The Effects of Potato Puree and Bread Crumbs on Some Quality Characteristics of Low Fat Meatballs

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of using different amounts of potato puree (PP) (10 or 20%) and10% bread crumbs (BC) as an extender and also control samples (C) with no added extender on chemical composition,energy values, cooking analyses, colour measurements, water holding capacity (WHC), penetration values, thiobarbituricacid value (TBA) and sensory analyses of meatballs. Meatball samples were cooked in a pre-heated 180°C electric oven. Uncooked meatballs formulated with 20% PP had the highest moisture content. No significant differences were recordedfor protein contents of uncooked samples. The highest cooking yield was found in samples extended with 10% BC. Increas-ing PP from 10% to 20% increased cooking yield of meatballs. 20% PP increased moisture and fat retention values andwater holding capacity of meatballs. Meatballs with 10% BC had the lowest (the hardness in the texture) and meatballs withthe 20% PP had the highest (the softness in the texture) penetration values. Formulating meatballs at a level of 20% resultedlower L* values. TBA values of control samples were higher than in PP added samples at the end of the storage period. Flavour scores for meatballs formulated with PP were higher than control and meatballs formulated with BC. Meatballsformulated with 10% PP had similar overall acceptability with meatballs added with 10% BC.