Serving Up Calorie-Controlled Entrées

It’s no secret that the majority of consumers are calorie-conscious, but would you guess that for 95 million U.S. adults dieting is a constant concern? The numbers come from the 2007 Consumer Survey from the Calorie Control Council, Atlanta. “We feel consumers are going to continue looking for foods and beverages that help them cut calories without sacrificing great taste, variety or convenience,” says Robin Steagall, R.D., L.D., M.S., manager nutrition communications at the Council. “Our survey found that 86% of American adults use low-calorie, reducedsugar or sugar-free foods and beverages. This is higher than any previous level.” Using light products is just one strategy consumers reported using to control their weight. Others include: exercise (83%), eating smaller portions of favorite foods (82%) and combining calorie reduction with exercise (73%).

There is no single magic formula to combat weight gain. But, for everyone, it’s a matter of math: More calories taken in than burned results in weight gain. Unused calories are stored as fat. One pound of fat is equivalent to 3,500 calories, so reducing 3,500 calories over time allows the loss of 1 lb. of fat.

Many consumers find that substituting a low-calorie entrée for either lunch or dinner helps them control their caloric intake.

Development strategies

“Common strategies for promoting healthy eating habits are controlling portion size and reducing the energy density of the meal,” says Jill Norcross, associate principal scientist, Kraft Food Ingredients, Memphis, TN. “Satiety may not be reached in portion size alone. Given the same volume of food, it may be advantageous to replace more energy-dense ingredients with equally satisfying flavor components. In essence, you can suppress the sensory receptors that drive satiety as long as there isn’t an adverse flavor trade-off.” She notes that highly flavored processed cheese and cheese flavors “could successfully be leveraged at lower usage levels to create a satisfying lower-calorie application.”

It’s important to distinguish between satiety and satisfaction. Satiety is a state where you no longer want to eat. Scientists study theories of the relationship between satiety and metabolic changes, and peptide and/or hormone release. Satisfaction is the contentment derived from consuming a flavorful, gratifying meal.

The challenge for food scientists is to meet both objectives. Jeff Banes, culinary development manager, FONA International, Geneva, IL, notes: “You can have something that’s really highly flavored, but if you’re hungry again within 30 minutes to an hour, then it did not satiate you.”

Steagall suggests a general formula for creating a balanced, reduced-calorie dinner. “Fill one half of the plate with vegetables and then divide the other half of the plate with a lean protein and a serving of whole-grain carbohydrate, such as brown rice or whole-wheat pasta,” she says. “Add fiber to entrées in the form of whole grains, beans and legumes, and vegetables.” It’s also important to concentrate on serving sizes. A serving of meat should be 2 oz. to 3 oz., as opposed to the restaurant- size 12-oz. serving.

How can the industry give pizzazz to such a basic blueprint, much less appeal to consumers fond of super-size servings? Mix it up, for one. The same ratio can work in a one-dish meal like a bowl, a sandwich or a casserole.

It’s a challenge for food companies to match the flavor and comfort consumers derive from full-calorie, full-fat, quickly prepared entrées such as macaroni and cheese, a potpie, and country-fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. But, it is possible to create reduced-calorie, comfort-style meat like a hot dog or sausage patty. According to Sharon Gerdes, technical support consultant, Dairy Management Inc.™, Rosemont, IL, whey protein ingredients can “replace a significant portion of fat in a variety of meat applications” because they bind water up to 10 times their weight. “Whey protein concentrate (WPC) and whey protein isolate (WPI) have been used successfully to replace all or part of the fat in sausage, hamburger, hot-dog and chicken-nugget applications,” she notes.

According to Gerdes, “A 2002 Institute of Medicine review of macronutrients states ‘a number of short-term studies indicate that protein intake exerts a more-powerful effect on satiety than either carbohydrate or fat.’” Dairy ingredients such as nonfat dry milk, WPC and WPI, and low-fat cheese supply quality protein.

Flavorful advice

Most full-fat, comfort entrée selections range from 400 to 700 calories per serving. Banes considers “low calorie” in today’s marketplace to be in the 300-calorie range. No matter how innovative the product, “it’s dif- fi cult to pack a lot of flavor in a 300-calorie entrée,” he says. “But, the use of flavors can certainly help boost what is there.” Instead of trying to just reduce calories of popular foods, companies are introducing specific and authentic ethnic profiles. “There is also an increase in what I would call upscale cuisine, which is a retail interpretation of a fine-dining entrée. The new introductions of trendy items such as paninis and flatbread pizzas also show innovation in design, in addition to product development,” he says.

When every calorie counts, there’s no room for blandness. Mark Bento, technical director, savory flavors, Mastertaste, Teterboro, NJ, says: “The most popular requests we see involve adding flavor to low-calorie cheese or cream sauces, starches like rice and breading, and lean meats. When you have ingredients that are lower in fat and calories, you need to compensate with flavor.”

