Deep fat frying is one of the oldest processing techniques. It is convenient and can be used to cook a wide variety of foods including seafood, potato chips, French fries, extruded snacks, sh sticks, and chicken nuggets. Its popularity stems from the unique taste and avor of fried foods that are difcult to replicate by other methods of cooking. Thus, large quantities of fried foods are produced and consumed each year around the world. Although frying oils contribute to development of avor and incorporate some essential fatty acids in fried foods, they also increase the caloric content of the foods. As these oils are exposed to high temperature in open air, they are subject to thermal and oxidative reactions. These degenerative reactions affect the viscosity of the frying medium over time and could be sources of antinutritional elements in fried foods. Further, the high oil contents of fried foods has become a public health concern due to links between high consumption of fat and cardiovascular diseases, obesity, colon cancer, and other disorders. The National Heart Lung and

22.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................437 22.2 Batter Systems ....................................................................................................................439 22.3 Functional Ingredients ........................................................................................................440