Correlating Objective Measurements of Crispness in Breaded Fried Chicken Nuggets with Sensory Crispness

Crispness is one of the most distinctive textural characteristics of dry crisp and fried products. This study was undertaken with the following objectives: to determine ultrasonic parameters and mechanical properties and to investigate the relationships between the instrumental parameters and sensory crispness obtained using a trained panel for chicken nuggets. Significant differences in ultrasonic velocity, transmission loss, peak force, and total energy were observed among the samples cooked by different methods. Ultrasonic velocity had high correlation with sensory crispness. This indicates that the ultrasonic velocity could predict sensory crispness.