Meals in Minutes

In the not-so-distant past, when a rotary-dial wall phone hung in nearly every kitchen, a well-used rolling pin, meat mallet and biscuit cutter would most likely reside nearby in a drawer. A large roasting pan might sit in a cupboard waiting to cook Sunday dinner, an event that could take upwards of 3 hours to prepare. In fact, in the late 1960s, an average weekday meal often required more than an hour's preparation time. Searing, trussing and braising were as common as opening a can.

Fast-forward a few decades -- considerably more has changed than the addition of the cordless phone. According to a recent report by the NPD Group, Inc., Port Washington, NY, the presence of such common kitchen items as gelatin molds and vegetable peelers is rapidly declining. Surprisingly, in just 10 years' time, nearly 20% of surveyed households purchased kitchen shears, but not for the purpose of cutting whole fryers. Today's cook is more likely to use them to open a frozen package: Nearly 50% of all weekday meals are prepared in less than 30 minutes. Weekends are still for splurging; however, consumers tend to allot just another 15 minutes to meal preparation.

A few things haven't changed. Most people still spend considerably more time cooking holiday meals. They still eat the majority of suppers at home. The woman of the house continues to prepare most of these meals, and does 70% of the grocery shopping. However, she is willing to pay two to three times more for foods that add convenience.

Besides the obvious timesaving benefit that prepared foods offer, consider that today's cook is less likely to know how to cook. Working mothers are less likely to teach kitchen skills to their offspring. Home-economics classes, which formerly offered every teenager a culinary introduction, are becoming as rare as phone booths. But perhaps the biggest reason for the lack of food knowledge is that so many meal options are available that people don't have to learn how to cook.

This gives new meaning to the phrase "ease of preparation." The food developer can't assume that customers will understand basic cooking terms. Home cooks can misinterpret simple instructions like "return to a boil" or "dredge," causing the product to fail.

More frightening is the fact that the consumer who doesn't grasp basic cooking skills also most likely lacks food-safety knowledge. Not only do developers have to plan for manufacture, shelf life and preparation, but, to an extent, they have to consider the aftermath as well. What happens if an inexperienced cook leaves prepared food sitting out?

Where food safety and consumer knowledge are concerned, there are no safe assumptions. Carma Rogers, pork information specialist, National Pork Board, Des Moines, IA, sees a need to educate people about general food safety. In her job, she routinely explains concepts like cross contamination, or the importance of keeping a work area clean.

Yet, while food-preparation knowledge may be waning, consumers' food savvy is growing. Not only are their tastes more discerning, but they also hunger for healthier fare.

Kimberly Egan, partner of Center for Culinary Development, San Francisco, a strategic product-development company, notes a demand for quality. Food needs to taste good and the consumer wants to feel good about eating it. It doesn't necessarily have to be low-fat or low-carbohydrate, but good-for-you is desirable. "Consumers don't think they need to compromise as much," Egan says. "Convenience is actually the rite of passage. It's the gateway to product these days." With consumers expecting convenience, they raise the bar for other parameters, like taste and healthfulness. Luckily, a range of ingredient options, from seasonings and meats to vegetables and grains, can help meet this goal.

Quick meals come in nearly as many varieties as there are main-dish recipes. No single definition or category exists. Ready-to-eat prepared meats and salads, heat-and-eat, speed-scratch, and shelf-stable meals provide swift solutions to the dinnertime dilemma. For the food technologist, they each possess different development opportunities, challenges and strategies.

Originally coined as a term for military food products, "ready to eat" has gone mainstream. No longer limited to a meal-in-a-bag or a tinned food offering, it encompasses an abundance of preprepared foods. One need only look at the $1.4 billion rotisserie-chicken take-out market or the $2 billion bagged-salad market to see the popularity of this category.

Refrigerated or frozen heat-and-eat entrées are available in more varieties than ever before. In the mood for Italian? Pizza, the long-time family-sized standby, now shares shelf space with multiserving pans of lasagna. American choices range from macaroni and cheese to meatloaf to beef stroganoff. Individual meals run the gamut from seafood stir-fries to vegetarian chili. Indeed, in this category, imagination seems to be the limiting factor.

