Effects of different cooking regimes on the microstructure and tenderness of duck breast muscle

BACKGROUND Cooking has a great influence on meat tenderness, and we assumed that changes of tenderness in this process resulted from the liberation of actin and associated structural changes. Therefore, in this study, we investigated changes in the microstructure and tenderness when duck breast muscle were cooked to different internal endpoint temperatures (70, 80, 90, 95 degrees C) by three cooking regimes (conventional cooking, two-stage cooking and three-stage cooking). RESULTS When duck breast muscle was cooked to an internal endpoint temperature of 70 degrees C, the three-stage cooking significantly decreased the MeullenetOwens razor shear force (MORSF) value (P < 0.05) and resulted in a longer sarcomere length (P < 0.05) compared with the conventional cooking. However, further improvement of the tenderness and an increase in sarcomere length did not occur at higher internal endpoint temperatures. The two-stage cooking regime, with a much longer cooking time below 55 degrees C, also resulted in a lower MORSF value (P > 0.05) and increased sarcomere length (P < 0.05) at an internal endpoint temperature of 70 degrees C compared with the conventional cooking. Significant liberation of actin was also observed in duck meat cooked between 50 and 60 degrees C. CONCLUSION The two- and three-stage cooking regimes with initial temperatures of 5060 degrees C and endpoint temperature of 70 degrees C could improve tenderness of duck breast meat, which might be related to the liberation of actin. Three-stage cooking had the great advantages of improving meat tenderness and reducing cooking loss; therefore, this is to be recommended for further application and research.(c) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry