Effects of Sous-Vide Cooking on the Quality Characteristics of Pork Sausage

To explore the application potential of sous-vide (SV) in pork sausage processing, this study examined the effect of sous-vide cooking at different combinations of temperature (60, 65 and 70 ℃) and time (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 h) versus traditional cooking (100 ℃ for 30 min; as control) on the cooking loss rate, pH, color, texture characteristics, shear force, nutritional components, total bacterial count and sensory characteristics of pork sausage. The results showed that as the heating temperature or time increased, the cooking loss rate, pH, redness value, and yellowness value of pork sausage showed an upward trend, the brightness value did not change significantly, and the shear force showed an overall trend of first increasing and then decreasing. In addition, nutrients such as protein and fat were not lost significantly, the total bacterial count decreased and met the requirements of the national standard for cooked meat products. Compared with traditional cooking, SV cooking effectively increased the product yield, reduced water loss, improved the texture characteristics and tenderness, and resulted in better sensory quality. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) showed that cumulatively, the four PCs extracted explained 73.582% of the total variance. According to the proposed model, pork sausage subjected to SV cooking at 70 ℃ for 3 h had the best overall sensory quality.