Abstract:
The influence of cooking methods (water bath, retort, and microwave) on the binding and water holding proper ties of mixed pork/casein gels with (2.5 or 5 g kg-1) or without (control) microbial transglutaminase (MTGase)
was investigated using puncture test measurements. The MTGase treatment improved (P < 0.0001) water-holding
capacity, reduced (P <0.0001) cooking loss (CL), purge and expressible water (EW), and increased (P <0.0001) the
gel hardness and breaking strength as measured by compression and puncture tests. Microwave-cooked mixed
gels had the lowest hardness but least CL and EW than retort and water bath-cooked samples. The results sug gested that MTGase influenced the gel properties of pork muscle/non muscle gels, but the effectiveness of the en zyme treatment depended on the cooking methods.
