Influence of cooking method on the nutrient composition of Spanish light lamb

Thirty lambs were used to assess the influence of cooking methods on the nutritional composition of Spanish light lamb. With this aim, the left legs without shank, deboned and untrimmed of any adipose tissue, were analyzed raw. The right legs were analyzed after undertaking one of three cooking procedures: stewing, grilling or roasting. All cooking procedures increased the percentage of fat compared to the raw meat (9.6%), for equivalent sample quantities. This increment was mainly due to the increase in dry matter, from 28.5% in the raw product to 41.6% in roasted or stewed meat, caused by the water losses during cooking. Stewing caused the highest increase in fat, possibly due to fat absorption from the ingredients used in the recipe. This implied an extraordinary increment on the percentage of linoleic acid increasing from 5% to 11% of total fatty acids. n-3 fatty acids were less affected by cooking than n-6 fatty acids. Stewing could improve the fat quality according to cardiovascular indices, although the excess levels of fat should be taken into account. Moreover, cooking also caused the disappearance of B-vitamins to a higher extent than minerals, when expressed on a dry-matter basis. The composition of roasted or grilled lamb was very similar, even when cooking time was very different.