There is growing consumer and food industry interest in plant protein-based foods. However, quality evolution of plant protein-based meat analog (MA) is still a rarely studied subject. In this study, wheat and rice flour-based batter systems were used to coat plant protein-based MA, and were partially fried (at 180 °C, 1 min) in canola oil, subsequently frozen (at -18 °C) and stored for 7 days. Microwave heating (MH), infrared heating (IH), air frying (AF) and deep-fat frying (DFF) processes were employed on parfried frozen MA products, and their quality evolution was investigated. Results revealed that the fat content of MH-, IH- and AF-treated products was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than DFF-treated counterparts. Batter coatings reduced fat uptake in DFF of MA-based products. Both the batter formulations and cooking methods impacted the process parameters and quality attributes (cooking loss, moisture, texture, color) of MA-based coated food products. Moreover, the post-cooking stability of moisture and textural attributes of batter-coated MA-based products was impacted by both the batter formulations and cooking methods. Glass transition temperature (Tg) of MA-based products' crust ranged from -20.0 °C to -23.1 °C, as determined with differential scanning calorimetry. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that surface structural-chemical evolution of MA-based products was impacted by both the coating formulations and cooking methods. Overall, AF has been found as a suitable substitute for DFF in terms of studied quality attributes of meat analog-based coated products.
Keywords: hot air; infrared; mass exchange; meat analog; microstructure; microwave.