Gourmet salting ensures juicy and tender meat
Af Margit Dall Aaslyng
Gourmet salted pork chops are more tender and juicy than chops cured after cooking.

Gourmet salting is a mild dry curing of meat shortly before cooking. Gourmet salting of pork chops has shown that juiciness and tenderness is improved and that the salty flavour is intensified. The consumers thus have a possibility of reducing the salt consumption and at the same time improve the eating quality.

Gourmet salting has been known for some years. The method has been used for larger joints of meat and recommendations for gourmet salting of smaller cuts such as pork chops has thus not been based on systematic investigations.

We have compared gourmet salting (0.3% and 0.8% salt) of meat with low pH (5.4-5.5) and higher pH (5.6-5.9). The salt was rubbed into the chops, which then rested in the fridge for 1 or 2 1/2 hours before cooking. For comparison, unsalted pork chops were also cooked, and salt was rubbed into the chops after cooking.

One hour is sufficient

Gourmet salted pork chops are more tender and juicy than chops cured after cooking, see Figure 1. The biggest change takes place within the first hour. The meat only becomes a little more tender and juicy when the time is increased to 2 1/2 hours. The cooking loss of the chops falls from 16.7 to 13.4% after 1 hour's gourmet salting and to 13.0% after 2 1/2 hours' salting.

 
Figure 1. Juiciness, tenderness and hardness of chops, salted after preparation (0 hours), or gourmet salted either 1 or 2½ hours.

One hour's gourmet salting is generally sufficient to achieve a good eating quality, and a longer salting time provides only limited effect.

0.3% salt improves the quality

The tenderness is improving equally much during the first hour gourmet salting whether 0.3% or 0.8% salt is used. If the salting time is increased to 2 1/2 hours 0.8% salt has a somewhat larger effect than 0.3% salt, but the difference is limited. The only property influenced by the salt concentration is the salty flavour, which is significantly stronger with 0.8% salt.

Better tenderness regardless of the raw material quality

Tenderness and juiciness improve equally much in meat with low and higher pH. The cooking loss likewise reduces equally much.

Gourmet salting makes low pH meat so tender, that it is as tender as meat with a higher pH before gourmet salting. In this way gourmet salting can upgrade less tender pork chops to tender chops.

Only salty flavour is influenced

Salt is added to achieve a better and more intense taste of the food. Consumers using gourmet salting often say that 'the meat has a stronger taste'. When a sensory panel describes the taste objectively, it is only the salty flavour that increases when using gourmet salting. There is no effect on meat flavour or other taste components.

The gourmet salted meat is more salty after one hour's gourmet salting, and 2 1/2 hours' salting only gives a minor extra effect. The salt concentration is the same in all samples - also in the chop, which has been salted after cooking. The increased saltiness shows that gourmet salting can be a way to reduce the salt intake while the culinary quality is improved.

Gourmet salting - quite simply

Add salt in the kitchen: