Elucidation of the relationship between cooking temperature, water distribution and sensory attributes of pork – a combined NMR and sensory study

Low-field NMR T2 relaxation was measured continuously during cooking of pork samples (m. longissimus dorsi) to a final temperature of 75 °C. Simultaneously the remaining muscle was cooked in an oven to a core temperature of either 62 or 75 °C and subsequently evaluated by a sensory panel. Highly significant effects of final cooking temperature on the sensory attributes juiciness (initial and final), hardness, tenderness, crumbliness and chewing time were found. Juiciness and tenderness decreased with increasing temperature, while hardness, crumbliness and chewing time increased with increasing temperature. Distributed T2 relaxation data revealed marked effects of temperature (62 vs. 75 °C) on the water distribution within the meat. Partial least squares (PLS) regressions were used to examine a potential prediction of sensory attributes from the distributed T2 relaxation data, and high correlations were obtained. Moreover, loadings from the PLS regressions were analysed to evaluate the alterations in the water distribution as a function of temperature that contribute to changes in juiciness. This analysis revealed that the reduction in juiciness at 75 °C can be ascribed to changes in the size of the pores confining the myofibrillar water together with an expulsion of water.