Asian Food Science Journal

The aim of the research was to investigate the effect of baking and grilling temperatures and times on quality characteristics of chicken breast meat. Eight packs of Industrial skinless chicken breast meat samples were purchased, frozen and sliced into dimensions, thawed and cooked by baking (BK) and grilling (GR) at 170, 180 and 190 ^oC for 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16 min. The cooking yield and loss were assessed by weight changes before and after cooking, juiciness, instrumental and sensory texture changes were investigated using 3 x 2 x 5 factorial experiment in complete randomized design (CRD). Relationships between changes in instrumental and sensory textures were evaluated. The cooking yield decreased significantly (p <0.05) and ranged from 67.99% to 70.90%, while cooking losses increased significantly (p <0.05) and ranged from 28.71% to 31.48%. Cooking decreased significantly (p < 0.05) mechanical properties of juiciness from 41.65% to 24.53%, but increased significantly (p < 0.05) hardness of chicken breast meat from 6.79 N to 11.33 N. The sensory texture showed that samples cooked by BK had higher textural score of 4.72 than GR with 4.52, but both cooking methods were rated neither crispy nor soft by the panelists. It was found that instrumental texture correlated positively with sensory texture in cooked chicken breast meat while sensory texture reversed with instrumental texture with respect to cooking parameters. Considering the overall quality indices evaluated, baking is the best cooking method at 170 ^oC for 8 min.