Freshly Cooked and Reheated Turkey Breast Muscle: 2. Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Muscle and Expressed Juice

Abstract

Water or a phosphate salt solution was added to turkey breast muscle. The effects of those additives on the stability of cooked, stored muscle were determined by physical and chemical measurements.Adding phosphate salt solution to freshly cooked or reheated muscle resulted in increased percentage total moisture in those samples. Total moisture, however, was not affected by adding water probably because injected water was not bound by the muscle. Volume of expressed juice was greater in freshly cooked than in reheated muscle but was not affected by either added phosphate or added water. Water activity (Aw), measured as the equilibrium relative humidity of the atmosphere above a sample, was not affected by additive or heating treatment.Physical determinations of moisture were correlated with sensory impressions of juiciness. Total moisture was correlated positively with panel scores for juiciness; however, there also was a positive relationship between panel scores for juiciness and percentage cooking loss.As would be expected, the addition of phosphate salts increased the pH of muscle. Storage and/or reheating resulted in increased TBA values. The phosphate-treated, reheated sample had a TBA value below that of freshly cooked samples, indicating that phosphate salts retarded oxidative changes in cooked, stored muscle. Determination of ninhydrin reactive compounds of muscle and expressed juice revealed no differences attributable to additive or heating treatment.