Effect of meat chunk size, massaging time and cooking time on quality of restructured pork blocks

In the present study, effect of meat chunk size (2-3 and 4-5 cm), massaging time (6, 8 and 10 min) and cooking time (40, 45 and 50 min) on quality of restructured pork blocks was evaluated. Higher product yield (89.31%) was obtained with chunk size of 2-3 cm compared to blocks prepared from chunk size of 4-5 cm (85.12%). PH and shear force values were comparable. Among sensory attributes appearance and overall palatability was significantly higher for product prepared from chunk size of 2-3 cm. Increase in massage time from 6 min to 10 min resulted in improvement in product yield and reduction in shear force value. All the sensory attributes improved with the increasing massaging time except the flavour, which remained constant. Ten minutes of massaging time was found optimum due to higher product yield, significantly better appearance, texture and overall palatability than 6 and 8 min of massaging. In cooking time, it was found that product yield and shear force values were inversely proportional to the cooking time. Sensory attributes were comparable. Cooking time of 50 min was found optimum in view of better sensory attributes of the product than 40 and 45 min of cooking. From the present study it can be concluded that Meat chunk size of 2-3 cm, massaging time of 10 min and cooking time of 50 min was found optimum for making restructured pork blocks in the view of better sensory attributes of the product.