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Effects of Salt Brine Chilling and Hot Boning on Tenderness of Canned Fowl Light Meat1
Effects of Salt Brine Chilling and Hot Boning on Tenderness of Canned Fowl Light Meat1 M. S. MATHUSA and D. M. JANKY2 Department of Poultry Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (Received for publication September 23, 1983) ABSTRACT Two trials were conducted to determine the effects of hot boning and 5% NaCl brine chilling on the tenderness of canned spent hen light meat. Pectoralis superficialis muscles were precooked in water (90 C) to 71 C prior to retort processing [250 C, 1.76 kg/cm2 (25 psi), 30 min] in chicken bouillon. Shear force values for hot boned samples were significantly higher than those for conventionally processed, water-chilled samples. However, the difference in these values was significantly reduced by salt brine chilling the hot-boned fillets for 4 hr in 5% NaCl ice slush. Tenderization of hot-boned fillets was attributed to increased water holding capacity of the meat, which in turn increased tenderness. Salt brine chilling had no significant effect on the shear values of conventionally processed spent hen meat. Analysis showed significantly higher moisture and chloride values for brine-chilled samples, whereas sodium content of the hot-boned, brine-chilled samples was significantly higher than that for other treatments. (Key words: salt, fowl, hot boning, tenderness) 1984 Poultry Science 63:1930-1934 INTRODUCTION Meat from spent fowl is often used in products requiring rigorous thermal processing. The relative extreme toughness of meat from these birds tends to limit its use in further processed poultry products that do not receive rigorous thermal processing or include ground or comminuted meat. As a result, the economic value of the live bird is greatly depressed and contributes only a small percentage to the total cost of producing boneless meat for further processing. It has been suggested (Hamm, 1981) that removal of the breast and thigh tissue from these birds prior to evisceration would recover 65% of the meat from the carcass while greatly reducing processing costs, especially those involved with chilling. Several researchers have observed that prerigor (hot boning) cutting of muscle fibers leads to increased toughness of the cooked product (Klose et al, 1971, 1972; Lyon et al, 1973; Wyche and Goodwin, 1974; Peterson, 1977). This process interferes with muscle tenderization during the aging period, which results in increased toughness as compared to muscles aged on the carcass (Pool et al., 1959; de Fremery and Pool, 1960).
1 Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations Journal Series Number 4973. 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Peterson (1977) was able to prevent the toughening associated with hot cutting of muscle fibers by injecting sodium polyphosphate into turkey breast fillets at 20 min postmortem. Hamm (1983) successfully tenderized "hot stripped" breast fillets by tumbling the fillets in a drum for 45 min following a 24 hr aging period. These procedures involve increased handling, labor, time and equipment; and thus they might offset the economic advantages derived from hot boning. Chilling poultry in sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions (brine chilling) has been shown to increase tenderness of muscle aged intact on the carcass (Janky et al, 1978, 1983; Arafa et al., 1979a,b; Hoey et al, 1983). Soaking spent hen carcasses (postchill) in salt water has also been observed to increase tenderness of the cooked meat (Marion et al, 1964; Oblinger et al., 1977). A chilling step would be necessary in spent hen processing, because previous work (Zenoble et al, 1977) has shown that prechill cooking of spent hen muscle results in significantly tougher meat. Because brining tends to be more effective as muscle toughness is increased (Janky et al, 1982), it was hypothesized that this technique might alleviate the toughness associated with prerigor (hot) muscle removal. The purpose of this research was to compare tenderness of hot-cut Pectoralis superficialis that was chilled
1930
BRINE-CHILLED, HOT BONED FOWL MEAT
