Biochemical and technological characteristics of hot chicken meat

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Abstract
Summary: In the hot breast and leg muscles of broiler chicken the level of ATP, the ‘R’ value, the lactic acid content, the pH value, the length of sarcomers, the water and fat retention capacity, the fat emulsion stability, thermal drip, and the extractability of protein fraction were investigated. It was found that in the breast muscles the onset of rigor mortis commenced within 30–60 min, and in the leg muscles as early as 15–30 min after killing of the birds. The deepest rigor mortis occurred between the first and fourth hour, and then gradually declined, sooner in the leg than in the breast muscles. The addition of sodium chloride (2.0–2.5%) to the minced pre‐rigor meat not later than 40 min after slaughter, or better, an injection of NaCl brine into intact muscles 15 min after slaughter of birds, preserved their good technological properties.The tenderness and the thermal drip of hot salted and chilled salted muscles showed no significant differences, but water retention and fat emulsifying capacity were better in the hot salted meat samples. The hot salted and cooked muscles were preferred by the sensory panel to corresponding samples of chilled muscles.From the hot salted chicken meat more sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar proteins were extracted than from meat salted after chilling. However, after frozen storage the extractability of myofibrillar proteins were higher in the salted chilled meat.