Collagen-based sauce braised meat products with a unique flavor, chewiness, and springiness are very popular in China. In order to understand how the structure, thermal properties, and chemical components of collagen-based tissues influence the texture characteristics of collagen-based meat products during stewing, three kinds of tendon tissues (chicken feet tendon [CFT], sheep tendon [ST], and bovine tendon [BT]) and three kinds of skin tissues (chicken feet skin [CFS], sheep skin [SS], and porcine skin [PS]) were selected to heat for 45 min at 95 °C, and texture, thermal properties, micromorphology, ultrastructure, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content, and collagen content were evaluated among the six kinds of collagen-based tissues. Results showed that BT had the highest hardness, chewiness values, total collagen content, and the thickest fibers diameters, followed by ST, CFT, PS, and SS, whereas CFS had lowest values among six kinds of tissues. The thermal stability and GAG levels in tendon samples were higher than those in skin samples. Thicker diameters, higher thermal stability, GAG, and total collagen content could be responsible for the higher hardness and chewiness of tendon samples compared with skin tissues. These findings provide the understanding of relationship between meat quality of collagen-based meat products and their morphological and chemical properties. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This research confirms that the difference in texture of different kinds of collagen-based tissues was related to the difference in structure and chemical properties. The result can be used to optimize the processing conditions of collagen-based sauce braised meat products in food industry.
Keywords: collagen content; collagen-based tissues; texture; thermal stability; ultrastructure.
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