Oats are known as a breakfast grain. But they appear in meat products too, and the reason is not cutting cost.
What is the nutritional profile of oats?
Oats are among the grains highest in protein.
Thirteen to seventeen grams per hundred.
That figure runs 10 to 13 in wheat.
Six or seven grams of fat; high for a grain, and mostly unsaturated.
Ten or eleven grams of fibre.
Around half of that fibre is soluble; beta-glucan is the main component of that group.
They contain magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and B vitamins as well.
Their glycaemic index is moderate; that figure rises in processed oats, and steel-cut oats give the lowest.
| Component | Oats (100 g) | Breadcrumb (100 g) |
|---|---|---|
| Protein | 13-17 g | 11-13 g |
| Fibre | 10-11 g | 3-4 g |
| Soluble fibre | 4-5 g | 0.5 g |
| Water-holding capacity | 3-4 times | 1.5-2 times |
| Fat | 6-7 g | 4-5 g |
| Glycaemic index | 55-65 | 70-80 |
What does beta-glucan do?
Beta-glucan is a soluble polysaccharide fibre.
It forms a viscous gel on contact with water.
That gel does work in two different fields.
In nutrition; forming a gel layer in the gut, it reduces the absorption of cholesterol and slows the rise in blood sugar.
In the kitchen; it holds water, and that water does not escape easily during heating.
That second property is its real value in meat products.
The gel formed by beta-glucan catches the water released by the meat and holds it inside the product.
Why does holding water matter in meat?
Mince loses 20 to 30 percent of its weight during cooking.
Most of that loss is water.
That loss produces two consequences.
The first is dryness; the product feels tough and fibrous in the mouth.
The second is loss of portion; a hundred-gram patty falls to seventy-five once cooked.
The loss falls to 12 to 18 percent in a mixture containing oats.
The product stays juicier and the portion weight survives.
That gives a measurable gain both at home and in a business, and the difference registers in taste too.
How does it compare with breadcrumb?
Breadcrumb is the classic binder and the most widely used.
But its water-holding capacity is limited: 1.5 to 2 times its own weight.
Oats hold 3 to 4 times.
Breadcrumb also releases the water it holds during heating.
A beta-glucan gel is more stable.
The difference is clear nutritionally as well; oats carry three times the fibre, more protein and a lower glycaemic index.
The one disadvantage is texture; oats make a more noticeable presence than breadcrumb, and that is unwanted in some products.
How is the proportion calculated?
The proportion depends on the type of product.
Oats equal to 8 to 12 percent of the mince weight in patties and burgers.
Eighty to a hundred and twenty grams per kilogram.
It can reach 12 to 15 percent in meatballs cooked in sauce and baked.
Five to eight percent in sausage and salami; regulation limits that proportion in industrial production too.
The oats soak in milk or water first in a patty mixture; ten minutes suffices.
Dry oats added directly draw the water from the mixture and it stiffens; pre-soaking removes that problem.
Which form of oats gets used?
Three forms exist.
Rolled oats are the most widespread; soaked, they soften and disappear into the mixture.
Fine rolled oats take up water faster and their texture is less noticeable.
Oat flour is the most neutral; its contribution to texture is close to zero and it behaves most like breadcrumb.
Steel-cut oats do not suit this use; they stay hard and leave raw pieces in the mixture.
At home, rolled oats get pulsed briefly in a processor to make them finer, and that gives a balanced result in both texture and water-holding.
How does the texture change?
Oats add a softness to the product.
A patty is less dense and easier to chew.
That is an advantage for most palates.
But too much makes the product doughy.
The taste of meat falls into the background above fifteen percent.
The product also contracts less during cooking; the shape survives better.
That is an advantage on a grill and in a pan; the patty stays flat and does not dome in the middle, which gives even cooking.
Are they gluten-free?
Oats contain no gluten botanically.
But the situation is more complicated in practice.
Oats generally get grown in the same fields as wheat, barley and rye and processed in the same facilities.
Cross-contamination is widespread.
Certified gluten-free oats therefore become necessary for people with coeliac disease.
Those products get made on separate lines and tested.
The avenin protein in oats can also provoke a reaction in a small number of people with coeliac disease; eating oats after a diagnosis therefore generally gets tried gradually.
What gets checked on a meat product label?
The use of oats appears on the label of ready meat products.
It shows as rolled oats or oat flour.
Its place in the ingredients list gives information about the quantity.
Where it appears in the first three places after the meat the proportion is significant.
The total meat content gets checked too.
Oats can also serve to lower the meat content.
Those two uses — technical and cost-driven — cannot be told apart from a label; but the presence of oats in a product high in meat points to a technical choice.
