2.3. Sensory Analysis

Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) was carried out using 17 trained panelists (6 male and 11 female, age range 23–60 years). All of them were staff at the Meat and Meat Products Research Institute (IProCar) of the University of Extremadura (Spain). Attributes evaluated by the panel were selected based on attributes reported in previous studies with similar products and taking into consideration the consensus reached by a focus group of 6 panelists. The following attributes were chosen: red color intensity and cohesiveness for appearance; hardness, juiciness, and chewiness for texture; and flavor intensity, saltiness, spicy flavor persistence, and hot-spicy flavor. A 10-cm unstructured scale was used for attributes scoring, and verbal anchors were fixed as “extremely low” to “extremely high” for all evaluated attributes. Samples (one slice per plate) were served on glass plates with a glass of mineral water and a piece of unsalted cracker to follow the rinsing protocol between samples. Evaluations took place in individual booths under white fluorescence light. The serving order of the samples was randomized according to the Williams Latin Square design. FIZZ software 2.20 C version (Biosystemes, Couternon, France, 2002) was used for collecting the scores.