Indonesian Traditional Meatball

Indonesian traditional meat balls (bakso) can be classified as traditional restructured meat and it is produced by mixing fine ground meat, cooking salt, garlic and tapioca starch into a batter which is then formed into balls ranging in size from a marble to a ping-pong ball before they are cooked in boiling water. The consumer’s acceptances were influenced by the quality of bakso, location of sale, price and product accessibility. Whilst the “unique taste and promotional tools strategies” offered by cottage meatballs processors were positively related to their education level. Early and late post mortem meats as well as frozen meat are suitable as the main raw material in bakso production. Bakso made from late post mortem (LPM) had similar textural properties compared to the one prepared using early post mortem meat (EPM) although it had a higher elasticity especially when 15% tapioca starch added during preparation of those products. The micrograph of EPM and LPM bakso showed that myosin and actomyosin network appears as thin thread lines or protein strands that interconnect between one another, forming a web-like net matrix, while the tapioca granules appear as dense granules aggregated into one another. The non-meat ingredients especially tapioca starch and other starches which can be used as substitution material of tapioca starch were also discussed. The addition of 10–15% tapioca starch and boiling temperature of 90°C gave the best bakso quality.