in brine-ice slush with muscle chilled in waterice slush. MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred White Leghorn hens, 84 weeks of age, housed on litter floor, were randomly selected, cooped off feed and water for 16 hr, stunned, and killed by exsanguination. Fifty carcasses were subscalded (60 C, 45 sec), picked in a rotary drum picker (35 sec), and eviscerated by hand. Both skinned breast fillets were harvested by filleting from each of the other 50 carcasses immediately postslaughter and clamped together as a pair. The 25 hot-boned paired fillets and 25 conventionally processed carcass shells were chilled together in either agitated (water circulation) water-ice slush (1 C) or 5% (w/w) NaCl brine-ice slush ( - 1 C) for 4 hr. Chilling medium to carcass-fillet and ice to chilling medium ratios were maintained at 3.5:1 (w/w) and 1.9 (v/v) or less, respectively. The NaCl concentration was monitored with specific gravity (1.035 ± .002) and controlled by addition of cold (2 C) saturated NaCl or water. After chilling, all fillets and carcasses were rinsed, packed in ice, and aged 20 hr (2 C). Skinless fillets were removed from each of the aged carcasses and clamped together in pairs. All paired fillets were individually vacuum packaged in Cryovac bags and held for 48 hr before cooking. These procedures produced 25 paired fillets in each of four treatments of a 2 X 2 factorial arrangement of two boning treatments (hot-aged and cold-aged) and two chilling treatments (water-ice slush and 5% NaCl brine-ice slush). Paired fillets were batch precooked (20 pairs, 5 per treatment) to an internal temperature of 71 C in a constant temperature water bath at 90 C. Internal temperature was monitored with a recording potentiometer and copper constantan thermocouples centered in one fillet of each pair. The cooked fillets were placed in covered 473-ml Ball canning jars (1 pair per jar) and held at 2 C overnight. Each jar was filled to within 2 cm of the rim with hot (~90 C) chicken bouillon (Granular Soup Base, Chicken Flavoring, CODE, 116 g/liter) and sealed with bands and dome lids. Equal numbers of jars from each treatment were processed in a commercial-type retort at 1.76 kg/cm 2 (25 psi) and 121 C for 30 min. Jars were cooled under 1.76 kg/cm 2 (25 psi) for 20 min with tap water and stored at 2 C for further analyses (<4 weeks).
1931
Shear force was obtained for the weighed center 6.25-cm section of both Pectoralis superficialis muscles from each of seven fillet pairs (1 pair per jar) per treatment. Samples were natural thickness and width and were sheared across the grain of muscle fibers in a 10-blade shear compression cell at a descent speed of .64 cm/sec on a Food Technology Corporation Texture Test instrument equipped with a 136 kg electronic load cell. Shear force (kilograms per gram muscle) values were calculated and an average obtained for each pair of fillets. Moisture, chloride (silver nitrate titration, Volhard method), and sodium (atomic absorption spectrophotometry) levels were obtained using methodology outlined in Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC, 1970), in duplicate, on samples from five fillet pair per treatment. Sodium chloride concentration was also determined on the fresh chicken bouillon and bouillon from two jars per treatment after 2 weeks storage (AOAC, 1970). In each of two sessions, 20 trained panelists were asked to evaluate bite-size pieces of meat from each treatment (4 pieces/session) for flavor, juiciness, tenderness, and overall acceptability on infinite point scales ranging from 0 to 10. Low numbers indicated undesirable flavor, dryness, toughness, or unacceptability and high numbers indicated desirable flavor, moistness, tenderness, or acceptability. A value of 5 would indicate an average rating for each parameter. Treatments were designated on individual plates by 3-digit random numbers. Unsalted soda crackers and apple juice were available to the panelists. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and Duncan's new multiple range test programs available in the Statistical Analysis System (Helwig and Council, 1979). The entire experiment was repeated, and because no experiment X treatment interactions were significant, data from the two experiments were pooled. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Hot-boned fillets chilled in water-ice slush exhibited significantly higher shear force values than fillets that had been harvested from cold-aged carcasses chilled in water-ice slush or brine-ice slush (Table 1). Shear force values for hot-boned fillets chilled in brine-ice slush were not significantly different from values observed for fillets from cold-aged carcasses chilled in
1932
MATHUSA AND JANKY TABLE 1. Shear force,* moisture,* chloride,'1 and sodium1 content of retorted spent hen breast meat hot boned or chilled bone and chilled in water-ice slush or 5% sodium chloride-ice slush Water-ice slush
5% Sodium chloridle-ice slush
Parameter
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Shear force, kg force/g Moisture, % Sodium, mg/100 g Chloride, %
6.31 a 65.60 a 251.8 a _ 44 a
10.38 c 65.87 a 235.3 a .47 a
6.59 a b 67.13^ 256.6 a .53b
7.35 b 66.7 l b 325.3b .59 c
' ' Means in a row followed by different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05). 1
n = 14/treatment.
