Evaluation of thermal treatment markers in wheat flour-derived products cooked in conventional and in low-emissivity ovens.

Different markers for the assessment of thermal treatment entity of food products were investigated on a model bread prepared from wheat flour. Samples were submitted to different cooking procedures by combining three different times and temperatures, and employing two different ovens: a low-emissivity oven and a conventional one. The cook value index was calculated for each sample to evaluate the entity of the thermal treatment. Furosine, maltose:maltulose ratio, colour indexes (L, a, b) have been evaluated in all samples. Furosine has been quantified by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry, maltose:maltulose ratio was determined by HPAEC-PAD, colour indexes were measured by spectrophotometer method. Values for weight loss during cooking and surface temperature have also been monitored. A statistical analysis showed good correlation between the cook value index and all the parameters evaluated. Low emissivity oven shown higher performances and lower energy consumption than conventional oven.

The effect of different convection cooking methods on the instrumental quality and yield of pork Longissimus dorsi.

The effect of different cooking methods (natural convection, NC, forced convection, FC and forced convection/steam combined, FC/S) on selected physical properties of cooked pork Longissimus dorsi samples were compared. FC/S treatment was significantly faster (∼19 min) than NC and FC cooking treatments (∼27 min). The overall cook values at the center of all samples (calculated taking into consideration the cooling phase) were comparable and might explain the similar tenderness found among samples that underwent significantly different thermal histories. The weight loss of the FC/S samples was significantly higher than in the other cooking methods while the color of the surface was paler than the NC and FC ones.