Assessment of emulsion gels formulated with chestnut (Castanea sativa M.) flour and chia (Salvia hispanica L) oil as partial fat replacers in pork burger formulation.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect on chemical composition, physico-chemical properties, cooking characteristics, fatty acid profile, lipid oxidation, and sensory acceptability of an oil-in-water emulsion gel that was prepared with chestnut flour, chia oil, gellan gum, and water (CEG), used as a fat replacer in pork burgers. The original mixture was used as a control sample (CS). The other samples were formulated partially replacing pork backfat with 5% of CEG (CEG5%) and 10% of CEG (CEG10%). RESULTS: Proximate analysis of samples showed several differences between samples. The CEG addition was found to be effective for improving the cooking yield while diameter reduction and thickness increase were positively affected. As regards lipid oxidation, in cooked burger, the 2-thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values for CS, CEG5% and CEG10% were 0.46, 0.57, and 0.59 mg malonaldehyde/kg sample, respectively. The linolenic and linolenic acid content of pork burger increased as CEG addition increased. Sensory properties for CS and CEG5% were similar whereas CEG10% showed the highest sensory scores. CONCLUSIONS: A combination of chestnut flour and chia oil could be used as a novel ingredient to develop pork burgers with a better nutritional profile without diminishing their sensory and physico-chemical properties. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.