Quality Attributes of Sous-Vide and Dry-Oven Cooked Pork Loin Hams with Different Sugars

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of various sugars on the quality attributes of sous-vide and dry-oven cooked pork loin hams. Pork loin hams were injected at a 15% pumping ratio, and the final salt concentration of all treatments was equally fixed at 2% NaCl (w/w). A control group was prepared without sugar, and treatments were formulated with 0.5% (w/w) molasses, allulose, and xylose, respectively. The injected pork loins were cooked at 63℃ for 4.42 hr (1st sous-vide cooking) in a water-bath and continually cooked in a dry oven at 220℃ until the core temperature reached 71℃. The pH, color characteristics, cooking yield, browning index, shear force, and lipid oxidation stability of the pork loin hams were evaluated. The addition of sugar decreased the lightness of pork loin hams (p<0.05), and the addition of molasses and xylose significantly increased the browning index. The addition of molasses and allulose significantly increased the 1st cooking yield of pork loin hams. The highest shear force was observed for molasses treatment (p<0.05), which was likely due to the high concentration of sugar contained in syrup-type molasses used. The addition of molasses significantly inhibited the lipid oxidation of pork loin hams during 3 wk of refrigerated storage. In conclusion, the results of this study show that sugars at even 0.5% (w/w) concentration changed the color and lipid oxidation stability of sous-vide and dry-oven cooked pork loin hams, probably concerning the occurrence of the Maillard reaction.