The Impact of Different Cooking Methods for Fried Chicken
Abigail Dyvig
Purpose
Fried foods are high in saturated and trans fat. Overconsumption of these
fats can increase a person’s risk of heart disease, heart failure, and
strokes. Finding new cooking methods that imitate the same effects as oil
frying may help lower a person’s trans and saturated fat intake, reducing
their risk of Atherosclerosis, and other long-term heath problems. This
experiment examines the differences in oil frying, oven baking, and air
frying chicken. The texture, nutritional value, and cooking loss of each
cooking method will be recorded and compared to determine if air frying
or oven baking is a suitable option for replacing oil frying.
Hypothesis
Subjective measure:
1.There will not be a noticeable difference in the texture of the air-fried
chicken, and the oven baked chicken, versus the texture of the oil-fried
chicken.
2.The flavor and saltiness of the oil-fried chicken will be preferred over the
flavor and saltiness of the air-fried chicken and oven baked chicken.
Objective measure:
3.The air-fried chicken will experience less cooking loss compared to the
chicken fried in oil.
4.The oven-baked chicken will experience the most cooking loss compared
to the air-fried chicken, and the oil-fried chicken.
Methods
Whisk together 50 grams of eggs in a shallow bowl. In another bowl, 120 grams of flour,
and 15 grams of salt were whisked together. Three 114g chicken breasts are dipped each
into the egg wash, and then into the dry mixture. Once they are all completely coated, a
shallow pot is filled with 510g of vegetable oil, then put on medium heat on the stovetop.
The air fryer is set to 390 degrees F. The oven gets preheated to 400 degrees F. Once the oil
is heated to 350 degrees F, one of the chicken breasts is placed in the oil, and the other is
placed in the air fryer. When the oven is heated, the third chicken breast is placed on the
middle rack. The chicken in the air fryer is cooked for 25 minutes, while the chicken in the
oil is cooked until it reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees, and the chicken in the
oven is cooked for 20 minutes. Participants are given small slices of each chicken breast,
unaware of which one is air fried, oven baked, and oil fried. Based on a 5-point scale, they
rate the texture, flavor, crispiness, and saltiness of each chicken. A scale is also used to
measure the percent of cooking loss of the chicken after it was cooked.
Materials
.
Ingredients: Equipment:
50 grams egg Stove Top
120 grams all-purpose flour Air Fryer
15 grams salt Mixing Bowls
(3) 117 grams chicken breast Whisk
510 grams vegetable oil Thermometer
Scale
Oven
Figure 4. Objective analysis results
Baking Sheet
Pictures/Illustrations/Scorecards Results/Discussion (Objective
Chicken Evaluation Form data)
Please rate each sample of chicken using this form The sample with the least amount of cooking loss was the control
sample which was fried in oil. Second in line was the air-fried
chicken sample, and the sample with the most amount of cooking
loss was the oven-baked chicken. Frying a 4oz chicken breast in
vegetable oil resulted in a 3.7 oz sample after cooking. Air frying
a 4oz chicken breast resulted in a 3.2 oz chicken breast after
cooking. While baking a 4oz chicken breast sample resulted in a
2.8 oz sample after cooking. The data proves that oil frying
chicken results in the least amount of chicken loss, losing only
0.3 ounces in the cooking process. Air-frying chicken does come
in a close second, as it only lost 0.8 ounces during the cooking
process. These results can be seen in comparison to each other in
Figure 4.
Results/Discussion (Objective
data)
Five panelists were given 3 different samples of chicken, each prepared the
exact same but cooked differently. They were unaware of which cooking
method was used on each sample and ranked each chicken based on
appearance, texture, crispiness, saltiness, and overall flavor. According to the
subjective panelist ratings, the control chicken in the experiment had the
overall best flavor. The control sample rated higher in every category, as well
as had the highest averages in every category. The air-fried chicken, on the
other hand, had the same average as the oil-fried chicken, both being ranked at
4.2/5. While the oven-baked chicken fell further behind being ranked the
lowest in almost every category. The appearance of the oil-fried chicken was
significantly higher ranking at an average of 4.6, while the air-fried chicken
was ranked at 3.8, and the oven chicken was ranked at 2.4. One panelist
Figure 2. Subjective Analysis results commented on how the oven-baked chicken was a lot more dry compared to
the other chicken and had a less appealing and tough texture. While other
panelists said that the oil-fried chicken had the overall best flavor, and
crispiness, and did not turn out dry. Based on the ratings of the panelists, the
most desirable form of cooking chicken is by oil frying, while oven baking the
chicken breast is the least desirable form of chicken.
Conclusions
Oil-frying chicken proved to be the overall best cooking method.
Frying the chicken in oil had the least amount of cooking loss, and
Figure 3. Sample #267 is oil-fried, sample 824 is air-fried, and sample #737 is oven baked ranked higher in every category that participants voted on. Air-
frying came into a close second, ranking very similarly in many
categories, and having just slightly more cooking loss in
comparison to the oil-fried chicken. This can conclude that air-
frying chicken may produce similar results as oil-frying chicken,
and can be a healthy alternative for those who need to cut out fats
or oils in their diet. However, oven-baked chicken is not a good
method to produce similar results, as it ranked the lowest in every
category, and had the most cooking loss. This experiment proves
that not only does oil frying chicken produce the least amount of
cooking loss, but also that air frying chicken has similar cooking
loss in comparison to oil frying, and is a close second
option. Based on these results, oil frying is the best method of
producing fried chicken, however future research can be conducted
to find the best alternatives to oil-fried chicken.