2.3.4. Sensory Evaluation

A pilot consumer test was performed by 32 panelists, recruited among personnel of the Meat Technology Center. The testing was carried out in a room equipped with individual tasting booths under white light [29]. Water and bread without salt were available for rinsing the mouth between samples. Samples were cooked in a hot steam oven (CombiMaster ®Plus, Rational, Landsberg am Lech, Germany) until a core temperature of 70 ± 2 ◦C was reached. The temperature was controlled using an oven thermometer inserted lengthwise into one of the sausages. After cooking, the sausages were sliced into 1.5 cm thick pieces and served hot. The serving temperature of the samples was 50 ± 2 ◦C. The three samples were presented to the panelists following a balanced order for each of them [30]. Panelists were asked to rank the samples according to their own preference related to appearance, odor, hardness, juiciness, taste, and global perception. They also evaluated the overall acceptability of each sample using a 7-point hedonic scale, varying from (1) "liked very much" to (7) "disliked very much", according to Meilgaard et al. [31].
