Effects of Different Pickling Methods on the Water Retention and Protein Oxidation of Salted Goose Raw Material

This study aimed to investigate the impact of different pickling methods on the water retention and protein structure of salted goose raw material. Five pickling methods, namely conventional curing, vacuum tumbling curing, ultrasound curing, ultrasound combined with tumbling curing, and salt and tumbling curing, were employed, with a curing duration of 2 hours. The cured goose meat samples were analyzed for cooking loss, centrifugal loss, microstructure, as well as the carbonyl content, surface hydrophobicity, total sulfhydryl content, and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of the myofibrillar proteins. The results indicated that the ultrasound combined with tumbling curing method exhibited superior water-holding capacity, resulting in significant enhancement of the tenderness of goose meat. Additionally, this curing method caused the most notable damage to the microstructure of muscle fibers. The myofibrillar proteins in the ultrasound combined with tumbling cured goose meat exhibited lower surface hydrophobicity (5.17 μg) and carbonyl content (0.92 nmol/mg) compared to the vacuum tumbling, salt and tumbling, and ultrasound curing groups. Conversely, the total sulfhydryl content was highest (87.9 nmol/mg), indicating lower protein oxidation levels. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed prominent diffusion of protein bands at the 43 kDa position and denser bands between 26 and 43 kDa for the ultrasound combined with tumbling cured samples, indicating protein degradation. In conclusion, ultrasound combined with tumbling curing represents the optimum curing method.