Convective Air Drying of Raw and Cooked Chicken Meats

Abstract

This research investigated the effects of convective air drying on the quality of raw and cooked chicken breast meats at 60, 70, and 80°C. Raw samples were cut into sizes of 20 mm × 20 mm × 7 mm and cooked samples were precooked in hot water and cut into similar sizes. It was observed that cooked samples had a lower initial moisture content and dried faster than the raw samples. The thicknesses of raw samples were observed to increase in the first 2 h due to internal water vapor generation. The rigid structure of the cooked samples resulted in a lower degree of shrinkage compared to the raw samples. Rehydration capacity was lower in the cooked samples, which could be due to the rigid structure resulting from the precooking process. This further reduced the imbibition of water into the sample. Effective diffusivity values were determined in the order of magnitude of 10⁻¹¹ m²/s and comparable to those from the literature. Hardness values of dried cooked samples were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the dried raw samples, whereas elasticity was significantly lower (p < 0.05).

Keywords:

• Chicken meat
• Drying
• Rehydration
• Shrinkage
• Texture