No matter how busy or lacking in chef's skills, many consumers still want to participate in meal preparation for a myriad of reasons: to provide a semblance of homemade, to produce a meal that's perceived to be fresher or more nutritious, or simply to put one's own stamp on it. Some cooks want to do more than open a can or a box -- they want to add to its contents.

Speed scratch is the ultimate solution for the harried cook. Simply put, it's the combination of premeasured or precooked ingredients with one or more fresh ingredients. Rotisserie chicken is a prime example: It is the subject of an entire cookbook because of the ease with which it can be turned into dishes from chicken salad to soup to potpies. While the term "speed scratch" may seem trendy, the concept is not new. Countless casserole recipes, some more than 50 years old, use this same principal. Yet today, this category is fueled by not only a plethora of cookbooks with an abundance of speed-scratch recipes, but also a preponderance of value-added products. A number of food companies offer speed-scratch recipes on their packages and websites, requiring forward thinking on the part of the developers, who need to consider how consumers will use the product as well as the ways they could use it.

A fine line -- if any -- separates shelf-stable and speed scratch. In fact, boxed shelf-stable products were the original speed-scratch products. Dehydrated rice or pasta bases with dried vegetables, dried sauces or cheese typically define this category.

Spice blends are the ultimate shelf-stable, speed-scratch ingredient, adding instant flavor and visual appeal. Yet seasoning companies will quickly tell you that there is more to the mix than salt with a dash of oregano or sage. According to Reid Wilkerson, president, McClancy Seasonings, Fort Mill, SC, these blends are typically complex formulations of spices, flavorings, food additives and functional ingredients to provide a total solution in the form of blends, gravies, sauces and marinades. "Seasoning is not necessarily the spice business. Seasoning is providing a complete palate of flavors in one easy-to-use form," he says.

Meeting the demand for ease of preparation presents a challenge for developers who are working from a baseline of fresh ingredients. "You have to work out from what is the best that you can prepare from scratch and then start looking at speed to the table," Wilkerson advises. While quality is key, products that inspire cravings are truly successful. The goal is to create something that customers cannot get somewhere else so that they will return to your brand.

The secret is in the balance. Well-rounded flavor profiles are more desirable than those with overwhelming notes. The use of subtle background touches of onion and garlic, for example, can add to the overall profile without being readily identifiable. In some applications, Wilkerson prefers using white pepper because it's not as distinctive as black pepper.

While black pepper is and will continue to be the most commonly used spice in the United States, consumers are becoming more adventuresome. They are a lot more willing to try ethnic products, and more tolerant of heat. Wilkerson explains, "As people use more and more spice, they become less afraid of it." The surge in chile popularity is testimony to consumers' desire to spice things up. "Five years ago, most people didn't know what ancho chiles were, outside of the spice trade," he says. Today, ancho and chipotle chiles are mainstream, thanks in part to the surge of Southwestern seasonings.

While ethnic flavor combinations are certainly popular, black pepper reigns at the meat counter in offerings such as peppered bacon, peppered ham and peppered turkey.

Dry rubs are becoming more popular because they quickly add flavor. As a plus for the producer, rubs dry the meat surface, and subsequently inhibit microbial growth.

Liquid flavoring systems may include tenderizers, typically bromelain and papain. Manufacturers usually deliver them by injection or soaking.

Marinades can provide benefits beyond just adding flavor. Rotisserie chickens are generally needle-injected, which increases the moisture level inside the bird 10% to 15%, and helps hold temperature without drying; Wilkerson says this is how manufacturers marinate many bone-in products. Chicken strips and tenders are usually vacuum-tumbled. Most teriyaki steak marinades are soy-based and delivered statically by soaking.

