METHOD FOR PRODUCING INSTANT FRIED NOODLES

Abstract

[Problem to be Solved] An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing instant fried noodles having a lower fat or oil content than usual fried noodles.

[Solution] Instant fried noodles having a remarkably lower fat or oil content than usual fried noodles and having good texture can be produced by forming dough, which has been prepared by kneading a raw material powder with kneading water added thereto by an ordinary method, into a noodle belt by extrusion using an extruding machine, performing strong rolling for reducing a thickness of the noodle belt after passing through a rolling roll to less than 10% of the thickness of the noodle belt before passing though the rolling roll, with the noodle belt rolled out to a desired thickness by performing rolling three times or less, cutting the resultant noodle belt with a cutting blade roll to obtain raw noodle strings, and thereafter steaming and drying by frying the noodle strings.

Claims

1. A method for producing instant fried noodles, comprising: a dough preparing step of preparing dough by an ordinary method by kneading a main raw material powder with kneading water added thereto; a noodle belt preparing step of preparing a noodle belt by extruding the dough having been prepared in the dough preparing step using an extruding machine; a rolling step of rolling out the noodle belt having been prepared in the noodle belt preparing step to a desired thickness by performing rolling using a rolling roll three times or less; a cutting step of cutting, with a cutting blade roll, the noodle belt having been rolled out to the desired thickness in the rolling step to obtain raw noodle strings; a gelatinizing step of gelatinizing the raw noodle strings having been cut in the cutting step; and a fry drying step of drying, by frying, the noodle strings having been gelatinized in the gelatinizing step, wherein the rolling is performed in the rolling step in such a manner that a thickness of the noodle belt after passing through one rolling roll in the rolling step is less than 10% of a thickness of the noodle belt before passing through the rolling roll.

2. The method for producing instant fried noodles according to claim 1, wherein the noodle belt is rolled out to the desired thickness by performing the rolling twice or less in the rolling step.

3. The method for producing instant fried noodles according to claim 1, wherein the noodle belt is rolled out to the desired thickness by performing the rolling once in the rolling step.

4. The method for producing instant fried noodles according to claim 1, wherein the rolling is performed in the rolling step in such a manner that the thickness of the noodle belt after passing through the rolling roll in first rolling is less than 10% of the thickness of the noodle belt before passing through the rolling roll.

5. The method for producing instant fried noodles according to claim 1, wherein the noodle belt preparing step is performed under reduced pressure of a degree of vacuum of 200 mmHg or less.

6. The method for producing instant fried noodles according to claim 1, wherein the rolling is performed in the rolling step in such a manner that the thickness of the noodle belt after passing through the rolling roll is 3 to 8% of the thickness of the noodle belt before passing through the rolling roll.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0032] The present embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to examples.

(Experiment 1)

<Number of Times of Performing Rolling and Compression Degree>

Example 1-1

[0033] Powders of 900 g of wheat flour and 100 g of starch were mixed, and to the resultant, 340 ml of kneading water containing 15 g of salt, 2.3 g of kansui and 0.4 g of polyphosphate salt dissolved therein was added, and the resultant mixture was mixed/kneaded with a normal pressure high speed mixer for 3 minutes to prepare crumbly dough. At this point, the dough had a moisture of 35.8%.

[0034] The thus prepared dough was extruded using an extruding machine under reduced pressure of a degree of vacuum of 400 mmHg to prepare a noodle belt having a thickness of 12 mm.

[0035] The thus prepared noodle belt was rolled out once using a rolling roll to a desired thickness of 0.75 mm (compression ratio: 6.3%). A peripheral speed of the roll was set to 0.85 m/s in consideration of load applied to the roll. The noodle belt thus rolled out was formed into noodle strings using a cutting blade roll of a #20 square blade.

[0036] The noodle strings thus cut were immediately steamed for 2 minutes in a steam chamber into which saturated water vapor was supplied at 240 kg/h.

[0037] The steamed noodle strings were dipped for 5 seconds in a liquid seasoning containing, per 1 L, 90 g of salt, 13.5 g of glutamic acid, 10 ml of soy sauce and 30 g of a meat extract dissolved therein, and thereafter, the resultant noodle strings were drawn and cut into a length of 30 cm.

[0038] The cut noodle strings thus flavored were input to a cup-shaped metal container, which had an upper surface diameter of 87 mm, an underside diameter of 72 5 mm and a height of 60 mm, and had a large number of small holes of a diameter of 2.9 mm on the underside, in an amount corresponding to a weight of 100 g, the container was then covered with a metal lid also having a large number of small holes of a diameter of 2.9 mm, and the resultant was dipped in a fryer heated to 150 C. for drying by frying.

