A study found that using a microwave when cooking French fries together can dramatically reduce fat ..

New technology for low-fat frying at the University of Illinois
Microwave attached to the fryer
Heat the frying pan by increasing the internal pressure of the frying pan
Immediately applicable to the site at a low cost

사진 확대 [Pixabay]

A study found that using a microwave when cooking French fries together can dramatically reduce fat content while maintaining the taste.

A research team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) School of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environment recently developed a new cooking technique that combines microwave heating with traditional oil frying methods. Applying this method can significantly reduce the amount of oil absorbed during the cooking process while maintaining the crispy texture of fries.

According to the research team, oil permeates into food during frying due to changes in pressure inside the ingredients. In the early stages of cooking, the tiny holes in the potato are filled with moisture, so there is no room for oil. However, as the heating continues, when moisture evaporates, an empty space is created, and oil is sucked in by the sound pressure (pulling pressure) generated at this time.

The research team used the heating principle of a microwave oven to solve this problem. In a normal oven, heat moves from the outside to the inside, but in a microwave oven, microwaves pass through the entire food and vibrate water molecules inside to generate heat from the inside. In this process, water vapor is actively formed and the internal pressure is maintained high (positive pressure) to prevent oil from penetrating inside.

As a result of the experiment, when the microwave of two frequencies of 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz was used together while the oil temperature was kept at 180 degrees, the water loss was accelerated and the overall oil absorption was significantly lowered. However, if only the microwave is used alone, the food can become soggy, so the key is to combine the traditional frying method that makes the surface crisp.

Pawan Singh Thakar, a professor of food engineering at UIUC who led the study, said, “The positive pressure principle, in which liquid is pushed out when blowing air with a straw, is applied to food cooking. Just adding a low-cost microwave generator to an existing industrial fryer can make healthy food at the mass production site.”

The results of this study were published in the latest issue of the international journals ‘The Food Science Journal’ and ‘Food Science Research’, respectively.