Incorporating fruit juice, namely pineapple, lemon, orange or lime, into marinades for pork and chicken is exploding in popularity. "That's become the de rigueur in putting together a marinade," Wilkerson says. "It's been done for years, but it's never really been promoted. The acidity of the fruit-juice concentrates is really desirable from the texture standpoint as well as the penetration. You start getting really deep penetration in the meats when you start combining these fruit-juice profiles. They don't necessarily have to be liquid. You can manipulate it with pH. Vinegar-based products in a marinade will enhance the texture too."

For beef, Wilkerson recommends starting with a soy-sauce profile and perhaps adding a little bit of lime and a chile note, with touches of onion and garlic. Flavors such as roasted garlic or sautéed onion can add depth to the profile, as can caramelized onion and garlic.

These caramelized flavors go especially well with pot roast, the most popular heat-and-eat beef entrée. Betty Hogan, director, new product marketing, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Chicago, says this product adds convenience for consumers. "Those are the products that are doing the best, where there's a long, involved cooking process that they may not know how to do or have time to do."

Not surprisingly, these fully cooked products are appearing in speed-scratch recipes. Recent winners in the 2003 National Beef Cook-Off®, managed by the American National CattleWomen, Inc., include a quick caramelized-onion and beef pizza, and a cream of wild rice and beef soup with lime and cilantro, both made with boneless beef pot roast with gravy. A runner-up, South Seas Curried Beef Over Jasmine Rice Beef, includes beef tips with gravy as the key ingredient.

Beef patties, the ultimate family-friendly food, are becoming the darling of the frozen-foods case. Moving product over an open flame achieves a fresh-grilled taste.

For pork, and especially bacon, precooked is a relatively new concept. But this product is revolutionizing the industry, especially in merchandising. Bacon is now shelved in the produce section, a clever marketing trick that links it to the makings of BLT sandwiches. Although one wouldn't necessarily think of displaying bacon in sporting goods, it's a successful tie-in. What better item to take on a camping trip?

This creative thinking is bringing new life to pork offerings. Precooked bratwursts and sausage are speedy dinnertime solutions or speed-scratch ingredients. Ready-to-heat ribs and pulled pork seasoned with barbecue sauce are some of the more inventive product introductions. Karen Boillot, director of retail marketing, National Pork Board, sees a lot more pork used in value-added and further-prepared cuts. "For several years, pork was underutilized in these categories. It used to be, about the only place that we saw ribs was the deli department, and we saw one brand of ribs in the meat department. There's really been growth in the area of using some of these well-known barbecue brands to bring a little more attention and focus to that area."

Egan believes that branding meat is going to continue to evolve and grow. California-based Niman Ranch's naturally raised beef, pork and lamb, and Petaluma Poultry's antibiotic-free Rocky brand chicken are two such names. They are growing in popularity because consumers want to know the origins of the food they eat. Interest is growing in the treatment of the meat's original source. Grass-fed beef is becoming more popular.

"One of the trends we're seeing is eating for the conscience," Egan says. "Consumers want to feel that the choice they make is helping to create a better world. Free-range chicken, for example, has been part of that conscience choice. Organic has been part of that choice. More and more people are making those choices for trade, better treatment of workers, better environment of the animals, sustainable fisheries. All of those kinds of things are starting to swirl around."  

Another trend that often combines ethics and eating, the vegetarian market is formidable and growing rapidly. Aside from new converts to that lifestyle, many meat-eaters consume meatless meals. A 1999 study by The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG), Baltimore, found that 57% of diners sometimes, often or always chose vegetarian meals at restaurants. Among teenagers, vegetarianism is booming. The VRG's 2000 Roper poll reported that 2% of teens aged 13 to 17 never eat meat, fish or poultry. Yet a 1999 study by the National Restaurant Association, Washington, D.C., and the National Association of College & University Food Services, East Lansing, MI, determined that 20% of college students call themselves vegetarians.

Excluding traditional vegetarian foods like produce, rice or pasta, Mintel Consumer Intelligence, Chicago, estimated the 2002 market for vegetarian foods to be $1.5 billion. This market, which includes products that replace meat or other animal products, is expected to nearly double by 2006 to $2.8 billion.

