Evaluation of Cooking Time of Chicken Patties Prepared Using Woody Broiler Breast Meat

This study evaluated the cooking time of chicken patties prepared with broiler breast fillets exhibiting varying degrees of woody breast (WB). Intact breast fillets (n= 90) deboned at 3 h postmortem were collected from broilers processed following commercial-based operations and categorized based on the degree of tactile hardness in 3 WB categories (normal [NOR], mild [MIL], and moderate/severe [SEV]). These tactile scores were validated using the instrumental compression force analysis. Fillet color (L*, a*, and b*) and pH were also measured at 24 h postmortem. Breast fillets were individually ground and formed into patties (patties made with NOR [P-NOR], patties made with MIL [P-MIL], and patties madewith SEV [P-SEV]). Patties were cooked from 2°C to a final center temperature of 75°C on a flat electric griddle (150° C). Internal patty temperatures were measured at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 min and then every 30 s until the target core temperature was reached. Cook loss and moisture content were also evaluated in cooked patties. SEV fillets showed higher (P< 0.05) compression force, pH, L*, a*, and b* values than NOR fillets. The cooking time to the terminal point was lower for P-SEV compared with P-NOR (P< 0.05). No differences were observed in cooking time between P-MIL and the other patty samples. Cook loss andmoisture content levels were greater (P< 0.05) in P-SEV in comparisonwith P-NOR and P-MIL. These results suggest that the WB condition can alter the thermal processing of chicken patties by reducing the cooking time. Further research would be needed to confirm potential alterations caused by this myopathy in thermophysical properties of intact WB fillets and further processed poultry products containing WB meat.