2
n = 10/treatment.
brine-ice slush but were significantly lower than the values obtained from hot-boned fillets that were chilled in water-ice slush (Table 1). The brine-ice slush chilled fillets had significantly higher shear force values than fillets harvested from water-ice slush chilled carcasses after aging. Time of boning had no significant effect on moisture, sodium, or chloride levels in the cooked meat when fillets or carcasses were chilled in water-ice slush (Table 1). Cooked fillets from aged carcasses that had been brineice slush chilled, however, had significantly increased cooked moisture and chloride levels over samples chilled with water-ice slush. Chilling hot-boned fillets in brine-ice slush did not produce moisture levels significantly different from those observed for cold-boned fillets from brine-ice slush chilled carcasses, but did significantly increase sodium and chloride levels for these samples. Sodium and chloride levels from water-ice slush chilled samples, regardless of time of boning, were greatly increased over
normal unsalted meat values [58 mg sodium/ 100 g meat (USDA, 1979) and .08% chloride (Hoey et al., 1983)]. Salt absorption by the meat from the bouillon during either retorting, or the 2-week storage period, or both would account for these high values. The fresh uncooked bouillon solution contained significantly more NaCl than bouillon sampled from all treatments after cooking and storage (Table 2). Further, it appeared that the amount of salt absorbed during cooking or storage was related to the initial salt content of the meat. Samples chilled by brine-ice slush would have higher NaCl levels prior to retorting than samples chilled by water-ice slush (Hoey et al., 1983), and these former samples absorbed significantly less salt from the bouillon (higher bouillion NaCl content, Table 2). Janky et al. (1983) related the tenderness response associated with brine chilling to increased water holding capacity due to increased chloride ion concentration. This relationship appeared to hold true with hot boned
TABLE 2. Percent sodium chloride content of fresh chicken bouillon* and bouillon that had contained spent hen breast meat that had been either hot boned or chilled boned in either water-ice slush or 5% sodium chloride-ice slush1 5% Sodium chloride-ice slush
Water-ice slush bouillon
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Chilled boned
Hot boned
1.2ld
.55 a
.54 a
.66 b
.77 c
' ' ' Means with different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05). 'Granular Soup Base, chicken flavor, mixed at 116 g/liter water, Continental Organization of Distributor Enterprises, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA 15220. 2
n = 4/treatment.
1933
BRINE-CHILLED, HOT BONED FOWL MEAT
TABLE 3. Sensory evaluation of retorted spent ben breast meat hot boned or chilled boned and chilled in water-ice slush or 5% sodium chloride-ice slush Water- ice slush1
5% Sodium chloride-ice slush
Sensory evaluation1
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Texture Juiciness Flavor Acceptability
4.2a 4.5a 5.3a 4.6 a
5.7b 5.2a 6.ia 5.7b
5.1ab 4.9a 5.8 a 5.3b
5.2 b 4.9 a 6.2a 5.5b
a
'
,c
Means in a row with different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05).
1
Values are based on an infinite point hedonic scale with a minimum value of 0 (extremely tough, dry, undesirable, or unacceptable) and a maximum value of 10 (extremely tender, moist, desirable, or acceptable). A value of 5 would indicate that the product was judged to be tender, moist, desirable, or acceptable.
fillets; however, fillets harvested from cold aged carcasses were not significantly different in tenderness even though brine-ice slush chilled samples had significantly higher chloride ion content and cooked meat moisture values (Table 1) than water-ice slush chilled samples. The retort process appeared to mask any changes in tenderness due to salt infusion between water-ice slush and brine-ice slush chilled fillets from cold-aged carcasses. Kahlenberg and Funk (1961) observed increased tenderization of spent hen breast muscle attributable to pressure cooking. This tenderization has been associated to increased gelation of cross-linked collagen. In carcasses of older birds, increased cross-linking of collagen is thought to be the main cause of increased toughness. The introduction of increased toughness of the actual muscle tissue due to hot boning could be alleviated by brine-ice slush chilling because the NaCl infusion would appear to affect tenderness of muscle tissue itself but not collagen oriented toughness (Oblinger et al., 1977). Because Kahlenberg and Funk (1961) were unable to show an effect of cooking and storage of spent hen muscle in various salts, it was concluded that the tenderness response observed with hot-boned fillets in this study was due to brine-ice slush chilling and not the absorption of NaCl during cooking and storage. Neither time of boning nor chilling treatment had a significant effect on panelists' evaluation of the meat for juiciness or flavor (Table 3). Samples of hot-boned fillets, regardless of chilling treatment, received significantly higher tenderness scores (more tender) than water-ice slush chilled aged-boned fillets.