[0039] The fried noodles thus dried by frying were crushed for uniforming, and its fat or oil content was analyzed by the Soxhlet extraction method.

Example 1-2

[0040] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the noodle belt prepared using the extruding machine had a thickness of 25 mm (compression ratio: 3%).

Example 1-3

[0041] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the noodle belt prepared using the extruding machine had a thickness of 8 mm (compression ratio: 9.4%).

Example 1-4

[0042] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the rolling was performed twice, that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm was rolled out to 0.9 mm (compression ratio: 7.5%) at a roll peripheral speed of 0.85 m/s in the first rolling, and that the noodle belt was then rolled out to 0.75 mm at a roll peripheral speed of 18 m/s in the second rolling.

Example 1-5

[0043] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the rolling was performed twice, that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm was rolled out to 1.1 mm (compression ratio: 9.2%) at a roll peripheral speed of 0.85 m/s in the first rolling, and that the noodle belt was then rolled out to 0.75 mm at a roll peripheral speed of 18 m/s in the second rolling.

Example 1-6

[0044] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the rolling was performed twice, that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm was rolled out to 11 mm (compression ratio in first rolling: 91%) at a roll peripheral speed of 18 m/s in the first rolling, and that the noodle belt was then rolled out to 0.75 mm (compression ratio in second rolling: 6.8%) at a roll peripheral speed of 0.85 m/s in the second rolling.

Example 1-7

[0045] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the rolling was performed three times, that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm was rolled out to 1.1 mm (compression ratio: 9.2%) at a roll peripheral speed of 0.85 m/s in the first rolling, that the roll peripheral speed was set to 18 m/s in the second and later rolling, and that the noodle belt was rolled out to 0.9 mm in the second rolling and then to 0.75 mm in the third rolling.

Comparative Example 1-1

[0046] Powders of 900 g of wheat flour and 100 g of starch were mixed, and to the resultant, 340 ml of kneading water containing 15 g of salt, 2.3 g of kansui and 0.4 g of polyphosphate salt dissolved therein was added, and the resultant mixture was mixed/kneaded with a normal pressure mixer for 15 minutes to prepare crumbly dough. At this point, the dough had a moisture of 35.0%.

[0047] The thus prepared dough was formed into a crude noodle belt using a usual shaping roll under normal pressure, and two crude noodle belts were compounded using the shaping roll again to prepare a noodle belt. At this point, the noodle belt had a thickness of 12 mm.

[0048] The thus prepared noodle belt was rolled out using a rolling roll. The number of times of performing the rolling was six times with a roll peripheral speed always set to 18 m/s, so that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm could be rolled out to 7 mm in the first rolling, to 4 mm in the second rolling, to 2.5 mm in the third rolling, to 1.3 mm in the fourth rolling, to 0.9 mm in the fifth rolling, and to 0.75 mm in the sixth rolling.

[0049] Thereafter, the same production method as that of Example 1-1 was performed to prepare a sample of fried noodles.

Comparative Example 1-2

[0050] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the number of times of performing the rolling was six times with a roll peripheral speed always set to 18 m/s, so that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm could be rolled out to 7 mm in the first rolling, to 4 mm in the second rolling, to 2.5 mm in the third rolling, to 1.3 mm in the fourth rolling, to 0.9 mm in the fifth rolling, and to 0.75 mm in the sixth rolling.

Comparative Example 1-3

[0051] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that a degree of vacuum employed in the preparation of a noodle belt was set to 700 mmHg, and that the number of times of performing the rolling was six times with a roll peripheral speed always set to 18 m/s, so that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm could be rolled out to 7 mm in the first rolling, to 4 mm in the second rolling, to 2.5 mm in the third rolling, to 1.3 mm in the fourth rolling, to 0.9 mm in the fifth rolling, and to 0.75 mm in the sixth rolling.

Comparative Example 1-4

[0052] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the number of times of performing the rolling was changed to twice, so that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm could be rolled out to a thickness of 3 mm (compression ratio: 25%) at a roll peripheral speed of 0.85 m/s in the first rolling and then to a thickness of 0.75 mm at a roll peripheral speed of 18 m/s in the second rolling.

Comparative Example 1-5

[0053] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the number of times of performing the rolling was twice, so that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm could be rolled out to 6 mm (compression ratio: 50%) at a roll peripheral speed of 18 m/s in the first rolling, and to 0.75 mm at a roll peripheral speed of 18 m/s in the second rolling.

Comparative Example 1-6

[0054] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the number of times of performing the rolling was changed to three times, so that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm could be rolled out to a thickness of 3.0 mm (compression ratio: 25%) at a roll peripheral speed of 0.85 m/s in the first rolling, to a thickness of 0.9 mm in the second rolling and to a thickness of 0.75 mm in the third rolling with a roll peripheral speed set to 18 m/s in the second and later rolling.

