TENDERIZATION OF POULTRY MEAT

On-the-bone tenderization of a dressed freshly slaughtered unboned poultry bird is accelerated by rapidly cooling at least the breast meat of said bird by exposure to a cooling temperature of at most -10° C. to provide a frozen crust on the breast and a substantial temperature gradient through the breast meat and reducing the rate at which the breast is cooled to reduce the temperature gradient whilst maintaining the surface temperature of the breast meat below -2° C. for sufficient time to freeze only a portion of the water content of the breast meat and thereby tenderize the meat. The meat of the tenderized bird is preferably warmed towards an equilibration temperature of from 0° C. to 5° C. It is understood that reduction of maturation time occurs because a portion of the water in the meat freezes thereby concentrating the salts and other solutes in the remaining liquid water. This concentration effect appears to initiate chemical reactions that accelerate the usual tenderization mechanisms such as rigor mortis and autodigestion.