Case

The customer’s inquiry was to decrease the cost of chicken nugget production by using full MDM chicken. Developing a recipe for fully Mechanically Deboned Meat Chicken Nuggets, without using any chicken leg meat, would give them the opportunity to have a much cheaper product. The challenge in this project was to achieve a meat texture and color without the fat that is contained in chicken leg meat.

Chemelco’s solution

Our specialist’s knowledge in the area of product development leads to developing a customized recipe for this type of chicken nuggets. By using 80% MDM meat, a small dosage of functional protein, a taste enhancer, whitening starch to obtain light color like chicken breast, wheat flour, vegetable oil and spices we ended up with a complete recipe and a whole preparation procedure. For extra meatier texture and more protein content in the final product, wheat protein fibers can also be used. Furthermore, wheat products suitable for the coating procedure were suggested to the client, in order to protect the substrate during the frying and to increase crispiness.

Results

After a few trials to adjust every ingredient in the right dosage, we obtained a chicken nugget that had a nice crunchy outer texture, while the inner texture was soft enough. The frying time was too short and thetaste exceeded the client expectation. The inner color was very close to the chicken breast color, due to the use of the whitening starch and the light-colored wheat protein fibers. Commercial & Practical advantages: Low cost chicken nuggets, with similar taste and appearance as the ones with chicken meat.