Characteristics of some intermediate moisture smoked meats

Intermediate moisture smoked beef was prepared by cook-soak/equilibration in a solution containing sodium chloride, sodium nitrite and potassium sorbate. Two further solutions contained glycerol and glycerol + 'onion' in addition to the above ingredients. Half the samples in each treatment group were smoked for 18 h (heavy smoking) and the others for 4 h (light smoking) at 50°C. All samples developed the pink-red colour of nitrite cured meat but those treated with glycerol were darker, presumably due to decreased moisture contents. Glycerol increased the apparent moisture, fat and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) soluble protein contents and also improved the conversion of haemoproteins to the cooked cured form but decreased the percent soluble hydroxyproline. Smoking caused a marked decrease in moisture, SDS-soluble protein and soluble hydroxyproline contents and slightly decreased the available lysine and percent conversion of the haemoproteins to the cured nitrose forms. Smoking also caused increased darkening and hardness of the samples. Total viable aerobes, coliforms and fungi were below the levels of detection while TBA values were low and all samples possessed no detectable rancidity. Electrophoretograms of the samples indicated that cooking/equilibration had no significant effects on the proteins present but smoking led to a slight loss of some of the protein components.