Quality Changes of Kung Pao Chicken during Cooking

According to the processing technology of Kung Pao Chicken, the changes of color, texture and volatile flavor compounds of Kung Pao Chicken during cooking (stir-frying 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 min) were studied by colorimeter, texture analyzer and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that stir-frying would significantly reduce the L^* value of samples, significantly increase the a^* value. There was a fluctuating change of b^* value and b^* value increased significantly at 8 min. The hardness, cohesiveness and chewiness of samples increased significantly with the extension of cooking time. Compared with the control group (0 min), cooking would cause a decrease of springiness. 142 volatile flavor compounds were detected in samples, mainly included alcohols, acids, ketones, aldehydes and hydrocarbons. Compared with the control group, cooking processing would lead to an increase in the relative content of alcohols and ketones, indicating that cooking processing might promote the formation of alcohols and ketones. Compared with the control group, cooking processing would lead to the reduction of acids and aldehydes in samples. The relative content of hydrocarbons reached the highest in the samples which were cooked for 2 min, and were relatively stable in other samples. This study could provide some reference for the quality control of Kung Pao Chicken and other traditional Chinese dishes during processing.