Effects of fat/oil type and ethylcellulose on the gel characteristic of pork batter.

The effects of fat/oil type (pork fat; sunflower seed, peanut, corn and flaxseed oils) and ethylcellulose (EC) concentration (8%, 10% and 12%) on the gel characteristic of pork batter were investigated in this study. Replacing pork fat in meat batter with organogels prepared with EC and vegetable oils obtained cooked batters with higher hardness, gumminess and chewiness, furthermore, increasing EC level in the organogels increased hardness, while cohesiveness and springiness showed no significant changes. Emulsion stability of all organogels groups was improved compared to pork fat group and the type of vegetable oil affected the emulsion stability. A shorter relaxation time T and a larger peak area P were observed for batters formulated with oraganogels, which indicated higher percentage of immobilized water. The batters prepared with pork fat displayed larger fat globules, lower L* value than those prepared with organogels, but the redness (a* values) had no significant difference.