Quality of chicken breast meat cooked in a pilot-scale radio frequency oven

Radio frequency (RF) cooking was compared to water bath (WB) cooking in terms of heating rate, temperature distribution, and the quality of cooked meat. Packaged fresh and marinated chicken breast meat were cooked in a continuously moving belt RF oven at 27.12 MHz until the center of the meat reached to 74 °C at the coldest point of the package. The time to reach end point temperature in the RF oven was 23.8 min for 1.36 kg packages, whereas it took 41.3 min to cook in the WB. RF cooking time was 42.4% lower than WB cooking time. Despite RF cooking resulting in a higher heating rate, better temperature distribution was observed for WB cooked breasts. Cook yield, moisture content, pH, expressible moisture, and shear value of RF and WB cooked meats were similar. However, RF cooked meat had lower a* (redness) and higher hue angle values than their WB cooked counterparts. Marination increased the cook yield, moisture content, tenderness, and pH value. Addition of ι-carrageenan to the marinade further increased the cook yield, moisture content, and tenderness of the cooked breasts. Neither marination nor addition of ι-carrageenan affected the expressible moisture of cooked meat.Industrial relevanceWe have conducted our experiments in a pilot-scale RF oven. This machine is designed for the use of food industry and has 6 kW power. We have tried to find out another application of this machine, therefore we have established a procedure to cook chicken breast meat in the RF oven. Our experimental design might be the starting point for the food industry to develop this cooking process.While planning this research, we thought that pre-cooked and packaged chicken breast meat will be a good option for the restaurants to deal with the food safety regulations and foodborne illness outbreaks. Furthermore, this will lower their cost, which food industry will also take advantage of.

► RF cooking procedure for chicken breast meat was established with appropriate package and container.
► Cooking time was lowered 42% in RF oven with respect to cooking time of water bath.
► Quality of RF cooked meat was similar to the quality of water bath cooked meat except the a* (redness).
► ι-Carrageenan addition to the marinade increased the cook yield, moisture content, and tenderness of meat.