Effect of Incorporation of Cooked Mashed Cauliflower Curds with Stems on the Quality Characteristics of Functional Carabeef (Bubalus bubalis) Cutlets

The present study was undertaken to develop functional carabeef cutlets by incorporating cooked mashed cauliflower curds with stems as a natural source of antioxidant dietary fibre and to determine the optimum incorporation level based on physico-chemical, functional, nutritional and sensory characteristics. Carabeef cutlets were prepared by incorporating cooked mashed cauliflower curds with stems at three levels, viz., 5.0% (T1), 7.5% (T2) and 10.0% (T3), by partially replacing lean carabeef. Control cutlets (C) were prepared without cauliflower incorporation. The products were evaluated for physico-chemical characteristics, antioxidant properties, proximate composition and sensory quality. Incorporation of cauliflower significantly improved cooking yield, breading pickup, juiciness, crude fibre, dietary fibre, total phenolic content and DPPH radical scavenging activity, while significantly reducing product shrinkage, oil uptake and expressible moisture. Moisture content increased with increasing incorporation levels, whereas protein and fat contents decreased due to partial replacement of meat. Sensory evaluation revealed that cutlets containing 7.5% cooked mashed cauliflower curds with stems (T2) received significantly higher scores for appearance and colour, flavour, texture, juiciness, crispiness and overall acceptability than the control and other treatments. Further increase to 10% slightly reduced sensory scores because of the characteristic flavour and softer texture imparted by cauliflower. The results indicated that incorporation of 7.5% cooked mashed cauliflower curds with stems produced functional carabeef cutlets with improved nutritional, antioxidant and sensory characteristics, while higher incorporation at 10% further improved several functional attributes but adversely affected sensory acceptability. Therefore, 7.5% incorporation was considered optimum for developing functional carabeef cutlets.