Getting good marks: grilled vegetables are value-added ingredients that, when formulated into convenience meals, enhance their flavor, appearance and mouthfeel. The addition of these vegetables also manifests manufacturers' dedication to superior, quality cuisine

Prepared Foods, Nov, 2004 by Marcia A. Wade

Grilled vegetables convey several flavor profiles, depending on the cooking method. Most top-quality frozen convenience meals and entrees with grilled vegetables have vibrant colors and distinct grill marks. There are some that may have apparent grilled flavor, without grill marks.

"If grilled vegetables are the selling point on your label, using a process that [physically] marks into the grilled vegetable is very important for [appearance]," says Allison Rittman, corporate chef for Charlie Baggs Inc. (Chicago), a foodservice consulting company.

Some companies apply coloring that appears as grill marks onto their products. However, strenuous processing techniques sometimes remove imitation grill marks, and the natural flavor nuances that develop when a food is actually flame-roasted or grilled are missing, also. On the other hand, the addition of colored stripes is a very inexpensive way to get grill marks, and is acceptable for foodservice products such as burgers.

Avoiding Mush Mouth

Grilled vegetables tend to lose quite a bit of crispness when cooked. "You don't want a mushy texture. You want something that is crisp, delicate and perfectly seasoned. It has to taste and appear fresh," says Rittman. Vegetables that are Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) prohibit the formation of large ice crystals that cause cell damage and syneresis. That is more likely to occur with block frozen products.

Additionally, IQF vegetables are easier to portion out for individual meals. "IQF grilled vegetables have a brighter color, crisper texture and better flavor," Rittman points out. Additionally, it makes formulation of frozen convenience entrees easier, as some IQF products may have been formulated to go through a freeze-thaw cycle.

If a food manufacturer or commissary cook sautees a vegetable, a heat transfer agent such as soybean or canola oil is used in the grilling process to develop the flavor. "One of the biggest problems that you see with grilled vegetables is too much oil or fat," observes Mike Artlip CEC, CCE, department chair of the associates in applied science and the director of the Navy Food Service Management Program at Kendall College (Evanston, Ill.). "You can wring them out." This displays one of the advantages of a dry grill. An alternative is to use a light oil spray.

The Grilling Culture

Every manufacturer has a different opinion about how something should be grilled or roasted. "For example, one person will look at a red pepper and see a little bit of charring on the side. To them that is a roasted pepper. Other customers want it almost black to be considered roasted," says Chris Cook, vice president of sales for a grilled vegetable foodservice supplier.

Grilled vegetables are used in soups and frozen entrees, or as toppings on pizzas and sandwiches. "People like the fact that they can use vegetables to create many new, unique flavors, without just adding flavors or seasoning. Choosing the right cooking process for a vegetable depends on the final target application," explains Sanah Boisvert, national account manager at a frozen vegetable supplier.

Grilled, fire-roasted and smokehouse-roasted vegetables are all different processes that can be described as grilled. "There are no standards of identity for these terms," says Boisvert. "So what our company may mean by grilled may be very different from what somebody else means."

Grilled vegetables tend to have strong flavors that, unless properly balanced, can dominate the entire product. To prevent this outcome, formulators can determine what complementary flavors enhance the grilled flavor.

Rittman says that grilled vegetables would mask the delicate flavors of a light butter sauce. A smoky, grilled vegetable would compliment a tomato sauce that has acidity and body.

"I haven't seen a lot of those flavors in frozen entrees or convenience foods yet, but I think that [smoky flavor] is the next evolution of where grilled vegetables are going," predicts Rittman.

Boisvert's company defines grilled as an item that has been cooked on a flat grill at relatively low temperatures (in the mid-300 [degrees] F range) for a slower, gentler cook (as chefs do when they sautee vegetables). This process is designed to naturally caramelize the vegetables. There is no oil added during the grilling process, and Boisvert describes the resulting vegetables as being fully cooked, sweet and naturally golden brown. "These vegetables don't have grill marks on them," she says.

"Caramelized vegetables provide a totally different flavor opportunity," explains Boisvert. Caramelized onions and/or peppers are ideal to use in French onion soup, on Salisbury steak or on a Philly cheese steak sandwich.

"Making a caramelized vegetable is a very difficult, time-consuming, expensive process that most food manufacturers wouldn't entertain doing in production," says Boisvert. "They are very traditional flavors that chefs really appreciate and now are commercially available."

A lot of gourmet restaurant chefs use caramelized vegetables in dishes like balsamic glazed pork chops. They appreciate the added convenience.