Development of quick-cooking meat congees using multi-level sensory evaluation Ma. Patricia V. Azanza*, Irenei Camila V. Basman, Carol D. Magsuci, Rosela A. Mauricio Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Home Economics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines Abstract The study developed quick-cooking meat congees (QCMCs) arroz caldo and goto based on Philippine recipes using multi-level sensory evaluation. The QCMC prototypes of arroz caldo and goto consisted of basal quick-cooking rice (QCR) prepared from Philippine waxy rice cultivar Malagkit Sungsong, dehydrated spring onions, textured vegetable protein (TVP) as chicken meat analogue for arroz caldo, dehydrated ox tripe for goto and, spices. The rehydrated QCMCs arroz caldo and goto were found to be comparable with their conventionally prepared counterparts in terms of consumer acceptance including, color, aroma, consistency, texture, and overall quality as evaluated by 50 consumer panelists at 5% level of significance. The study was able to typify the flavors of arroz caldo and goto basically with the use of hydrolyzed vegetable proteins (HVP) and powdered equivalents of spices in the original formulations of conventionally prepared congees. # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Congees; Multi-level sensory evaluation; Quick-cooking rice 1. Introduction Fusion foods are now ubiquitous in the Philippine culture due to extensive exposure of the country to a range of cuisines emanating from sustained foreign trade and a long history of colonizations (Fernandez, 1998). The Chinese congee, a rice gruel locally known as lugao, has evolved in the country as a fusion dish with the addition of various flavors and cooking processes of the classic Spanish and Asian cuisine (Fernandez & Alegre, 1988). The Philippine congee has now many variants. The two more popular forms of these congees are arroz caldo and goto (Fernandez & Alegre, 1988). Arroz caldo isChinese congee withchicken,mademore popular by its given Castillian dish name (Fernandez & Alegre, 1988). The conversion of this Chinese rice congee with chicken as a Philippine fusion food was further established with the addition of the very Indo- Malay flavoring, the fish sauce (Fernandez, 1994). The original term goto is actually a Chinese noun referring to ox tripe. In the Philippines today, the term goto is synonymously associated with rice congee with ox tripe. The Philippine preparation of the goto, partic- ularlythesaute´ingstepoftheonion,garlicandgingerin oil before these are added to the rice and meat ingre- dients to make the congee, is a Spanish cookery style known as guisado (Fernandez & Alegre, 1988). Just like arroz caldo, the dish is made again more acceptable to the Indo-Malay palate of the Filipinos with the addition of fish sauce as seasoning. Major disadvantages in the conventional preparations of these rice-based congees are the long and tedious cooking protocols. This setback could easily be elimi- nated if these dishes are converted to quick-cooking commodities. Given the local popularity of these con- gees, its quick-cooking counterparts have a definite ready market. The role of convenience in food choice and acceptance has been described in several studies. It has been shown that perceived convenience is strongly correlated with acceptance for meals and snacks (Rappoport, Peters, Downey, McCann,& Huff-Corzine, 1993; Verlegh & Candel, 1999). Developing a successful new product or improving an existing one requires a complete understanding of the acceptance patterns of consumers (Tang, Heymann, & Hsieh, 2000). This study was conducted to develop convenience food equivalents of conventionally cooked 0950-3293/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0950-3293(03)00074-0 Food Quality and Preference 15 (2004) 331–340 www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual * Corresponding author. Tel.: +632-920-5301; fax: +632-920- 2091, 926-2813. E-mail address: ma_patricia.azanza@up.edu.ph (M.P.V. Azanza).