Effect of different cooking methods on the physico-chemical and sensory attributes of chicken meat caruncles

Studies were conducted to develop chicken meat caruncles (CMC) from spent hen meat using three different cooking methods namely oven cooking, deep fat frying and microwave cooking. Proximate composition, different physico-chemical properties and sensory attributes of three different batches of CMC were evaluated. Cooking yield, water activity and moisture % of microwave cooked CMC were significantly higher (P<0.05) than oven cooked and deep fat fried CMC. However, there was no significant difference of pH, protein, crude fiber, ash and carbohydrates of fried, oven cooked and microwave cooked CMC. Significantly lower (P<0.05) values were obtained for energy values in oven cooked and hardness in microwave cooked CMC than their counterparts. In colour profile, the redness (a) value of fried CMC was significantly higher (P<0.05) than oven cooked CMC. Among sensory attributes, colour-/-appearance and flavour scores were significantly higher (P<0.05) in deep fat fried CMC whereas all the other sensory attributes such as crispiness, after-taste, meat flavour intensity and overall acceptability were significantly higher (P<0.05) in microwave cooked CMC. CMC prepared by using 65% spent hen meat and cooked by microwave cooking method have more cooking yield and lower calories, acidity and hardness. The sensory panelists had awarded significantly (P<0.05) higher sensory scores and rated its overall acceptability very good to excellent, better than fried and oven cooked caruncles.