Comparative Example 1-7

[0055] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-1 except that the number of times of performing the rolling was four times, so that a noodle belt with a thickness of 12 mm could be rolled out to 1.1 mm (compression ratio: 9.2%) at a roll peripheral speed of 0.85 m/s in the first rolling, and then, with the roll peripheral speed set to 18 m/s in the second and later rolling, to 1.0 mm in the second rolling, to 0.9 mm in the third rolling, and to 0.75 mm in the fourth rolling.

[0056] The effect of reducing a fat or oil content and the occurrence degree of blisters of the samples of the fried noodles prepared in Experiment 1 were evaluated.

[0057] The effect of reducing a fat or oil content was evaluated on the assumption that the sample of Comparative Example 1-1 was a usual product, one having a fat or oil content reduced, as compared with that of Comparative Example 1-1, by 4.5% by weight or more was rated as 5, one reduced by 3% by weight or more and less than 4.5% by weight was rated as 4, one reduced by 1.5% by weight or more and less than 3% by weight was rated as 3, one reduced by 0% by weight or more and less than 1.5% by weight was rated as 2, and one having a fat or oil content increased as compared with that of Comparative Example 1-1 was rated as 1.

[0058] Besides, with respect to the occurrence degree of blisters, on the assumption that the sample of Comparative Example 1-1 was a usual product, one having equivalent or fewer blisters as compared with Comparative Example 1-1 was rated as 5, one having a satisfactorily small number of blisters as compared with Comparative Example 1-1 was rated as 4, one having some blisters as compared with Comparative Example 1-1 but basically allowable as a product was rated as 3, one having a noticeable number of blisters as compared with Comparative Example 1-1 and not allowable as a product was rated as 2, and a sample having a remarkably large number of blisters was rated as 1.

[0059] Furthermore, with respect to comprehensive evaluation, one evaluated in the occurrence of blisters as basically allowable as a product (rated as 3) or better was assigned, as a comprehensive evaluation rating, an average of the rating of the effect of reducing a fat or oil content and the rating of the occurrence degree of blisters. One evaluated in the occurrence degree of blisters as a rating lower than 3 is worthless as a product, and hence, regardless of the evaluation of the effect of reducing a fat or oil content, the evaluation of the occurrence degree of blisters was preferentially regarded as a comprehensive evaluation rating.

[0060] Evaluation results of Experiment 1 are shown in Table 1 below.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Number of Times Compression Fat/Oil Noodle Belt of Rolling Ratio Content Fat/Oil Comprehensive Test Group Preparation (Times) (%) (%) Reduction Blisters Evaluation Example Extrusion 1 6.3 13 5 5 5 1-1 400 mmHg Example Extrusion 1 3 12 5 5 5 1-2 400 mmHg Example Extrusion 1 9.4 13.5 5 5 5 1-3 400 mmHg Example Extrusion 2 7.5 13.9 5 5 5 1-4 400 mmHg Example Extrusion 2 9.2 14.5 5 4.5 4.5 1-5 400 mmHg Example Extrusion 2 Second 15.2 4 4.5 4.3 1-6 400 mmHg Rolling 6.4 Example Extrusion 3 9.2 15.5 4 4 4 1-7 400 mmHg Comparative Usual 6 58 19 Reference Reference Reference Example Compounding 1-1 Normal Pressure Comparative Extrusion 6 58 17 3 2 2 Example 400 mmHg 1-2 Comparative Extrusion 6 58 15 4 1 1 Example 700 mmHg 1-3 Comparative Extrusion 2 25 16.1 3 4 3.5 Example 400 mmHg 1-4 Comparative Extrusion 2 50 16.5 3 3.5 3.3 Example 400 mmHg 1-5 Comparative Extrusion 3 25 16.4 3 3 3 Example 400 mmHg 1-6 Comparative Extrusion 4 9.2 17 3 3 3 Example 400 mmHg 1-7

[0061] As compared with the usual instant fried noodles of Comparative Example 1-1, when the extrusion was performed under reduced pressure as in Comparative Example 1-2 or Comparative Example 1-3, the effect of reducing a fat or oil content was seen in part, but a large number of blisters occurred, and hence, not only the appearance was poor but also the texture of a portion having a blister was weak when eaten, and surface smoothness was poor.

[0062] On the contrary, when the number of times of performing the rolling was three times or less and the strong rolling with a compression ratio less than 10% was performed as in Examples 1-1 to 1-7, not only the fat or oil content was reduced but also the occurrence of blisters was reduced. In particular, with respect to the effect of reducing a fat or oil content, the fat or oil content was reduced as the number of times of performing the rolling was smaller, and the compression ratio of the strong rolling was lower.

