Scientists discover OAL cooking process reduces fat in dairy sauces by up to 20%

The two-year £969,000 ($1.2m) project, part funded by Innovate UK, tested the technology at the National Centre for Food Manufacturing at the university Holbeach Campus and published a white paper called, ‘How to Make Healthy, Creamy, Indulgent Dairy Based Sauces Efficiently with Steam Infusion’.

Industrial cooking innovations to grow the UK economy

Innovate UK works with people, companies and partner organizations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy.

Jake Norman, sales and marketing director, OAL, told DairyReporter the technology is a disruptive device that sits within a cooking vessel and uses steam to heat and mix food products.

“Under certain operating conditions, when passing dairy ingredients through the Steam Infusion Vaction unit, a fat mimetic is formed which mimics the fat properties in sauces​,” he said.

“On bechamel, cheese and hollandaise sauce a creamier mouth feel is achieved while maintaining the sauces viscosity compared to cooking with a traditional steam jacket​.

“Traditionally to offer consumers a luxury, indulgent mouthfeel, butter or cream is added to a product which gives it a high dairy fat content. The findings provide interesting results for new product development that can offer ‘healthy indulgence’​.

According to the research findings, cooking dairy sauces with a traditional steam jacketed kettle can be challenging for manufacturers. Maintaining an excellent color and flavor can be difficult because of hot spots on kettles causing burn on flavor and dark specs in products.

The University of Lincoln studied the effects on ingredients that passed through the Steam Infusion Vaction unit. It found a reduction of up to 20% dairy fat in a recipe can move a product from a red traffic light product to amber. This can drive sales to health conscious consumers who don’t want to forego indulgent flavors.

University of Lincoln GCMS (Gas Chromatography-Gas Spectrometry) testing identified a difference in the flavor profile, whilst the layperson taste panels recognized an improvement in flavor between a conventionally cooked and Steam Infusion sauce sample.

Bakkavor dairy-based porridge

Both tests highlighted Steam Infusion cooking preserves delicate “fresh flavors” and prevents “over-processed” notes.

“Fresh, homemade flavors appeal to consumers seeking high quality products. For manufacturers, opportunities are created for ingredient reduction on certain recipes. Recipes are easier to scale up as Steam Infusion offers a more “saucepan” like cook,”​ added Norman.

He said many food manufacturers have already switched to cooking dairy based sauces with the technology. For example, Bakkavor has been using the Steam Infusion technology to cook a dairy-based porridge.

“We are very happy with the retrofit of OAL’s Steam Infusion technology to manufacture porridge. We have been able to quickly master how to maximize the benefits of the Steam Infusion system and we’re confident the technology offers the flexibility to cook a wide variety of products to delight our customers,” ​said Janet Prescott, manufacturing manager, Bakkavor.

“The system is very fast and has reduced our cooking energy consumption by 15%. It’s a quality piece of equipment that’s definitely “cook proof.” Since the installation, our engineering team haven’t had to touch the system.”​

The whitepaper highlights other areas of differentiation to traditional manufacturing including the prevention of Maillard reactions and retention of "homemade" colors and flavors.

The Vaction unit creates a partial vacuum within the unit preventing exposure to high temperatures and browning of a product.

GCMS identified a difference in flavor profile, whilst layperson taste panels recognized an improvement in flavor between a conventionally cooked and Steam Infusion sauce.