Animal fat tissue (that is, pork or beef fat) is composed of liquid and solid fat incorporated in a network of connective tissue. Hence, their rheological and thermal properties may differ significantly from plant-derived fats. Specifically, animal fats have elastic and melting properties that give rise to not only a certain comminution behavior during processing, but also provide meat products such as sausages with certain organoleptic properties. To mimic key properties of animal fat tissue with plant-derived materials, a new structuring approach was used. Canola oil was mixed with <30% (w/w) of fully hydrogenated canola oil at 65 °C, hot-emulsified with a soy protein suspension (8%, w/w) at a lipid content of 70% (w/w) using a high-shear disperser, and cooled to 37 °C. The concentrated, emulsified fat crystal networks were then incubated with transglutaminase for 1 hr to induce protein crosslinking. Microscopy images showed that samples were composed of tightly packed lipid particles with regions of coalesced or unemulsified lipids appearing at higher solid fat concentrations. Texture analysis and rheological measurements showed that crosslinked samples possessed elasticities that decreased with increasing solid fat concentration. Above 30% solid fat, matrices reverted back to exhibiting a mainly plastic behavior. Results were attributed to the formation of either a droplet-filled protein network, a particulate fat crystal network, or a mixture thereof. Taken together, results show that plant-based crosslinked emulsified fat crystal networks are able to mimic mechanical properties of animal fat provided that not too much solid fat (<30% in this study) is used. This makes them useful for the manufacture of meat products or analogues. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This study introduced a new structuring approach to mimic properties of animal fat tissue with only plant-derived materials. The structured lipids can, for example, be used for the manufacture of processed meat analogues.

中文翻译：

---

模拟动物脂肪组织的植物性乳化和交联脂肪晶体网络的形成和表征

动物脂肪组织（即猪肉或牛肉脂肪）由结合在结缔组织网络中的液体和固体脂肪组成。因此，它们的流变学和热学性质可能与植物来源的脂肪显着不同。具体而言，动物脂肪具有弹性和熔化特性，不仅在加工过程中产生一定的粉碎行为，而且还为香肠等肉制品提供了一定的感官特性。为了用植物来源的材料模拟动物脂肪组织的关键特性，使用了一种新的结构化方法。在 65 °C 下将菜籽油与 <30% (w/w) 的完全氢化菜籽油混合，用脂质含量为 70% (w/w) 的大豆蛋白悬浮液 (8%, w/w) 热乳化) 使用高剪切分散器，并冷却至 37 °C。浓缩的，然后将乳化脂肪晶体网络与转谷氨酰胺酶孵育 1 小时以诱导蛋白质交联。显微图像显示样品由紧密堆积的脂质颗粒组成，其中聚结或未乳化的脂质区域出现在较高的固体脂肪浓度下。质地分析和流变学测量表明，交联样品的弹性随着固体脂肪浓度的增加而降低。超过 30% 的固体脂肪，基质恢复到主要表现出塑性行为。结果归因于液滴填充蛋白质网络、颗粒脂肪晶体网络或其混合物的形成。综合起来，结果表明，植物基交联乳化脂肪晶体网络能够模拟动物脂肪的机械特性，前提是不使用过多的固体脂肪（本研究中<30%）。这使它们可用于制造肉制品或类似物。实际应用：本研究引入了一种新的结构化方法，仅用植物来源的材料来模拟动物脂肪组织的特性。例如，结构化脂质可用于制造加工的肉类类似物。