Breaded Fried Chicken: Effects of Precooking, Batter Composition, and Temperature of Parts before Breading

INTEREST in different cooking methods for chicken has increased in recent years. Carlin et al. (1959) found that pre-cooked parts from frozen chicken averaged 20 to 26 percent loss from the raw state to the ready-to-eat product; whereas, non-precooked controls averaged 16 percent losses. Mickelberry and Stadelman (1962) observed lower cooking losses were obtained when chicken was partially cooked with steam and finished by deep-fat frying as compared with other methods involving deep-fat frying. Contradictory results were reported by Smith and Vail (1963). These authors reported no significant differences in yield due to cooking methods of skillet-frying, deep-fat frying, and oven frying. Skin from deep-fat fried chicken was found to contain 40 percent fat as compared to 31 percent and 33 percent for oven-fried and skillet-fried, respectively (Smith and Vail, 1962). Mostert and Stadelman (1964) reported that breading increased fat absorption when cooked by methods where fat was used. Pressure . . .