Adam Schreier, corporate chef, Mastertaste, has seen “the use of fruits in sauces rise in popularity. By adding fruit powders to sauces like white wine and classic beurre blanc, the palate senses more depth and richness to the flavor.”

Umami-stimulating ingredients, such as mushrooms, soy sauce and other naturally occurring sources of glutamates, add a mouthwatering component to the flavor profile. However, Schreier cautions that, while umami is one of the five basic tastes and helps cut the salt in a formula, “it doesn’t aid in the cutting of calories.” Nonetheless, it may add a satisfying note. “Umami is typically used when describing meats, cheeses and other foods heavy in protein,” he says. “Umami flavors are often added to chicken to give it a more-savory profile.”

Using butter flavor notes and creamy Parmesan notes can reduce the caloric content of popular fatty options like butter sauces and Alfredos. If the goal is to develop a full, round profile, Banes suggests a cream or butter flavor for richness.

“Use cheese flavors for identification,” he says. By using flavors, the level of calorie-laden cheese can be reduced, thus reducing the sauce’s caloric content. “The resulting change in flavor can be addressed with the appropriate cheese or dairy flavor, which will boost the sauce back up to its original flavor level or sometimes beyond,” he says.

To increase satiety, WPC can replace some or all of the starch carbohydrates to thicken sauce in an entrée. “There are a wide variety of WPCs that can be used in this application; some are cold-gelling, but many require heat to activate,” says Gerdes.

Tomato sauces are generally lower in calories, but Banes offers options for improvement. “Tomato-enhancing flavors can overcome certain seasonal variation of flavor,” he says. This can replace the too-often-used approach of adding sugar and its calories to solve flavor differences. “We can also look at flavors, such as an olive oil to replace some or all of the fat and calories added by using olive oil,” he continues.

Schreier sees potential for a plethora of new and unique pasta dishes. “Manufacturers are striving to maintain a depth of flavors, whether in the sauce or the meat,” he says.

“Products are also trending away from anything fried,” Schreier says. Even so, Americans are partial to fried foods. “Fried foods often have the highest caloric content on the shelves,” he comments. “To achieve a fried flavor in a lower-calorie entrée, we might take a breast of chicken and tumble-marinade it with fatty or fried-chicken flavor notes to achieve the flavor the consumer is used to without the calories or fat. Another option, he notes, is a crispy chicken rub that creates the flavor effect of eating fried chicken.

Banes says that marinating chicken with a fried-fat-flavored solution is probably the best way to obtain a fried-chicken flavor. “Marinate the chicken in a solution that has the fat flavor, so that the whole product has it throughout,” he says. “You could also add it to the breading system that’s then baked.”

Consider the many characteristics when selecting a fat flavor. Is the beef fat or chicken fat cooked or non-cooked? “Depending on the product, a cooked beef fat or cooked chicken fat can be called pan drippings,” says Banes.

Brines and rubs also contain more flavors. “Some of the more-popular options include a smoky barbecue, which works wonderfully with pulled chicken,” says Schreier. He recommends tumble marinating the chicken breasts and cooking them with steam and convection for “nice, juicy chicken notes” that leave the meat tasting like it was smoked and barbecued.

Applying heat

Certain cooking methods, like steaming, reduce the calorie content of entrées. “Steaming is a big trend we’re seeing right now,” says Bento. “Using steaming methods in microwave cooking can contribute to the quality of the end product. We are working with products that are cooked in a steam-generating package in the microwave right now. For example, a fish-and-vegetable dish is cooked in a sealed container that has a small valve allowing the product to steam in a microwave. Paired with the right flavor applications, this method can produce a restaurant- quality product.”

Schreier compares this to a traditional cooking style. “Some of the methods we use emulate more-sophisticated, classic cooking techniques such as en papillote, a French cooking technique in which food is cooked in parchment paper and essentially steams in its own juices,” he says.

A common challenge when using steam as a cooking method, compared to frying or grilling, is the dish’s relative blandness. Steam does not impart its own flavor. Bento advises counteracting this by increasing the flavor when formulating the dish. Additionally, adding fried, roasted or grilled notes can give products “the authentic flavor created by such cooking methods,” he says.

Another popular method of creating flavorful, low-calorie entrées is to cook lean meat “sous vide, or in the bag,” says Schreier. “This practice is suitable for any kind of meat,” he says. “Typically, the meat would be tumble-marinated and cooked in the bag, which prohibits the flavor juices from escaping and maintains a lowcalorie profile.”

