The basic principle and technology of cured bacon

Cured meat products are a kind of traditional products in China, so do you know its principle? Until now, meat curing is still very common, but now the purpose of curing has not only limited to antiseptic storage, it also has the role of improving the flavor and color of meat to achieve the purpose of improving the quality of meat.

Meat curing is to use salt or salt-based and add sodium nitrate, spices and other auxiliary materials, the process of meat impregnation. In recent years, with the development of food science, curing often add phosphate, sodium isoascorbate and other meat additives, in order to improve the water retention of meat, to obtain a higher yield.

Curing materials and their role

(A) salt and its role

Salt is the most basic material for meat curing. Salt can not be sterilized, a certain concentration (10% to 15%) of salt solution can inhibit the reproduction of a variety of microorganisms, preserved products have a preservative effect.

1, the role of preservation

Preservation of salt in the curing process is mainly manifested in:

(1) the higher osmotic pressure of table salt, caused by microbial cell dehydration, deformation.

(2) Salt combines with the peptide bonds of membrane proteins, resulting in a decrease or loss of bacterial enzyme activity.

(3) Sodium ions have a small mobility and can disrupt the normal metabolism of microbial cells, and chloride ions have a stronger effect of inhibiting microbial activity than other anions (e.g., bromide ions).

(4) Since oxygen is not easily dissolved in the salt solution, it leads to a lack of oxygen in the solution, preventing the reproduction of aerobic bacteria.

(5) Dissociation occurs after the salt is dissolved in water, which reduces the free water and destroys the water metabolism, leading to difficulty in the growth of microorganisms.

2, highlighting the role of fresh flavor

Meat products contain a large number of proteins, fats and other ingredients with a fresh taste, often in a certain concentration of salty taste to show.

3, penetration

Salt can promote nitrate, nitrite, sugar to the deep muscle penetration.

(2) nitrate, nitrite and its role

meat curing process is often added to nitrate, nitrite, which has the following effects:

(1) Nitrate and nitrite can inhibit the growth of Clostridium botulinum, but also can inhibit the growth of many other types of spoilage bacteria. This effect is most pronounced at nitrate concentrations of 0.1% and nitrite concentrations of about 0.01%.

(2) Antioxidant effect, delayed cured meat spoilage, which is due to its own reducing properties.

(3) Helps to produce the unique flavor of cured meat and inhibits the production of steaming flavor.

(4) Excellent coloring effect.

(C) sugar and its role

In the meat curing process adding sugar can play the following roles:

1, flavoring: in meat processing, adding sugar has the role of moderating the salty taste.

2, color: reducing sugar (glucose, etc.) can absorb oxygen to prevent meat decolorization; sugar for nitrate-reducing bacteria to provide energy, so that the nitrate into nitrite, accelerate the formation of NO, so that the color effect is better.

3, increase tenderness: due to the role of sugar by microorganisms and enzymes to produce acid, to promote the decline in pH value of saline solution to improve the water retention of meat, so that the muscle tissue becomes soft, thus increasing the tenderness of meat.

4, the production of flavor substances: sugar and sulfur-containing amino acids between the occurrence of Meladic reaction, the production of aldehydes and other carbonyl compounds and sulfur-containing compounds, increase the flavor of meat.

(D) phosphate and its role

Phosphate in meat processing is mainly to improve the water retention of meat, increase adhesion, so that the meat in the processing process to reduce the loss of nutrients, to maintain the tenderness of the meat to increase the yield. Since phosphate is alkaline, adding it to meat can increase the pH value of meat, make the meat expand more, thus enhancing water retention, increasing the adhesion of the product and reducing the loss of nutrients, preventing the discoloration and deterioration of the meat product, and facilitating the immersion of seasoning into the center of the meat, so that the product has a good appearance and luster.

(E) Ascorbate, isoascorbate and its role

(1) Ascorbate can have a chemical reaction with nitrite, increase the formation of NO, so that the coloring process is accelerated. For example, in frankfurter sausage processing, the use of ascorbate can shorten the curing time by 1/3.

(2) Ascorbate facilitates the reduction of high-ferrous myoglobin to ferrous myoglobin, and thus speeds up the curing process.

(3) A large amount of ascorbate acts as an antioxidant, thus stabilizing the color and flavor of the cured meat.

(4) Ascorbate has the effect of reducing the formation of nitrosamines under certain conditions.

(F) the role of water

In the meat curing process, water has the following roles:

(1) can be used as salt, nitrite, sugar, phosphate and other curing ingredients dispersion medium.

(2) Make up for the loss of product moisture.

(3) Compensate for moisture loss in thermal processing.

(4) Reduce losses and increase the commodity value of the product, you can make the product moisture content is greater than the moisture content of raw meat.

Meat curing methods

There are four main methods used in curing meat, namely, dry curing, wet curing, mixed curing and injection curing, and different cured products have different requirements for curing methods, some products can be cured with one curing method, while some products need to be cured with two or even more than two curing methods.

