Abstract
Separation, which occurred by heating to 90°C a white sauce made with a chicken thigh meat extract, was almost completely suppressed by the addition of 2.4 mM N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) or 10 mm ethylendiaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The proteins in the extract were not apparent in the cream layer of the white sauce from either the heated or unheated extract, and sauce separation by reheating did not occur in the white sauce containing the heated extract. These results suggest that sauce separation depended on entrapping casein micelles and oil droplets during the formation of a protein network in the extract through disulfide bonds and the interaction of divalent cations. Upon heating, the increase in surface hydrophobicity of the proteins in the extract was not affected by the presence of NEM, indicating that the degree of protein aggregation in the extract with and without NEM was similar.