Once the province of health-food stores and natural-foods chains, vegetarian offerings are becoming mainstream. Today's supermarkets sell roughly half of the vegetarian-foods volume and the demand for quicker-fix vegetarian dishes is growing.

The five-a-day nutritional mantra has fueled consumers' desire for fruits and vegetables and has unleashed their creativity. The salad base today is likely to be spinach or a mix of baby greens and arugula, rather than traditional iceberg lettuce. Frozen-dinner designers might replace sweet peas with snow peas. And convenience products incorporating fruit or vegetable blends are definitely in, as if meeting the requirement for five separate servings means five varieties in one serving.

Perhaps more so than any category, value-added is key to selling frozen-vegetable products, which have to be made interesting through cooking methods or the addition of sauces or ingredients. Dianna Fricke-Stallsmith, research and development chef, J.R. Simplot Company, San Francisco, notes the trend toward more processed vegetables rather than just individually quick-frozen (IQF) products. These tend to fall into two categories: "I see homestyle comfort foods that people are familiar with and then I see a lot of seasonings going into trendy, strong flavors," she observes.

While seasoning can add a flavor boost, Wilkerson suggests adding a small amount of a dehydrated vegetable, like red bell pepper, to the seasoning blend to add color to the finished product. Green beans become homestyle with the addition of a little pork flavor.

Another way to enhance appeal is through the old chef's trick of using attention-grabbing cuts. Yet today, julienne and crinkle cuts are a bit passé, especially when the consumer is seeking homemade quality. Generous and random piece sizes add to the illusion of kitchen-sliced, as does a hand-cut appearance.

Treatments like roasting or grilling, with subsequent char marks or caramelization, add to the perception that the product was prepared with time and care. Roasting may be synonymous with red peppers and potatoes, but other vegetables, such as onions, corn, carrots, asparagus and squash, are given new life with this technique.

According to Egan, certain vegetables are growing in popularity. Precut butternut squash, for example, is now seen in packages in the produce area. Zucchini is becoming as standard as cauliflower and broccoli.

Fricke-Stallsmith says, "We're trending toward new varietals. You're seeing more gourmet items coming out of the mainstream, such as yellow beets, orange beets, haricot verts. A lot of products from France are coming over. I think we get a lot of vegetables that come over from there because they have a lot more upscale vegetables. Even in terms of potatoes, with all the cooking shows, people are becoming familiar with fingerling potatoes, yellow Finnish potatoes and more gourmet potatoes that they've seen in the Whole Foods Markets and the Wild Oats. Those markets are getting in more specialty items."

Of course, the keyword in these markets is "organic," which is moving into mainstream consciousness. "In the retail area, I definitely see that area growing," Fricke-Stallsmith confirms. However, it has yet to find a strong inroad into foodservice. "When we make something foodservice, it doesn't get communicated down to the end user that the product is organic. I don't think the perceived value is there yet," she says.

Potatoes, pasta and white rice have long been cross-cultural side-dish staples. Nothing defines American home cooking as succinctly as mashed potatoes. Think Italian, think pasta. Asian? Add a pot of sticky rice. For traditional fare, these can't be beat, but the winds of change are blowing, and these products may be changing, too.

While everyone these days seems to know someone following the high-protein Atkins diet, the low-carbohydrate trend is deeper than any one diet. In fact, countless diets purport carbohydrates as the chief villain that causes weight gain.

"The shift is getting away from carbs," Egan notes. "I don't believe it's a fad. I think it's a shift. The reason why I think it's going to stay with us is because this kind of diet is being tied closely to diabetes, type 2 diabetes and low glycemic index. The American consumer is now aware of insulin. There's baggage that's being placed on carbohydrates that's going to create a shift in the way people think about carbohydrates." That's not to say that carbohydrate foods will be forbidden, but it may herald a shift to more complex carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates are primarily an energy source. Simply put, the body breaks down sugars and starches into glucose, which it uses for energy. Most consumers identify with the simple carbohydrates in refined food ingredients such as white flour or granulated white sugar -- these provide calories, but not many other nutrients. They offer quick spurts of energy because they burn quickly. In response to the increase in blood sugar, the pancreas releases insulin, a hormone that transports glucose to the cells. In contrast, the complex carbohydrates found in nutrient-dense foods like whole grains are digested more slowly. Because these dietary sugars are released more slowly, the insulin response is less abrupt and blood-sugar levels remain more even.