(A) dry curing method

Dry curing is the use of salt or mixed salt, rubbed on the surface of the meat, and then layer stacked on the curing rack or layer mounted in the curing containers, relying on the exudate to form a salt solution curing method. The dry curing method is simple and is mostly used in small-scale meat factories and rural areas. Curing due to osmosis and diffusion, from the internal secretion of meat part of the water and soluble proteins and minerals such as the formation of brine, and gradually complete the process of curing, and thus curing takes longer, is a slow curing method, but the cured product flavor is better. When dry pickling, the product always loses water, and the degree of water loss depends on the pickling time and the amount of salt used. The longer the curing period, the higher the amount of salt used, the leaner the raw meat, and the higher the curing temperature, the more serious the loss of water in the product.

The advantages of dry curing are easy operation, dry products, less protein loss, low moisture content, and storage resistance. Disadvantages are uneven pickling, loss of weight, poor color, salt can not be reused, workers labor intensity. Dry-cured products have a unique flavor and texture, China's famous ham, salted meat, smoked ribs and fish often use this method of curing; dry-cured method of production of a small proportion of foreign countries, mainly some of the ham with bone, such as country ham.

(B) wet curing method

Wet curing method is the brine curing method. It is the curing method in which the meat is submerged in the pre-prepared salt solution in the container, and through diffusion and water transfer, the curing agent penetrates into the meat and obtains a relatively uniform distribution until its concentration is finally the same as that of the salt solution.

The advantages of the wet curing method are: the salt content of the meat after curing is uniform, the brine can be reused, curing reduces the labor intensity of workers, and the meat is softer. Its shortcomings are: serious loss of protein, the required curing time is long, the flavor is not as good as the dry curing method, the water content is high, not easy to store; in addition, the brine is easy to deteriorate, preservation is more difficult.

(C) injection curing method

In order to accelerate the marinade penetrate into the meat inside, in the brine curing meat first with brine injection, and then into the brine curing. The brine injection method is divided into arterial injection curing method and intramuscular injection curing method.

1, arterial injection curing method

This method is to use the pump will be brine or pickling liquid through the arterial system pressure into the split meat or leg meat curing method, for the diffusion of salt curing the best method. However, the general method of carcass splitting does not take into account the integrity of the original arterial system, so this method can only be used for curing the front and rear legs. Curing, with a single needle for injection into the incision of the femoral artery on the front and back legs, and then the brine or pickling solution with a syringe pump pressure into the legs on all parts of the weight to increase to 8% to 10%, and in some cases to 20%.

The advantage of this method is that it can shorten the pickling time (e.g., from 72h to 8h), improve production efficiency and reduce production costs. The shortcomings are: the quality of the finished product is not as good as dry pickled products, the flavor is slightly worse. In order to further accelerate the pickling speed and the degree of salt liquid absorption, after injection is usually used to massage or tumbling operation, in order to improve the water retention of products, improve meat quality.

2., intramuscular injection method

The intramuscular injection method is divided into single needle injection and multi-needle injection. Most of the needles used for intramuscular injection are porous. Single-needle injection method is suitable for split meat, generally 3 to 4 injections per piece of meat, each injection amount of 85g or so, the general weight gain of 10%, intramuscular injection can be carried out on the scale; multi-needle intramuscular injection is most suitable for the shape of the neat and not with the bone meat, rib meat is the most appropriate, bone or boneless meat can be used in this way, the operation of the situation and the single-needle intramuscular injection is similar. Multi-needle machine can be up to 20 needles in a row, each needle has a small hole, the insertion depth of up to 26cm, an average of 60,000 injections per hour, due to the number of needles, the two needles are very close to each other, the marinade in the meat when injecting the distribution of the better, you can get the expected effect of weight gain.

The advantage of the intramuscular injection method is that it can reduce the operation time, improve the production efficiency and reduce the production cost, but its finished product quality is not as good as the dry marinade products, the flavor is slightly worse, and the degree of muscle contraction after cooking is relatively large.

(D) mixed pickling method

Mixed pickling method is a combination of dry pickling and wet pickling method. It can be dry cured and then put into brine for curing; or after injecting brine, use dry nitrite and salt mixture to rub on the meat products and put them in containers for curing. The combination of dry and wet curing reduces nutrient loss, increases stability during storage, prevents excessive dehydration of the product, and is moderately salty; the disadvantage is that the operation is more complex.

With the injection curing method and dry curing or wet curing combined, is also a mixed curing method. That is, the salt solution is injected into the fresh meat, and then rub salt by layer, and then stacked; or injected with salt solution into the container for wet curing, but the concentration of brine should be lower than the concentration of brine used for injection, so that the meat to absorb water.