Another chef ’s trick to reduce fat and add substantial flavor is a demi-glace, a type of reduced sauce. “While a demi-glace will still have calories, it adds more depth and richness to a meat’s flavor profile,” says Schreier.

Flavors frequently replace cooking techniques. “Many manufacturing facilities do not have the proper equipment to manufacture products using proper cooking techniques, or cannot afford to make products in this way and remain profitable,” says Banes. “Reaction flavors, depending on the methodology used, can and do replace cooking techniques such as grilling, braising, caramelizing or roasting. The resulting products more closely resemble a culinary-inspired and -prepared entrée.”

As consumers reach for more innovative foods, manufacturers are meeting their demands with a host of ethnic offerings. “There are lots of options with ethnic dishes like Asian and Hispanic, because the spices are very flavorful,” says Bento. “When formulating ethnic dishes, we use our essential oils and oleoresin lines, for example, which have the ability to capture the flavor, color and aroma of spices and even entire ethnic profiles, such as teriyaki.”

Strong flavor profiles can help compensate for reduced fat and calories. “Some of the popular Hispanic flavors that can really add punch to a low-calorie entrée are ancho and chipotle chile, lime, and cilantro,” says Schreier.

Some of the more-popular low-calorie entrées are modeled after popular restaurant dishes like pizza and panini sandwiches. “We see requests for flavors like pesto, rosemary and basil that can boost the flavor of panini or pizza without adding a lot of calories,” says Bento. “Another thing we can do to increase flavor in such applications is use an olive-oil flavor on the bread or crust, or a meat flavor in the meat sauce.”

Uncommon ingredients

Michelle Schwenk, scientist, Tate & Lyle, Decatur, IL, suggests looking to unique ingredients to reduce calories, such as soluble corn fiber. “It’s manufactured under the defi- nition of corn syrup, but it’s 70% fiber,” says Schwenk. “You can label it ‘corn syrup,’ or you can label it ‘soluble corn fiber.’ It behaves just like corn syrup in applications.” The corn syrup can be replaced completely, or some of the other sweeteners might be reduced with this product. Unlike ordinary corn syrup with 4 kcal per gram, the company’s soluble corn fiber has only 2 kcal per gram. With 70% fiber, it might also add fiber to the nutrition panel.

In an entrée, Schwenk recommends using soluble corn fiber in sauces that typically contain sweeteners or thickeners to cut calories. “We have prototypes that are used in spaghetti sauce, barbecue sauce and a sweet-and-sour sauce,” she says. “You can replace all the sweetener solids with the soluble corn fiber,” she says. Because no perceptible external or processing difference occurs, she calls this an “invisible” replacement. “If you’re using carbohydrate solids to just give you viscosity, you can take out the smaller-molecular- weight particles—like mono- and disaccharides—and put in something that has a larger molecular weight—like maltodextrin or starch—so you get essentially more viscosity for less grams,” she says.

When sweetness must be added back to sauces in which sweetener solids have been reduced, Schwenk suggests a high-intensity sweetener such as sucralose. A tiny bit of sucralose—possibly as low as 0.01%—can replace up to 30% sweetener solids in some formulations. “We’ve done some work in sauces where there is a lot of extra water,” she says. “There could be some technical implications in frozen applications. You may actually end up saving money, because you use a smaller quantity of sucralose, due to its more-intense sweetening power.”

The traditional approach to reducing calories in sauces is reducing fat. Many starches add viscosity and a creamy mouthfeel to lower-fat sauces. Schwenk suggests using a little emulsifying starch—a modified starch with a lipophilic end—to extend the fat so a “sauce that contains 10% fat tastes like it has more fat.” Resistant starches are another ballgame, because, unlike most starches, they are not easily digested. They are ideal for reduced-calorie applications, because they contribute fiber and are low glycemic. Lower-calorie pasta can be developed with resistant starch. With only 1.7 (dsb) kcal per gram, Tate & Lyle’s version can replace part of the flour. Schwenk recommends starting with a 30% replacement. Aside from calorie reduction, this resistant starch adds stability to pasta. Pasta tends to get soft in reheated and frozen dishes. “The resistant starch adds firmness so that it’s much more difficult to overcook it,” she says. “You get pasta that has a better eating quality at the end.”

This resistant starch also “has a nice thermal stability so that it doesn’t break down,” says Schwenk. “A lot of resistant starches tend to break down under high shear, high moisture or high temperature.”

Given this year’s statistics from the Calorie Control Council, it appears dieting has become core to the American way of life. Yet, how many consumers truly enjoy dieting? It’s up to the food industry to make these meals ever more flavorful, satisfying and creative to increase the needed decrease in weight.

Cindy Hazen, a 20-year veteran of the food industry, is a freelance writer based in Memphis, TN. She can be reached at cindyhazen@cs.com.