Effect of Cooking Methods on Protein Structure and in Vitro Digestive Characteristics of Pigeon Meat

To investigate the differences in the quality characteristics of pigeon meat under various cooking methods, a comparative study was conducted to analyze the impacts of five commonly used cooking methods, namely boiling, steaming, pan-frying, deep-frying, and roasting, on the structural changes, oxidation, and digestive properties of pigeon meat protein. The results showed that, steaming had the least impact on protein structure and oxidative properties of pigeon meat, while roasting had the most significant effect, with boiling, pan-frying, and deep-frying falling in between. Compared to the control group, β-sheet relative content increased from 24.04% to between 30.05% to 39.71%, while α-helix relative content decreased from 27.26% to between 15.29% and 20.66% under various cooking methods. The carbonyl content increased from 1.36 nmol/mg to 3.04~7.90 nmol/mg, and total sulfhydryl content decreased from 76.25 μmol/g to 50.78~61.40 μmol/g. All the cooking methods increased the protein digestibility (3.10%~11.31%). In particular, steaming exhibited the smallest increase in surface hydrophobicity (49.56 μg) and the smallest decrease in α-helix relative content (24.21%). Furthermore, the steaming resulted in the lowest oxidation levels, with carbonyl content increasing by only 1.68 nmol/mg, a 19.47% reduction in total sulfhydryl content, and the lowest degree of aggregation. After simulated gastrointestinal digestion, steaming exhibited the highest protein digestibility (67.43%), surpassing the roasted group by 4.99%, with the digested product demonstrating the smallest particle size. Correlation analysis indicated that carbonyl content was positively correlated with β-sheet relative content (P