Tenderness scores for brine-ice slush chilled aged-boned fillets were not significantly different from scores for hot-boned fillets or waterice slush chilled cold-aged fillets. Overall acceptability of water-ice slush chilled coldaged fillets was scored significantly lower (less desirable) than all other treatments (Table 3). The panelists, even though trained with this product, were unable to overcome a prejudice toward the "tuna fish-like" texture of the retorted product. It would appear that they preferred the hot-boned products due to increased toughness and, thus, less of this type of texture. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks are extended to the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, particularly to J. P. Adams for his assistance in the retorting process.
REFERENCES Arafa, A. S., D. M. Janky, H. R. Wilson, J. L. Oblinger, and J. A. Koburger, 1979a. Processing factors affecting yields and meat quality of smoked Bobwhite quail. Poultry Sci. 58:1498-1503. Arafa, A. S., D. M. Janky, H. R. Wilson, J. L. Oblinger, and J. A. Koburger, 1979b. Quality characteristics of brine-chilled and smoked Bobwhite quail. J. Food Sci. 44:1435-1439, 1446. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, 1970. Official Methods of Analysis. 10th ed. Assoc. Offic. Anal. Chem., Washington, DC. de Fremery, D., and M. F. Pool, 1960. Biochemistry of chicken muscle as related to rigor mortis and tenderization. Food Res. 25:73-87. Hamm, D., 1981. Unconventional meat harvesting. Poultry Sci. 60:1666. (Abstr.) Hamm, D., 1983. Techniques for reducing toughness in hot-stripped broiler meat. Poultry Sci. 62:
1934
MATHUSA AND JANKY
1430. (Abstr.) Helwig, J. T., and K. A. Council, ed., 1979. SAS User's Guide. SAS Inst. Inc., Raleigh, NC. Hoey, J. M., M. G. Dukes and D. M. Janky, 1983. Tenderness of Pectoralis superficialis from broilers chilled in potassium or sodium chloride ice slush. J. Food Sci. 48:675-676. Janky, D. M., A. S. Arafa, J. L. Oblinger, J. A. Koburger, and D. L. Fletcher, 1978. Sensory, physical, and microbiological comparison of brine-chilled, water-chilled, and hot-packaged (no chill) broilers. Poultry Sci. 57:417-421. Janky, D. M., M. D. Carpenter, D. L. Fletcher, A. S. Arafa, J. A. Koburger, and R. L. West, 1983. Physical characteristics of Pectoralis superficialis from brine-chilled broiler carcasses. Poultry Sci. 62:433-436. Janky, D. M., J. A. Koburger, and J. L. Oblinger, 1982. A comparison of brined and unbrined paired broiler carcass-halves for tenderness. Poultry Sci. 61:716-718. Kahlenberg, O. J., and E. M. Funk, 1961. The cooking of fowl with various salts for precooked poultry products. Poultry Sci. 4 0 : 6 6 8 - 6 7 3 . Klose, A. A., R. N. Sayre, D. de Fremery, and M. F. Pool, 1972. Effect of hot cutting and related factors in commercial broiler processing on tenderness. Poultry Sci. 51:634—638. Klose, A. A., R. N. Sayre, and M. F. Pool, 1971. Tenderness changes associated with cutting up poultry shortly after warm evisceration. Poultry
Sci. 5 0 : 5 8 5 - 5 9 1 . Lyon, C. E., B. G. Lyon, and J. P. Hudspeth, 1973. The effect of different cutting procedures on the cooked yield and tenderness of cut-up broiler parts. Poultry Sci. 52:1103-1111. Marion, J. E., T. S. Boggess, Jr., and J. G. Woodroof, 1964. Pre-treatment and processing methods for canned whole chickens. Poultry Sci. 43:1097 — 1101. Oblinger, J. L., D. M. Janky, and J. A. Koburger, 1977. Effect of brining and cooking procedure on tenderness of spent hens. J. Food Sci. 42: 1347-1348. Peterson, D. W., 1977. Effect of polyphosphates on tenderness of hot cut chicken breast meat. J. Food Sci. 4 2 : 1 0 0 - 1 0 1 . Pool, M. F., D. de Fremery, A. A. Campbell, and A. A. Klose, 1959. Poultry tenderness II. Influence of processing on tenderness of chickens. Food Technol. 13:25-29. United States Department of Agriculture, 1979. Composition of Food Poultry Products RawProcessed-Prepared. Agric. Handbook No. 8—5. USDA Sci. Educ. Admin., Washington, DC. Wyche, R. C , and T. L. Goodwin, 1974. Hot-cutting of broilers and its influence on tenderness and yield. Poultry Sci. 53:1668-1675. Zenoble, O. C , J. A. Bowers, and F. E. Cunningham, 1977. Eating quality and composition of spent hens processed with or without immersion chilling. Poultry Sci. 56:843-845.
