Use of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) leaf for improving oxidative stability of microwave-precooked traditional Thai pork patty and its frozen storage trial

Summary A study was carried out to assess the effects of rosemary leaf, microwave cooking time and meat particle size on the oxidative stability of Thai-style seasoned patties. A preliminary investigation to determine the optimum marination and microwave cooking times showed that they were, respectively, 120 and 12 min. These conditions were used to prepare patties for the main study, which showed that patties formed with smaller meat particles (1.5 vs. 4.7 mm) were more stable with regard to oxidative stability. Increased TBARS formation was observed for increasing microwave cooking time. Finally, patties with added rosemary leaf (3.2% by weight of the meat) were significantly more stable to oxidation than the controls and had a shelf life of 3–4 months in frozen storage (−18 °C). The microwave cooking time over 12 min seems excessively long.