of the flat is increased quickly by spraying with water, dipping in water, or by steaming. The moistened flat is then fried without holding to prevent excessive penetration of the added surface moisture into the interior of the flat. Treated flats, even in thicknesses up to 0.045 inch can be fried without the formation of surface blisters or puffing.
A process for preparing frozen par fried potatoes which, when finish fried, have a crisp surface texture and a mealy internal core, and remain crisp and rigid for extended periods of time after finish frying. Potatoes which have been peeled, trimmed, cut into strips and blanched, are subjected to a two stage drying procedure, in which the strips are first exposed to high velocity ambient air for a period of time sufficient to reduce their weight by about 8%-15%, and are then dried in circulating heated air to further reduce the weight of the strips by an additional 8%-15%. After drying, the potato strips are maintained in a quiescent state for a short period of time to permit equialization of moisture distribution in the strips, and are then par-fried, frozen and packaged.
A process for preparing french fried potatoes for freezing and subsequent finish frying to resemble closely french fried potatoes prepared directly from fresh potatoes, in which after completion of the preliminary potato treatment steps of peeling, trimming, cutting into french fry size strips, and washing, the strips are then treated with hot oil for a brief period, and that step is repeated following at least one treatment of the potato strips to a hot, (300.degree. to 400.degree. F.) high velocity process vapor of high moisture content (60 to 65%) and following a final oil treatment, exposing the strips to a hot, dry process vapor for reducing the gross weight about 30%. This process produces a pre-fried potato product with an oil content of about 3 to 7%.
A potato product is obtained by washing peeled potatoes, cutting the potatoes into slices then treating the slices with superheated steam and coating the steam-treated slices with an emulsion prepared from an edible oil and a starchy material, and the coated potato product may be toasted or cooled and frozen.
