The Physicochemical, Textural and Sensory Properties of Traditional Sausages Made with Greek Buffalo Meat and Fat Using a Particular Mixture Design

Applying a statistical mixture design, 10 different blending combinations of traditional Greek sausages were prepared based on different percentages of the three ingredients (buffalo meat: 40–70%; pork fat: 0–30%; buffalo fat: 0–30%). Samples were then analyzed for chemical composition, instrumental textural properties and sensory attributes, using a balanced incomplete block design (BIBD) for the sensory analysis. According to the chemical set, the fat content increased when both fat origins increased, and the protein content also increased when the proportion of buffalo meat increased in the formulations. Regarding textural properties, an instrumental analysis revealed a positive relationship between fat level increases and hardness, whereas a sensory analysis revealed a rise in hardness when the proportion of buffalo fat increased, but that was not observed for sensory juiciness. A hierarchical cluster analysis and PCA revealed a strong relationship between the elasticity, juiciness and overall acceptability of samples with high fat contents, regardless of the origin of the fat, whereas at the same time, a strong relationship was found between high buffalo meat contents (70%) in samples and both instrumental and sensory hardness, chewiness and protein content.