Effect of Pre-cooking Conditions on the Quality Characteristics of Ready-To-Eat Samgyetang

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of pre-cooking conditions on the quality characteristics of ready-to-eat (RTE) Samgyetang. Raw chickens were steamed under the different conditions of 50 degrees C/30 min (T1), 65 degrees C/30 min (T2), 85 degrees C/30 min (T3), and 90 degrees C/10 min (T4) prior to retorting at 120 degrees C for 65 min. The results showed that pre-cooking conditions in all treated samples could reduce fat contents in breast and leg meats by 8.5-11.7% and 10.0-11.0% compared to the control, even though there were no significant differences among treatments (p>0.05). The L* and b* values of breast and leg meats treated with the higher temperature and longer time conditions were significantly higher than the control (p<0.05), while a* values tended to decrease despite of not to a significant extent (p>0.05). Moreover, apparent viscosity and water soluble protein showed insignificant differences (p>0.05) among the samples as a result of the retorting process, which might have more negative influences on the quality. T2 samples obtained significantly the highest average Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) score and transmittance value, representing the most clear broth among the samples, compared to the control. On the other hand, T3 showed the highest cooking loss among the treatments and the lowest QDA scores among the samples. In conclusion, pre-cooking treatment prior to retorting in manufacturing Samgyetang is a plausible way to reduce its fat content. A pre-cooking condition at either 65 degrees C for 30 min, or 90 degrees C for 10 min are recommended for producing Samgyetang with optimum quality.