Effect of vacuum tumbling on quality and economy of tandoori chicken prepared from commercial broiler chicken meat

The present study was aimed to assess the quality and economy of tandoori chicken prepared from commercial broiler chicken meat by marinating the chicken breast meat at different vacuum tumbling time exposures, giving rise to five treatments viz. T₀ (Control-No tumbling), T₁ (30 minutes), T₂ (1 hour), T₃ (2 hours) and T₄ (3 hours). After marination, the samples were immediately cooked for an average of 15 minutes at 250°C to prepare tandoori chicken breast meat. The results revealed a significantly higher pH of product in treatment T₃. No effect of vacuum tumbling was observed on Thio-barbituric acid (TBA) value, tyrosine value (TV), total plate count (TPC), yeast & mould count (YMC). However, significant increase of pH, TBA value and TV with significant decrease in TPC of product was observed as a result of high temperature cooking. Significantly higheer sensory scores and profit per Kg were observed in treatment T₃ and lowest in T₀ (Control) with progressive increase from T₀ to T₃. Thus, marination at 2 hours vacuum tumbling followed by 15 minutes cooking at 250°C was found to be ideal for the production of tandoori chicken with better quality and economy.