Shrinkage of Chicken Nuggets During Deep-Fat Frying

Apparent density and apparent volume shrinkage of chicken nuggets were analyzed at three frying temperatures (160, 170, and 180°C) at 16 time intervals between 0 and 300 s. A linear relation was found for particle densities with moisture loss. Apparent density decreased from about 1080 to 980 kg/m³ during frying. The regression of volumetric shrinkage as a function of moisture loss gave coefficient of determination value (R²) values ranging between 0.90 and 0.94. Temperature effect on apparent density was not significant, while its effect on shrinkage was quite pronounce (P < 0.05). The influence of moisture loss, frying time and temperature on density and shrinkage during deep-fat frying of chicken nuggets was established.