Whole grains contain all three parts of the kernel: the bran (the outer skin), the germ (the embryo) and the endosperm (the germ's food supply). The bran and germ, which are protein- and fiber-rich, are generally removed in refined grains; therefore, considerably more fiber, protein and vitamins are present in minimally processed grains. One hundred grams of white rice contains 1.18 grams fiber, 6.1 grams protein and 1.60 mg of niacin. An equivalent amount of brown rice, which retains the bran and the germ, has 4.60 grams of fiber, 7.23 grams of protein and 6.34 mg of niacin. Other grains have even more fiber and protein: Bulgur has 12.5 grams of fiber and 11.3 grams of protein, and pearled barley has 15.6 grams of fiber and 9.92 grams of protein.

Though the USDA Food Guide Pyramid recommends several servings a day of foods made from whole grains, the average American consumes mostly refined grains, and typically, only one serving per day of whole grains, generally in the form of cereal or bread. Yet, whole grains are staples of most world cultures, offering protection from heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and obesity. As Americans trend toward health and ethnic cuisine, opportunities exist for the introduction of different grain products in easy-to-use forms or dishes.

Couscous, polenta, and grits are not only appearing in upscale restaurants but also in home kitchens. Supermarket delis serve wheat-berry salads, while tabbouleh, a Middle Eastern bulgur salad, is available in a shelf-stable mix. Pearled barley is a popular ingredient in beef soups.

Developers can introduce different grains slowly, such as by including a small amount of bulgur wheat in risotto or pilaf. Mike Orlando, chairman of the board, Sunnyland Mills, Fresno, CA, and chairman of the Boston-based Whole Grains Council (www.whole grainscouncil.org), suggests sprinkling whole grains on salad. His company has introduced grano, which he describes as a "new" ancient grain that originated in Sicily.

"It is a kernel of durum wheat that is slightly pearled," Orlando explains. "It's considered a whole grain because we only take a little bit of the bran off of it. It tastes like pasta but it's a whole grain, so it's better for you than pasta." One company is using it in a frozen soup.

"People in the U.S. are sometimes afraid of whole grains because they don't know that they can be made to cook quickly," Orlando says, noting that these grains can actually be precooked and frozen. "Take them out and throw them into something and they are literally ready in minutes. The larger grinds of bulgur cook like converted rice. The finer grinds, typically used in Middle Eastern dishes, can hydrate in 7 minutes in hot water. One cup of bulgur will absorb 2¼ cups of water," he explains.

Egan sees other opportunities to use whole grains. "When you think about portable food, one of the big challenges is to get away from traditional bread carriers," she says. "What kind of new carriers will work for handheld foods? How do you rethink your grain carrier so that you are delivering grains with more protein?" She suggests using quinoa, an ancient South American grain introduced to the U.S. natural-food industry in 1982.

Quinoa flour can be used in everything from pasta to cookies. Dave Schnorr, president, Quinoa Corporation, Gardena, CA, recommends replacing up to one-third of the flour with quinoa flour. "Because it has no gluten, you're going to lose the gluten qualities," he explains. "If you took a bread recipe, you can use up to a third substituting it (the flour) out and you would have still an acceptable loaf. You can't make anything with 100% quinoa flour without adding some kind of binder to hold it together. If we make pasta, we make a wheat-free that has corn and quinoa. The starch in the corn helps hold it together."

Sometimes the addition of a simple ingredient boosts value and nutrition in everyday meals. "Nuts are becoming the darling of dieters," Egan says. "They add flavor, crunch and give additional protein. The flavor profile of nuts and seeds increases dramatically when you toast and roast them." She notes that they can be used in frozen applications, although certain nuts and seeds, such as almonds and pumpkin seeds, work better than others.

