Handbook of Meat Processing

(Greg DeLong) #1
Cooked Ham 307

taste (Toldr á et al. 1995 ; Flores et al. 1998 ),
but the amount of released amino acids
depends on the extent of resting before
cooking.
Lipolysis is also favored by conditions
prior to cooking, especially when the the pH
is near neutral conditions. Fatty acids are
released during resting and initial cooking of
hams (Toldr á 2007 ). One or two days of
resting, prior to cooking, allows longer enzy-
matic action and larger amounts of released
amino acids and fatty acids that will act as
substrates for further chemical reactions (i.e.,
Strecker reactions) responsible for the gen-
eration of volatile compounds. As in the case

tions, mainly through proteolysis and lipoly-
sis, even though these enzymes have a
reduced time for action. Muscle proteases
and lipases contribute to the generation of
free amino acids and fatty acids, which have
some infl uence on taste and aroma.
The conditions within the hams (high
water activity, low salt content) are favorable
for proteolysis, but muscle protease enzymes
are sensitive to temperatures above 50 ° C and
thus, are rapidly inactivated during cooking
because their stability decreases rapidly
(Toldr á et al. 1992 ). In any case, there is
some generation of free amino acids by
muscle aminopeptidases that contribute to


A

B

Figure 16.3. Cross - section of cooked ham: (A) high - quality cooked ham in which the muscular integrity has
been respected and (B) low - quality where muscle integrity has been partly lost.

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