Effect of Cooking Methods and Fat Levels on the Physico-chemical, Processing, Sensory and Microbial Quality of Buffalo Meat Patties

Buffalo meat patties with two fat levels, F1 (15% added fat) and F2 (5% added fat and 3% tapioca starch), were cooked in a pre-heated hot air oven (HO) at 175±2°C for 15 min, in a microwave oven (MO) for 70 sec and by pressure cooking (PC) at 15 psi pressure for 10 min. and compared for physico-chemical, processing, sensory and microbiological quality attributes. F2 had significantly (p<0.05) higher value for the moisture and moisture protein ratio than F1. However, MO and PC patties had significantly (p<0.05) higher moisture content than HO-cooked buffalo meat patties irrespective of fat content. Highest fat percentage was in MO patties while the minimum was in PC patties. Moisture and fat retention and cooking yield were highest in MO patties irrespective of added fat content in the formulation. Cooking yield and dimensional parameters were better maintained in F2 than F1. Sensory scores viz. appearance and color, flavour, juiciness and texture for HO patties were better than other cooking methods. Sensory panelists rated overall acceptability of HO patties very good to excellent, whereas PC and MO patties were rated as good to very good irrespective of fat content. Microbiological quality was comparable in both groups irrespective of cooking methods used. (