Scientific Abstract
The primary objective of the project was to perform sensory evaluation of various pork cuts and preparations – both muscle/meat and offal, examining scent, taste, texture, mouthfeel and visual appearance (Descriptive Sensory Profiles). The sensory descriptive profiles of Pork fat was also compared to profiles of fat from beef and vegetables, to find the specific characteristics of pork fat.
The research consisted of an investigation of the flavor components of pork and Sensory evaluation of the various samples. The sensory evaluation consisted of Descriptive Sensory profiles (where scent, taste, mouthfeel, texture and visual appearance was described), Flavor Mapping (where the samples were mapped according to their flavour and texture – to give a quick overview of the characteristics of each sample) and elaboration of Flavor Wheels (where the flavor notes were grouped and arranged in user-friendly Flavor wheels, which can assist in the future descriptions of pork flavor)
The major findings of the research was, that there is “a world of flavor” in pork – 111 nuances in total in meat/muscle and offal. Offal was shown to have several interesting flavor notes and textures, that were not found in meat/muscle. The variety of flavor nuances in pork meat/muscle and offal was much greater than in pork fat, although more nuances were found in pork fat than in beef and vegetable fat. The results shows, that the flavor in not (primarily) in the fat. Another interesting finding was, that many cuts/samples have flavor nuances that resembles beef e.g.
The results support the culinary use of less familiar parts of pork like hanger, tongue, heart, tail etc. For people looking for an alternative to beef (e.g. to reduce CO2 footprint), the Flavor Map shows which pork cuts to select to get some of the beef flavors.
