EFFECTS OF WATER-COOKING IN HEAT-SEALED BAGS VERSUS CONVEYOR-BELT GRILLING ON YIELD, MOISTURE, AND TEXTURE OF BROILER BREAST MEAT

The sensory texture profile, shear values, yield, and moisture were de termined for broiler breast muscle deboned at 2 or 24 h post-mortem (P M) and cooked in bags in water (WC) or on a belt-grill (BG) oven. The 24-h PM WC samples were significantly (P < .05) lower in yield. The WC samples were lower in moisture than BG samples. Samples deboned 24 h PM required significantly less force to shear than samples deboned 2 h PM. Within PM time, WC samples required more force to shear than BG s amples. Factor analyzed data indicated that two primary categories of sensory attributes explained about 84% variation in data. Factor I (64 %) included mechanical-geometrical characteristics (hardness, chewines s, fibrousness, and particle size and shape) and separated samples bas ed on PM deboning time, Factor II (20%) related to moisture characteri stics and discriminated samples on the basis of cooking method. Sample s cooked by the BG method were more uniform in height, cooked faster, and exhibited a higher yield than WC samples.