Abstract: Braised pork in brown sauce is a traditional Chinese dish, but serious protein oxidation occurs during its making. This paper evaluated the feasibility of replacing the traditional process of making braised pork in brown sauce by low-temperature long-time cooking (sous-vide, SV) according to its eating quality and digestibility. Compared with the traditional cooking method, SV significantly increased the moisture content of braised pork in brown sauce and reduced its shear force and cooking loss rate (P < 0.05). Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance indicated that cooking method affected the proportion of immobilized water and consequently physical and chemical attributes. Similar to the traditional cooking process, SV also produced an attractive color. Furthermore, SV significantly improved the L* value of the lean layer (P < 0.05). The in vitro digestion experiments indicated that SV significantly increased the protein digestibility of braised pork in brown sauce when compared with the traditional cooking process (P < 0.05). Taken together, SV is an effective way to prepare traditional Chinese meat products, which is useful to enhance the quality and nutritional value of products.

Key words: braised pork in brown sauce; sous-vide; low-field nuclear magnetic resonance; in vitro digestion; eating quality