EVALUATION OF DUCKLING BREAST MEAT SUBJECTED TO DIFFERENT METHODS OF FURTHER PROCESSING AND COOKING

ABSTRACT Breast fillets (128 total) deboned from commercially processed 7‐week‐old Pekin ducklings were subjected to one of four tenderization treatments: control, mechanically tenderized, marinated, or tenderized and marinated, and one of two cooking methods, oven‐baked or gourmet‐cooked. Treatments were evaluated for cooked yield and tenderness. Mechanical tenderization resulted in the lowest cooked yield, 60.0%, followed by the control, 64.5%. Mechanical tenderization and the control treatment were not significantly different for shear, with an average of 7.0 kg shear/g sample. Marination, with or without mechanical tenderization, resulted in signficantly greater cooked yield, 72.6 and 72.9 % respectively, and more tender meat, 4.9 and 5.1 kg shear/g meat respectively. Oven baking resulted in a signficantly greater cooked yield than gourmet cooking. Results indicate that marination, with or without mechanical tenderization, can significantly improve the cooked yield and tenderness of duckling breast fillets.