Abstract: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different marination methods the quality of braised pork in brown sauce. Injection marination (IM) and variable pressure static marination (VPSM) were employed to prepare marinated meat and no marination was used as control. The rate of marinade absorption of intermediate and final products, product yield, pH, water content, salt content, protein content, fat content, shear force, texture properties, drip loss, centrifugation loss, color, water states and microstructure in different treatment groups were measured. Results showed that the rate of marinade absorption in VPSM was 2.46%, which was significantly higher than that in IM (P < 0.05). The water content of the intermediate and final products, and the product yield in the marinated groups increased significantly compared with the control (P < 0.05). Drip loss and centrifugation loss dropped significantly from raw meat to the intermediates and the final product (P < 0.05) and the lowest values were observed in the VPSM group. VPSM showed better water holding capacity and significantly improved product yield than IM (P < 0.05). As compared to the control, marination significantly reduced fat content and led to a significant increase in protein content followed by a significant drop after cooking (P < 0.05) . The marinated samples had significantly higher brightness (L*) than unmarinated meat; L* value of IM significantly increased, whereas that of VPSM significantly declined after cooking (P < 0.05). Both redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) values of cooked VPSM were the highest compared to raw meat and cooked unmarinated meat, with the differences being statistically significant (P < 0.05). Marination pretreatment significantly reduced shear force and hardness of the final product (P < 0.05), with the effect of VPSM being stronger. The measurement of T2 relaxation time by low field nuclear magnetic resonance showed that marination increased the amount of immobilized water, to a greater degree for VPSM than for IM. As observed by scanning electron microscopy, the microstructure of the muscle fibers in the braised meat was damaged; VPSM showed a more loose structure with the largest gaps between the cooked muscle fibers, contributing to improving the water holding capacity. In conclusion, variable pressure static marination can significantly improve the quality of braised pork in brown sauce and therefore provide theoretical support for improving the existing process.

Key words: variable pressure static marination, injection marination, braised pork in brown sauce, meat quality, industrialization