THE EFFECT OF THE COMBINATION OF SALTY, BITTER AND SOUR ACCOMPANIMENT ON THE FLAVOR AND JUICINESS OF PORK PATTIES

Most food is eaten as meals and taste interactions between individual components of a meal may occur. These interactions were studied to examine the effect of combinations of vegetable accompaniments on sensory properties of pork patties. A solution of three basic tastes (sour, bitter and salty) and subsequently vegetables representing the same basic tastes (sour: pickled cucumber, bitter: arugula, and salty: salted potatoes) were tested. Results showed that indeed interactions occurred, but in more complex meal combinations the effects are smaller than if only one basic taste is used, as previously demonstrated. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS This study expands the current knowledge of food-food interactions in a meal consisting of pork and accompaniments, from the effect of a single accompaniment to a more complex meal serving the meat with two or three different types of vegetables with different basic tastes. The knowledge can be used in a product development phase, developing meals in which the accompaniment can be designed from a combination of the knowledge of the sensory properties of the meat after frying and how the vegetables suppress negative sensory properties and/or enhance positive sensory properties in the meat. This opens up for possibilities of producing new and innovative meals from traditional ones by knowing if and how the vegetables affect the sensory properties of the meat. Furthermore, the knowledge can be used as an aid in developing meals from new meat cuts for which there are no previous traditions of accompaniment. In addition to this very practical knowledge, the study reports new results on food-food interactions in a more complex matrix than previously reported.