1 Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations Journal Series Number 4973. 2 To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Peterson (1977) was able to prevent the toughening associated with hot cutting of muscle fibers by injecting sodium polyphosphate into turkey breast fillets at 20 min postmortem. Hamm (1983) successfully tenderized "hot stripped" breast fillets by tumbling the fillets in a drum for 45 min following a 24 hr aging period. These procedures involve increased handling, labor, time and equipment; and thus they might offset the economic advantages derived from hot boning. Chilling poultry in sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions (brine chilling) has been shown to increase tenderness of muscle aged intact on the carcass (Janky et al, 1978, 1983; Arafa et al., 1979a,b; Hoey et al, 1983). Soaking spent hen carcasses (postchill) in salt water has also been observed to increase tenderness of the cooked meat (Marion et al, 1964; Oblinger et al., 1977). A chilling step would be necessary in spent hen processing, because previous work (Zenoble et al, 1977) has shown that prechill cooking of spent hen muscle results in significantly tougher meat. Because brining tends to be more effective as muscle toughness is increased (Janky et al, 1982), it was hypothesized that this technique might alleviate the toughness associated with prerigor (hot) muscle removal. The purpose of this research was to compare tenderness of hot-cut Pectoralis superficialis that was chilled
1930
BRINE-CHILLED, HOT BONED FOWL MEAT
in brine-ice slush with muscle chilled in waterice slush. MATERIALS AND METHODS
One hundred White Leghorn hens, 84 weeks of age, housed on litter floor, were randomly selected, cooped off feed and water for 16 hr, stunned, and killed by exsanguination. Fifty carcasses were subscalded (60 C, 45 sec), picked in a rotary drum picker (35 sec), and eviscerated by hand. Both skinned breast fillets were harvested by filleting from each of the other 50 carcasses immediately postslaughter and clamped together as a pair. The 25 hot-boned paired fillets and 25 conventionally processed carcass shells were chilled together in either agitated (water circulation) water-ice slush (1 C) or 5% (w/w) NaCl brine-ice slush ( - 1 C) for 4 hr. Chilling medium to carcass-fillet and ice to chilling medium ratios were maintained at 3.5:1 (w/w) and 1.9 (v/v) or less, respectively. The NaCl concentration was monitored with specific gravity (1.035 ± .002) and controlled by addition of cold (2 C) saturated NaCl or water. After chilling, all fillets and carcasses were rinsed, packed in ice, and aged 20 hr (2 C). Skinless fillets were removed from each of the aged carcasses and clamped together in pairs. All paired fillets were individually vacuum packaged in Cryovac bags and held for 48 hr before cooking. These procedures produced 25 paired fillets in each of four treatments of a 2 X 2 factorial arrangement of two boning treatments (hot-aged and cold-aged) and two chilling treatments (water-ice slush and 5% NaCl brine-ice slush). Paired fillets were batch precooked (20 pairs, 5 per treatment) to an internal temperature of 71 C in a constant temperature water bath at 90 C. Internal temperature was monitored with a recording potentiometer and copper constantan thermocouples centered in one fillet of each pair. The cooked fillets were placed in covered 473-ml Ball canning jars (1 pair per jar) and held at 2 C overnight. Each jar was filled to within 2 cm of the rim with hot (~90 C) chicken bouillon (Granular Soup Base, Chicken Flavoring, CODE, 116 g/liter) and sealed with bands and dome lids. Equal numbers of jars from each treatment were processed in a commercial-type retort at 1.76 kg/cm 2 (25 psi) and 121 C for 30 min. Jars were cooled under 1.76 kg/cm 2 (25 psi) for 20 min with tap water and stored at 2 C for further analyses (<4 weeks).
1931
Shear force was obtained for the weighed center 6.25-cm section of both Pectoralis superficialis muscles from each of seven fillet pairs (1 pair per jar) per treatment. Samples were natural thickness and width and were sheared across the grain of muscle fibers in a 10-blade shear compression cell at a descent speed of .64 cm/sec on a Food Technology Corporation Texture Test instrument equipped with a 136 kg electronic load cell. Shear force (kilograms per gram muscle) values were calculated and an average obtained for each pair of fillets. Moisture, chloride (silver nitrate titration, Volhard method), and sodium (atomic absorption spectrophotometry) levels were obtained using methodology outlined in Official Methods of Analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC, 1970), in duplicate, on samples from five fillet pair per treatment. Sodium chloride concentration was also determined on the fresh chicken bouillon and bouillon from two jars per treatment after 2 weeks storage (AOAC, 1970). In each of two sessions, 20 trained panelists were asked to evaluate bite-size pieces of meat from each treatment (4 pieces/session) for flavor, juiciness, tenderness, and overall acceptability on infinite point scales ranging from 0 to 10. Low numbers indicated undesirable flavor, dryness, toughness, or unacceptability and high numbers indicated desirable flavor, moistness, tenderness, or acceptability. A value of 5 would indicate an average rating for each parameter. Treatments were designated on individual plates by 3-digit random numbers. Unsalted soda crackers and apple juice were available to the panelists. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and Duncan's new multiple range test programs available in the Statistical Analysis System (Helwig and Council, 1979). The entire experiment was repeated, and because no experiment X treatment interactions were significant, data from the two experiments were pooled. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Hot-boned fillets chilled in water-ice slush exhibited significantly higher shear force values than fillets that had been harvested from cold-aged carcasses chilled in water-ice slush or brine-ice slush (Table 1). Shear force values for hot-boned fillets chilled in brine-ice slush were not significantly different from values observed for fillets from cold-aged carcasses chilled in
1932
MATHUSA AND JANKY TABLE 1. Shear force,* moisture,* chloride,'1 and sodium1 content of retorted spent hen breast meat hot boned or chilled bone and chilled in water-ice slush or 5% sodium chloride-ice slush Water-ice slush
5% Sodium chloridle-ice slush
Parameter
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Shear force, kg force/g Moisture, % Sodium, mg/100 g Chloride, %
6.31 a 65.60 a 251.8 a _ 44 a
10.38 c 65.87 a 235.3 a .47 a
6.59 a b 67.13^ 256.6 a .53b
7.35 b 66.7 l b 325.3b .59 c
' ' Means in a row followed by different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05). 1
n = 14/treatment.
2
n = 10/treatment.
brine-ice slush but were significantly lower than the values obtained from hot-boned fillets that were chilled in water-ice slush (Table 1). The brine-ice slush chilled fillets had significantly higher shear force values than fillets harvested from water-ice slush chilled carcasses after aging. Time of boning had no significant effect on moisture, sodium, or chloride levels in the cooked meat when fillets or carcasses were chilled in water-ice slush (Table 1). Cooked fillets from aged carcasses that had been brineice slush chilled, however, had significantly increased cooked moisture and chloride levels over samples chilled with water-ice slush. Chilling hot-boned fillets in brine-ice slush did not produce moisture levels significantly different from those observed for cold-boned fillets from brine-ice slush chilled carcasses, but did significantly increase sodium and chloride levels for these samples. Sodium and chloride levels from water-ice slush chilled samples, regardless of time of boning, were greatly increased over
normal unsalted meat values [58 mg sodium/ 100 g meat (USDA, 1979) and .08% chloride (Hoey et al., 1983)]. Salt absorption by the meat from the bouillon during either retorting, or the 2-week storage period, or both would account for these high values. The fresh uncooked bouillon solution contained significantly more NaCl than bouillon sampled from all treatments after cooking and storage (Table 2). Further, it appeared that the amount of salt absorbed during cooking or storage was related to the initial salt content of the meat. Samples chilled by brine-ice slush would have higher NaCl levels prior to retorting than samples chilled by water-ice slush (Hoey et al., 1983), and these former samples absorbed significantly less salt from the bouillon (higher bouillion NaCl content, Table 2). Janky et al. (1983) related the tenderness response associated with brine chilling to increased water holding capacity due to increased chloride ion concentration. This relationship appeared to hold true with hot boned
TABLE 2. Percent sodium chloride content of fresh chicken bouillon* and bouillon that had contained spent hen breast meat that had been either hot boned or chilled boned in either water-ice slush or 5% sodium chloride-ice slush1 5% Sodium chloride-ice slush
Water-ice slush bouillon
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Chilled boned
Hot boned
1.2ld
.55 a
.54 a
.66 b
.77 c
' ' ' Means with different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05). 'Granular Soup Base, chicken flavor, mixed at 116 g/liter water, Continental Organization of Distributor Enterprises, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA 15220. 2
n = 4/treatment.