Quality control in the curing process

(I) Purity and dosage of salt

1. Purity of salt

Salt contains impurities such as magnesium salt, calcium salt, etc., which will affect the speed of salt penetration into the meat during curing. Therefore, in order to ensure that the salt quickly penetrate into the meat, should be selected as far as possible, high purity of salt, in order to stop the meat to the direction of corruption and deterioration. In addition, salt should not have copper, iron, chromium and other trace elements, otherwise it will seriously affect the oxidation of fat in the pickled products; salt in the magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate too much will make the pickled products have a bitter taste.

2, the amount of salt

The concentration of salt in the pickling solution is commonly used to determine the Boomerang table. As cured meat using a mixture of salt, which contains sugar, nitrites, etc., will have an impact on the Boomerang meter readings. The amount of salt used is determined according to the purpose of curing, environmental conditions, curing object and product characteristics. The salt concentration in meat is at least 7% to achieve the purpose of preservation. When the temperature is low during curing, the amount of salt can be less; when the temperature is high, the amount of salt can be more. Nitrate can also be added during the curing process for preservation. However, the salt concentration is too high will make the product difficult to eat, from the consumer can accept the salinity of pickled products, salt to 2% to 3% is appropriate.

(ii) nitrate, nitrite usage

The color of meat products is related to the amount of coloring agent used, and the coloring effect is not ideal when the amount is insufficient. Therefore, in the cured meat products, nitrate and nitrite dosage should be reduced to the lowest possible limit. At present, according to the national food hygiene standards, in order to ensure the use of safety, the maximum use of nitrate 0.5g/kg, the maximum use of sodium nitrite 0.15g/kg. In this safe range of the use of coloring agent and the type of meat raw materials, processing conditions and temperature and other factors related to the general temperature the higher the coloring effect of the faster the coloring agent can be appropriate to add some less.

(C) curing temperature

Raw meat in the curing process, the higher the curing temperature, the faster the curing speed. However, in the case of meat products, high temperature conditions are easy to rot. In order to prevent meat products from spoiling before salt penetration, curing should be carried out at low temperatures, i.e., below 10℃. For companies with cold storage, it is preferable to marinate meat products at 2 to 4°C. For this reason, historically, China's traditional Chinese meat products marinated after the winter, before the spring.

(D) the use of curing additives

Add sucrose and glucose, due to its reducing effect, can affect the meat color strength and stability. Add niacin, niacinamide can also form a more stable red color, but these substances have no preservative effect, and can not yet replace sodium nitrite. In addition, the cloves in the spices have a decolorizing effect on nitrite, so attention should be paid when using.

(E) meat pH

Meat pH will affect the effect of coloring, sodium nitrite can only be reduced to NO in an acidic medium, so when the meat is neutral when the meat color is light. In order to improve the water retention of meat products, often add alkaline phosphate, after adding will cause pH value to rise, affecting the coloring effect, so should pay attention to its dosage. In too low a pH environment, the consumption of nitrite increases, such as the use of nitrite excess, but also easy to cause green, coloring the optimal pH range is generally 5.6 ~ 6.0.

In summary, in order to make the meat products to obtain bright colors, in addition to fresh raw materials, according to the length of time of curing, we must select the appropriate coloring agent, grasp the appropriate dosage, in the appropriate pH value Strict operation under the condition of suitable pH value. In addition, attention should be paid to low temperature, avoiding light, and the use of adding antioxidants, vacuum packaging or nitrogen-filled packaging, adding deoxidizer deoxygenation and other measures to maintain the color of cured meat products.

Marks of curing maturity

In the process of meat processing, curing process has a great impact on the effect of curing, different varieties of different curing methods, no matter how to choose the raw material meat curing maturity is required. Marinade liquid completely penetrate into the raw meat that is the sign of marination maturity.

(A) color changes

Meat after curing, the color will change. Pork cured hardened, the section becomes dense, the appearance of the color becomes dark, dark brown, the center section becomes bright red. Beef marinated, the appearance becomes purplish red or crimson, the meat becomes hard, the center section color is dark red.

Meat cured by injection, the center section of the color of the rose red, beef is deeper than pork color, generally dark red. When fat is cured and matured, it is greenish-white in cross-section and slightly transparent when cut into thin slices.

(ii) elastic changes

Meat after curing, the texture becomes hard, tight tissue. Pork section with finger pressure feel slightly hard, elastic; beef section with finger pressure feel hard, elastic. Using the injection method of curing meat, can play a tenderizing, emulsifying effect, due to the interaction of meat paste, water and salt, injection curing is not like dry curing or wet curing meat hard, but make the meat become soft, the surface of the viscous, finger-pressing depression can be quickly recovered, elastic.

(C) viscous changes

After the use of dry curing or wet curing of meat, the surface of the meat is wet, non-sticky. After using the injection method of curing meat, there is a layer of meat slurry on the surface of the meat block with stickiness.