Abstract: The cooking loss, water-holding capacity, texture, chemical forces, dynamic rheology, microstructure, water distribution and migration of pork batter gels with added gluten were measured to explore the effect of gluten on quality properties and water migration of heat-induced gels from pork. Results indicated that with the increase in gluten addition, the cooking loss decreased continuously (P < 0.05). The transverse relaxation time T2 always moved in the direction of short relaxation time, and the proportion of immobilized water rose significantly. The addition of gluten raised the water-holding?capacity, but the effect was not significant when the level of gluten addition was above 6% (P > 0.05). Both the hardness and chewiness increased remarkably. The springiness first increased until reaching the maximum at an addition level of 6%, and then decreased. The resilience increased to 0.329 with increasing addition of gluten up to 6%, and then did not significantly change at addition levels of 8% and 10% (P > 0.05). Hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction were the main forces in the formation of gluten-pork batter gels. Additionally, G’ increased with elevated addition of gluten. Gluten could improve the gel formation ability of pork. The pork gel with 6% added gluten had a compact and uniform structure, smooth?appearance, and the best quality.

Key words: pork batter; gluten; gel properties; water migration