Cooking loss and juiciness of pork in relation to raw meat quality and cooking procedure

The study comprised two experiments with the aim to investigate the influence of raw meat quality and cooking procedure on cooking loss and juiciness of pork. The first experiment determined the cooking loss at 60, 70 and 80 degreesC centre temperature of 10 raw meat qualities (defined according to ultimate pH, drip loss, breed and rearing conditions) when cooked as steaks on a pan or as a roast in oven at a oven temperature of 90 or 190 degreesC. The differences in cooking loss between the raw meat qualities and the cooking procedures did decrease as the centre temperature increased and were almost negligble at 80 degreesC. Low water holding capacity (WHC) and low pH resulted in high cooking loss while no difference in cooking loss was observed between meat having medium or high WHC and pH. In the second experiment four raw meat qualities (standard, Duroc, low pH and heavy carcass weight) chosen from the first experiment to ensure a wide variation in cooking loss, were cooked in oven at 90 or 190 degreesC oven temperature. Juiciness was assessed three times during the chewing process. The results suggested that juiciness experienced initially in the chewing process depended only on the water content of the meat, whereas juiciness experienced later in the chewing process was determined by a combination of the water and intramuscular fat contents and the saliva production during chewing. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.