Prepared Pasta and Rice Dishes - Part One
Using the Noodle
Pick your Pasta
The Rice is Right
Flavor Appeal
What's typically easy to prepare, healthful, inexpensive and appeals to a wide variety of consumers? The answer lies in take-out establishments and throughout grocery shelves and freezers: prepared pasta and rice dishes. Convenience at the cash register requires a sizable amount of work in the lab to guarantee the finished product meets expectations.
Today's consumers want either packaged mixes they can cook and serve within minutes, or completely prepared products they can heat (or not), and eat on the spot. Though the concept is simple, the execution is anything but, due to the complex nature of the ingredients, processes and consumer requirements. Like the food pyramid, the base consists of grain-based products. And although pasta and rice alone are nutritious, as they say, variety - in the form of sauces and seasonings - is the spice of life.
Unlike pasta, rice only comes in one general shape - rice-shaped. But that doesn't mean that rice-based dishes need to be boring or that they don't require much thought to design. This month's Culinary Connection offers some insight into this grain's versatility. Thousands of rice varieties exist, but the three main types are categorized mainly on the basis of size and amylose content: long-grain, medium-grain and short-grain. When cooked, they yield different characteristics.
Long-grain rice. Highest in amylose (23% to 26%), long-grain cooks up dry and fluffy, with distinct grains three to four times longer than their width. Long-grain offers the best kernel integrity, and maintains uniform kernels after it is frozen and reheated. It retains moisture better than most other types of rice. Specific varieties have superior overcook and abuse resistance, and are recommended for canning applications. This variety also has the highest gelatinization temperature: 748C.
Medium-grain rice. The kernels are two to three times longer than their width. A higher amylopectin content (18% to 26%) makes cooked medium grain soft and tender, and cling together. Short-grain rice. A high amylopectin content and lower amylose content (15% to 20%), gives short-grain a tender, sticky, almost creamy texture.
Processing these rice varieties yields a wide range of characteristics that help determine which is best for a particular application. Most rice is milled, removing the outer bran. Brown rice retains the bran, giving it different characteristics from milled rice. In addition to the characteristic color and flavor, bran absorbs water at a slower rate than the starchy endosperm. This causes the bran layer to split irregularly so that the cooked grains look torn and misshapen. Slower water absorption also means that brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice, about 40 to 50 minutes as compared to 15 to 20 minutes for regular milled white rice. The unsaturated rice-bran oil is subject to rancidity, so brown rice has a shorter shelf life than milled white rice. Unmilled rice may first be steamed, creating parboiled rice. The heat gelatinizes the starch, which reduces breakage and creates firmer, more separate grains. Parboiled rice requires a longer cook time than regular milled white rice (about 25 minutes)and also can absorb more water.
Quick-cook applications, requiring a six-to-eight-minute cook, can use rice processed to expand the kernel structure without precooking. This speeds penetration of water, and helps maintain the kernel integrity and flavor. "It doesn't have that precooked flavor and texture," says Don McCaskill, director, R&D, Riceland Foods, Inc., Stuttgart, AR. "It is actually less sticky than the rice it is produced from." According to Dean Oliver, Riceland's pilot plant coordinator, long-grain and medium-grain versions are available. Specialty rices also have been tested, and while no short-grain quick-cook rice is on the market, he doesn't see any reason "why it wouldn't be technically feasible." But he notes that reduced stickiness "might not be an advantage in a short-grain application."
Instantized rice rapidly absorbs boiling water, making it ready for consumption in several minutes. The process opens up the kernel structure for rapid hydration by completely precooking, then drying. The texture is often less firm and the appearance differs from that of regular rice. Freeze-drying rice gives the kernel a much more open structure, so it can be rehydrated in minutes without boiling.
"Over the years, the rice industry has considered anything that is five minutes or less cook time as instant - that might be different from other ingredients where the word 'instant' refers to something that you just add hot or boiling water and let sit," says McCaskill. "Generally, a cup-of-soup-type product would require a freeze-dried rice, which is fully cooked, then freeze-dried, or an oven-puffed rice. The latter has a bit of a toasted flavor and browning, but that might not be a problem in some applications."
In addition to rice type, the cooking method affects the finished product. "Risotto usually calls for Italian arborio rice, noted for its creamy, sauce-like character," says McCaskill. "We can basically achieve the same thing using a medium-grain rice variety produced here by following the same cooking technique, adding part of the water at a time, and continuing to stir it while cooking." Covering and cooking rice results in a steamed effect, and might keep less starch from leaching out.
Refrigerated or frozen products might call for individually quick-frozen rice. This saves the capital cost of in-plant rice cook-up, and more importantly, provides a free-flowing product for the filling operation. Otherwise, preparation and hydration of the rice can be done on most types of blanching or cooking equipment, including steam-jacketed kettles or auger-driven continuous cookers.
