The influence of three cooking methods (stewing, microwaving and Aluminium (Al) foil-baking) was evaluated on the content of intramuscular lipid and the composition of intramuscular fatty acids of Hyla rabbit. The percentage of intramuscular lipid in cooked-longissimus dorsi (LD) (dry weight %) were in the order mentioned below: microwaving > foil-baking > stewing. All treated samples showed decrease in the proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), whilst increase in the proportion of saturated (SFA) and n-6/n-3 value during processing. All of the cooked samples had the n-6/n-3 ratio within the recommended range (5-10). By the analysis of partial least squares regression (PLSR), the microwaving treatment was better to keep the stability of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA), whilst the long-time Al foil-baking did the most serious damage to UFA, especially the PUFA. In addition, the heating method showed greater influence on the samples than the processing time. The shorter processing time was better to retain the intramuscular PUFA of Hyla rabbit, especially the LC-PUFAs (C20-22). Considering all the factors, microwaving showed the superiority in reserving the composition of intramuscular fatty acids of Hyla rabbit.
Keywords: Hyla rabbit; PLSR; cooking methods; intramuscular fatty acids; intramuscular lipid.