Effect of corn flour, salt, and leavening on the texture of fried, battered squid rings

The effect of the addition of corn flour and salt on the textural properties of a commercial dry-mix batter used as coating in fried, battered squid rings was studied. Although salt-containing formulations had significantly lower viscosity values than the other samples, the batter pickup values were not significantly different. The crispness of the fried, battered squid rings was measured. The peak force of penetration, slope of the curve, and area up to the peak force did not show big differences, except the values for the formulation that contained leavening agent. In this case, the force value was significantly lower than the rest and the penetrometry profile was also different, corresponding to a crispy product. Finally, the influence on crispness of time lapsed after frying was also studied.