Long-grain parboiled is the rice of choice for frozen applications, says McCaskill. If the in-house cooking equipment is marginal in terms of cook time, he suggests quick-cook as the next best option. "Typically, for products that require reheating, you would intentionally undercook the rice during manufacturing," he suggests. "You would probably target a 65% moisture on the rice." Normal, fully cooked rice is about 70% to 73% moisture.
After cooking, the rice requires cooling prior to mixing with sauce or seasoning ingredients. Otherwise, if the rice is above its gelatinization temperature, the kernels continue absorbing water, softening their texture and changing the sauce's characteristics. "The gelatinization temperature is about 708C for long-grain varieties, and usually a little lower for medium- and short-grained varieties," says Zack Nehus, research engineer at Riceland. "It would continue to absorb water until it turns to a paste. That's one of the problems seen in retorting rice."Quick-freezing after adding the sauce to the mixture gives the sauce minimal time to penetrate the rice. Also, rice held above the freezing point might give up moisture as it undergoes starch retrogradation.
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While the bulk of pasta and rice dishes consist of the carbohydrate base, it's the flavor system or sauce that differentiates the products and promotes their appeal. These can range from simple, dried-spice systems to technically challenging sauces prepared to withstand rigorous processing or usage requirements.
"Overall, the trend is for strong flavors," says Jennifer Morgan, senior food technologist, Heller Seasonings & Ingredients, Inc., Bedford Park, IL. "Hot is still popular, but the associated flavor profile changes. You can get hot Southwest or hot with peanut sauce for Thai food. Indian food is gaining popularity, and we may be seeing more African flavors."
The flavor inspiration can come from popular restaurants, recipes or collaboration with chefs, but according to Morgan: "One of the most challenging parts is to develop a sauce in the kitchen, and then change the culinary version into a dry blend at the bench."
One of the most important considerations is the composition of the flavor system. These will be combined with a carbohydrate base and, although these are typically bland, some contribute characteristic flavors, such as brown rice or filled pasta. Their starchiness might mask or otherwise alter the flavor delivery. Thin, delicate pastas are complemented by lighter-flavored sauces, while a thicker ziti can carry a heavier meat sauce.
Product designers face a wide variety of flavoring ingredients with which to work. For example, with spices, fresh, frozen, dried, extracts, oleoresins and flavors are all available. Some work better in a given application - it's obvious fresh or frozen products would not work in a dry mix. But other issues arise. Fresh spices and seasonings might vary in character or intensity, while oleoresins or other natural or synthetic flavors deliver consistent flavor, especially if volatility is an issue. For visual impact, particulates from a dried or fresh spice will be required, and the flavor then can be standardized with oleoresin.
"If you are cooking a product longer," says Morgan, "you're going to want to use oils and oleoresins. If we were putting together a garlic-basil seasoning for a flavored pasta noodle, oils would have a greater impact after they undergo the rigorous drying and after the consumer boils the product. In a quick-cook product, you want to consider how the consumer will cook the product. You need ingredients that will rehydrate fairly quickly and have some tolerance in case the consumer doesn't follow the directions on the package."
Vegetables and, in some cases, fruits, often enhance pasta and rice dishes. The same issues arise as with spices: flavor consistency vs. appearance. So, while actual fruit and vegetable particulates lend eye appeal, if the product requires a strong carrot flavor, it might be wise to formulate with added flavors.
Fruits and vegetables come in a variety of formats. These have distinctive properties that dictate their use. Dry mixes require low moisture for shelf stability. Air-dried products rehydrate in seven to 15 minutes in boiling water, but they often lack color and flavor. Freeze-dried products rehydrate quickly - from almost instantly to about three minutes - and present an excellent appearance. But they're expensive, fragile and lack flavor. Intermediate products, like puffed vegetables, take about three to five minutes for rehydration. Piece size and temperature also affect the hydration rate of dried particulates; the larger the piece, or the lower the rehydration temperature, the longer the hydration takes. With a dry mix, the moisture level in the fruit or vegetable should match the total mix. However, too low a moisture might make the product brittle, and it could become too fragile to withstand filling and shipping. A higher-moisture, lower-water-activity piece, like an infused product, might be the answe
Another potential problem with vegetable and fruit pieces is even dispersion. In a dry mix, a two-stage filling operation can solve the problem by keeping separate the large vegetable particulates and the finer seasonings. In a "wet" mix, balancing the particle size and matrix viscosity ensures even dispersion, as does properly designed agitation and filling.
Click here to read Prepared Pasta and Rice Dishes Part - Two.
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