1933
BRINE-CHILLED, HOT BONED FOWL MEAT
TABLE 3. Sensory evaluation of retorted spent ben breast meat hot boned or chilled boned and chilled in water-ice slush or 5% sodium chloride-ice slush Water- ice slush1
5% Sodium chloride-ice slush
Sensory evaluation1
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Chilled boned
Hot boned
Texture Juiciness Flavor Acceptability
4.2a 4.5a 5.3a 4.6 a
5.7b 5.2a 6.ia 5.7b
5.1ab 4.9a 5.8 a 5.3b
5.2 b 4.9 a 6.2a 5.5b
a
'
,c
Means in a row with different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05).
1
Values are based on an infinite point hedonic scale with a minimum value of 0 (extremely tough, dry, undesirable, or unacceptable) and a maximum value of 10 (extremely tender, moist, desirable, or acceptable). A value of 5 would indicate that the product was judged to be tender, moist, desirable, or acceptable.
fillets; however, fillets harvested from cold aged carcasses were not significantly different in tenderness even though brine-ice slush chilled samples had significantly higher chloride ion content and cooked meat moisture values (Table 1) than water-ice slush chilled samples. The retort process appeared to mask any changes in tenderness due to salt infusion between water-ice slush and brine-ice slush chilled fillets from cold-aged carcasses. Kahlenberg and Funk (1961) observed increased tenderization of spent hen breast muscle attributable to pressure cooking. This tenderization has been associated to increased gelation of cross-linked collagen. In carcasses of older birds, increased cross-linking of collagen is thought to be the main cause of increased toughness. The introduction of increased toughness of the actual muscle tissue due to hot boning could be alleviated by brine-ice slush chilling because the NaCl infusion would appear to affect tenderness of muscle tissue itself but not collagen oriented toughness (Oblinger et al., 1977). Because Kahlenberg and Funk (1961) were unable to show an effect of cooking and storage of spent hen muscle in various salts, it was concluded that the tenderness response observed with hot-boned fillets in this study was due to brine-ice slush chilling and not the absorption of NaCl during cooking and storage. Neither time of boning nor chilling treatment had a significant effect on panelists' evaluation of the meat for juiciness or flavor (Table 3). Samples of hot-boned fillets, regardless of chilling treatment, received significantly higher tenderness scores (more tender) than water-ice slush chilled aged-boned fillets.
Tenderness scores for brine-ice slush chilled aged-boned fillets were not significantly different from scores for hot-boned fillets or waterice slush chilled cold-aged fillets. Overall acceptability of water-ice slush chilled coldaged fillets was scored significantly lower (less desirable) than all other treatments (Table 3). The panelists, even though trained with this product, were unable to overcome a prejudice toward the "tuna fish-like" texture of the retorted product. It would appear that they preferred the hot-boned products due to increased toughness and, thus, less of this type of texture. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks are extended to the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, particularly to J. P. Adams for his assistance in the retorting process.
REFERENCES Arafa, A. S., D. M. Janky, H. R. Wilson, J. L. Oblinger, and J. A. Koburger, 1979a. Processing factors affecting yields and meat quality of smoked Bobwhite quail. Poultry Sci. 58:1498-1503. Arafa, A. S., D. M. Janky, H. R. Wilson, J. L. Oblinger, and J. A. Koburger, 1979b. Quality characteristics of brine-chilled and smoked Bobwhite quail. J. Food Sci. 44:1435-1439, 1446. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, 1970. Official Methods of Analysis. 10th ed. Assoc. Offic. Anal. Chem., Washington, DC. de Fremery, D., and M. F. Pool, 1960. Biochemistry of chicken muscle as related to rigor mortis and tenderization. Food Res. 25:73-87. Hamm, D., 1981. Unconventional meat harvesting. Poultry Sci. 60:1666. (Abstr.) Hamm, D., 1983. Techniques for reducing toughness in hot-stripped broiler meat. Poultry Sci. 62:
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