Although nuts are high in fat, it consists mainly of heart-healthy mono- and polyunsaturates. Adding nuts to an entrée or side dish not only lends nutrition and flavor, but visual appeal.

An added benefit of nuts is their capacity to satisfy. Consumers want to be satiated without having to eat large portions. They may want huge platters delivered to them in a restaurant setting, but at home they prefer smaller servings. Still, they want to feel full. Ingredients like edamame, nuts and seeds are satiating ingredients, according to Egan.

Edamame has a good balance of nutrients: 125 calories, 12.1 grams protein, 13.1 grams carbohydrates and 3.6 grams fat per 100-gram serving. The protein quality approaches that of meat due to their amino-acid balance.

Edamame, the whole vegetable soybean, is coming on strong. Fricke-Stallsmith notes: "Edamame, in and of itself, has such a high perceived value to vegetarians. In college and university foodservice, kids know what edamame is. That's a perfect example of something that is not a familiar item to a lot of people, but in certain areas, it certainly is. Kids want that: they put it on the salad bar; they put it in quesadillas; they make dips with it. It's something that kids ask for because it's such an excellent source of protein."

Because edamame adds brightness, color and texture, it's ideal for vegetable blends. After all, the trick in creating successful vegetable combinations is to create contrast by bringing together different colors and textures. Some vegetables, like squash, will become soft through the freezing process. These softer vegetables should be paired with those that stay firm, such as carrots or edamame, which also retain a vibrant color. The color pop adds to the perception of freshness.

These combinations or blends offer one of the best ways to introduce a new vegetable, such as edamame, to a mainstream audience, more comfortable with "common" vegetable varieties.

Because bright colors suggest fresh to consumers, Egan notes that may be one of the reasons for the popularity of Vietnamese food. "It will be the next Thai," she says. "Vietnamese is all about bright flavors, if you were to give it a headline, and bright equals fresh." In other ethnic cuisine, regionalization is the latest trend. "It's not just Latin, it's Chilean and Peruvian," she adds. That means that instead of assigning a quick-cooking risotto a Milanese version might garner more interest.

Although Americans typically don't look to Great Britain for food trends, Egan suggests food developers and processors look across the pond. "America would love the food in the grocery stores in the United Kingdom. It's fresh; it's convenient. It's fast, but it's real food. It has a much more real-food appearance and delivery to it. It's like we got on this bandwagon for rotisserie chicken, and then there was the lasagnas, enchiladas and those types of starch-based dishes. We now need to go to the next level, and people are not quite doing that yet."

According to Egan, in the next level, instead of organizing shelves by brand, organize them by cuisine style, and display several different fresh offerings from around the world. "They have to change the paradigm of distribution systems and how they think about shelf life, and just-in-time production for just-in-time delivery," she explains. "It's a paradigm shift, so the food can truly be fresh. That's a very difficult shift for large companies to make because those systems are in place, and it's a mindset difference."

Food companies are finding that consumers' mindsets are rapidly changing, and perhaps none as rapidly as those of preteen, or tween, consumers. "The kids of today are evolving quickly in their taste and exposure to food," Egan observes. "That's probably the generation that's evolving the quickest, the tween generation, and they are becoming much more savvy in what they will believe and what they will accept. The fallback of pizza, cheese, nachos and things like that are going to become boring to the tween target. Their tastes for spice and heat and their palates are starting to mature."

Finding quick-cook products that the kids want and that Mom feels great about is the hallmark of success. Mom is looking at the pureness of the label -- she's reading ingredient statements and nutritional information in determining her choice for healthful food, but first has to decide if the family will like the product.

The Center for Culinary Development has found that consumers have responded well to the inclusion of taste descriptors. Rather than simply stating "roasted-tomato sauce with portobello mushrooms," add the description, "smoky and sweet" so that consumers can visualize how the product will taste.

And lastly, if not more importantly, don't forget to tell the consumer how to cook the product, even if it is a meal in minutes.

Cindy Hazen, a 20-year veteran of the food industry, is a freelance writer based in Memphis, TN. She can be reached at cindy [email protected]

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