[0063] With respect to the compression ratio, when the compression ratio was 10% or more as in Examples 1-4 to 1-6 and Comparative Examples 1-4 to 1-5, even if the number of times of performing the rolling was three times or less, there was a tendency that the effect of reducing a fat or oil content was comparatively weak as compared with that of a test group in which the strong rolling with a compression ratio less than 10% was performed, and that a larger number of blisters occurred. Besides, with respect to the strong rolling, the fat or oil content was reduced when the strong rolling was performed in the first rolling as in Examples 1-4 to 1-6 than when the strong rolling was performed in the second rolling.

[0064] With respect to the number of times of performing the rolling, even when the strong rolling with a compression ratio less than 10% was performed as in Comparative Example 1-6, the effect of reducing a fat or oil content was weak if the number of times of performing the rolling was four times.

(Experiment 2)

<Examination on Condition of Reduced Pressure>

Example 2-1

[0065] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-5 except that the degree of vacuum employed in the preparation of a noodle belt was set to 700 mmHg.

Example 2-2

[0066] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-5 except that the degree of vacuum employed in the preparation of a noodle belt was set to 600 mmHg.

Example 2-3

[0067] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-5 except that the degree of vacuum employed in the preparation of a noodle belt was set to 200 mmHg.

Example 2-4

[0068] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-5 except that a noodle belt was prepared by extrusion performed under normal pressure (a degree of vacuum of 0 mmHg).

[0069] Evaluation results of Experiment 2 are shown in Table 2 below. The evaluation was performed in the same manner as in Experiment 1.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Number of Times Compression Fat/Oil Noodle Belt of Rolling Ratio Content Fat/Oil Comprehensive Test Group Preparation (Times) (%) (%) Reduction Blisters Evaluation Example Extrusion 2 9.2 12.7 5 3 4 2-1 700 mmHg Example Extrusion 2 9.2 13 5 4 4.5 2-2 600 mmHg Example Extrusion 2 9.2 14.5 5 5 5 1-5 400 mmHg Example Extrusion 2 9.2 15.7 4 5 4.5 2-3 200 mmHg Example Extrusion 2 9.2 16.3 3 5 4 2-4 Normal Pressure Comparative Usual 6 58 19 Reference Reference Reference Example Compounding 1-1 Normal Pressure

[0070] As a result of making examination on the conditions for the extrusion, as the pressure was reduced (as a value of a degree of vacuum (mmHg) was lower), the effect of reducing a fat or oil content was higher, and as the condition of the reduced pressure became closer to normal pressure, the number of blisters was reduced. As a preferable condition of the extrusion, from the viewpoint of the reduction of a fat or oil content, the degree of vacuum is preferably 200 mmHg or less, and taking blisters in consideration, it is preferably 700 mmHg or more. The degree of vacuum is more preferably 600 mmHg to 200 mmHg, and further in consideration of the effect of reducing a fat or oil content, it is understood that the degree of vacuum is preferably 600 to 400 mmHg

(Experiment 3)

<Amount of Water Added>

Example 3-1

[0071] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-5 except that the amount of water added was 280 ml. At this point, the dough had a moisture of 32.8%.

Example 3-2

[0072] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-5 except that the amount of water added was 300 ml. At this point, the dough had a moisture of 33.8%.

Example 3-3

[0073] A sample of fried noodles was produced in the same manner as in Example 1-5 except that the amount of water added was 320 ml. At this point, the dough had a moisture of 34.8%.

[0074] Evaluation results of Experiment 3 are shown in Table 3 below. The evaluation was performed in the same manner as in Experiment 1.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Amount Number of Water of Times Compression Fat/Oil Added Noodle Belt of Rolling Ratio Content Fat/Oil Comprehensive Test Group (Moisture) Preparation (Times) (%) (%) Reduction Blisters Evaluation Example 280 ml Extrusion 2 9.2 13.1 5 5 5 3-1 32.80% 400 mmHg Example 300 ml Extrusion 2 9.2 13.6 5 5 5 3-2 33.80% 400 mmHg Example 320 ml Extrusion 2 9.2 14 5 5 5 3-3 34.80% 400 mmHg Example 340 ml Extrusion 2 9.2 14.5 5 4.5 4.5 1-5 35.80% 400 mmHg

[0075] As the amount of water added was smaller, the fat or oil content was reduced. Besides, the occurrence of blisters was improved although slightly. With respect to the texture, however, as the amount of water added was smaller, there was a tendency that well-cooked feeling was slightly degraded probably because the gelatinization was difficult to proceed. It was suggested that the amount of water added is preferably 32 to 36% by weight, and more preferably 33 to 35% by weight.