When the sample plate reaches the table, the first reflex is to reach for a fork. In a proper smoked roast sample evaluation, tasting should be the last step. What separates one supplier from another is not a note on the palate but how an 1800 g log behaves on the slicer, in the cross-section and in the fridge the following morning.
This form was written around three logs: Mortella Smoked Roast Beef 1800 g, Mortella Smoked Roast Turkey 1800 g and Mortella Smoked Roast Chicken with Pieces 1800 g. All three are whole roasts made for kitchens with slicing capacity, which is why the sample itself has to be requested as a log. A pre-sliced tray pack cannot answer the questions below.
The logic of the form is plain: every criterion that can be measured by eye or by blade is scored before anyone tastes. Tasting is kept only for salt-smoke balance and finish.
Three figures to record when a smoked roast sample is received
The evaluation begins at the door, before the sample enters the cold room. Three pieces of information go on the form: the temperature read from the pack surface, the production and best-before dates printed on the pack, and the time of delivery.
The temperature is expected to sit between 0 °C and +4 °C, which is the product's own storage condition. A sample arriving outside that band is dropped from the form, because a roast delivered lukewarm will slice and cut in a way that does not represent the real product. Food safety guidance from the World Health Organization (yeni sekmede açılır) frames temperature control as a core obligation along the whole chain, and a sample is a delivery like any other, so it gets the same record.
The dates are written down for two reasons. The first is to know at which point of the shelf life you are testing. The second is to be able to check later whether the supplier sent its freshest log as a sample and then delivered older stock on routine orders.
Why is a smoked roast sample read from the cut face first?
Because the cross-section reveals the integrity of the product without any equipment. A single slice about 1 cm thick is taken from the end of the log and the face is examined in flat light. What you are looking for is cracking, air pockets and continuity in the grain.
In the beef and turkey roasts a whole muscle has been cooked, so the fibres should run unbroken from edge to edge. A visible void suggests the piece separated during cooking or was never whole. Colour is noted at the same stage: a dark ring from the smoke on the outside and an even tone inside. A grey transition band between surface and centre can point to an over-long smoke or to delayed chilling. Which colour shifts are natural and which are warning signs is covered separately in why smoked products change colour and texture.
For the chicken roast with pieces the criterion inverts. The section is supposed to show visible pieces of meat against a pale background; the question is whether those pieces hold to the surrounding structure. If they shift as the blade passes, the score drops.
The slice test: paper-thin and sandwich-thick from the same log
The form asks for two thicknesses. The first is a thin canapé slice (for example a 1 mm setting on the slicer), the second a sandwich slice (for example 3 mm). At each setting ten consecutive slices are cut and three things are counted:
- Slices that tear or split as they leave the blade
- Slices with a hole in the middle or a break at the edge
- Slices that separate cleanly when stacked rather than bonding to each other
If more than two of ten thin slices tear, the log is not suited to canapé production. If breaks appear even at sandwich thickness, the product was either insufficiently chilled or its internal structure is weak. Machine settings must stay identical for both samples, otherwise the test measures the blade rather than the supplier.
The slice test has a useful by-product: trim. The first end cut from the log and the crumbs left after slicing are weighed. That figure gives usable weight, a more honest number than cost per kilo.
How is salt-smoke balance scored in a smoked roast?
Tasting happens only after the section and slice scores have been written, and it answers one question: is salt or smoke in front? The slice is tried close to room temperature, without bread or sauce; then the same slice is tasted again on plain bread. A roast that reads salty on its own but balances with bread is no problem for a sandwich line. If salt still leads even with bread, it will turn into guest complaints on a breakfast plate.
On the smoke side, the thing to look for is bitterness left in the finish. A clean smoke aroma should fade after swallowing; a sooty taste that lingers on the tongue indicates the outer ring of the log took too heavy a smoke. The form scores these two criteria separately because one is the result of the curing recipe and the other of smoking time.
Expectations differ by meat. Beef carries a pronounced flavour and handles smoke well. Turkey gives a darker character and, at 3 g of salt per 100 g in the catalogue, is the saltiest sliced roast in the range, so its salt score is given with extra care. Chicken is neutral, which means the slightest bitterness in the smoke is noticed immediately.
Smoked roast sample scoring table
The table below is a proposal; a business can shift the weights. It is built on 100 points and the share given to tasting is deliberately kept low.
| Criterion | What is measured | Points | Observation that lowers the score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receipt temperature and dates | Surface temperature, production and best-before dates | Precondition | Out-of-band temperature voids the form |
| Cross-section integrity | Cracks, voids, grain continuity | 25 | Visible void, grey transition band |
| Thin slice (1 mm) | Tears in 10 slices | 15 | More than two tears |
| Thick slice (3 mm) | Breaks and holes in 10 slices | 15 | Any break |
| Trim | Weight of end cut plus crumbs | 10 | Trim above 5% of the log |
| Salt balance | Plain and with-bread tasting | 10 | Salt still dominant with bread |
| Smoke and finish | Soot left after swallowing | 10 | Lingering bitterness |
| Next-day face | Darkening under film on the cut face | 15 | Marked darkening under the wrap |
The final row is the part most kitchens skip. After the slice test the cut face of the log is wrapped in film, held overnight between 0 °C and +4 °C and opened the next morning. Slight darkening is the natural result of air contact and is removed by taking off one thin slice. Marked darkening under the wrap tells you in advance how quickly the product will deteriorate once the face is open.
How does the section read differently in beef, turkey and chicken with pieces?
All three products are scored on the same form, but the section row looks for something different in each:
- Smoked Roast Beef 1800 g: lean muscle, unbroken grain direction, a thin dark ring from the smoke. The catalogue gives 21.5 g protein and 2.5 g fat per 100 g for this cut, so no fat seam is expected in the section; if one appears, it is noted.
- Smoked Roast Turkey 1800 g: the widest section of the three logs. The form measures section area as well, because on a sandwich line this decides whether one slice covers the bread.
- Smoked Roast Chicken with Pieces 1800 g: a pieced rather than uniform section. Points go to whether the distribution of pieces is consistent between the start and the end of the log; dense pieces at one end and sparse pieces at the other is a production inconsistency.
How are two smoked roast samples compared on the same day?
Same day, same machine, same blade setting, same evaluator. Without these four conditions the scores of two suppliers cannot be placed side by side. The practical sequence runs like this: both logs are received with a temperature and date record, rested two hours in the same cold room, and their section slices are cut one after the other and photographed together. Slice tests are completed on the first log at both thicknesses, then on the second; the machine is cleaned in between but the setting is not touched.
Tasting carries an order effect, so it is done in two rounds with the order reversed in the second. Scores are the average of the two rounds. Having two people fill in the section and slice parts of the form independently frees the score from one person's habits. For products served cooked, such as beef bacon, the protocol changes altogether; the bacon tasting form built around cooking loss and crispness explains that difference.
From sample to order: a score threshold and conditional approval
A score on its own does not place an order; the threshold has to be written down beforehand. An example threshold: 75 out of 100, with at least 18 on cross-section integrity. A log with a low section score should not be approved even if it clears the total, because a void in the section may simply have missed the slice test by chance.
A supplier who clears the threshold receives conditional approval: on the first three routine deliveries only the receipt temperature, dates and section rows of the same form are completed again. If a clear gap opens between the sample log's score and the routine delivery's score, the sample was hand-picked, and that comparison is concrete data to raise with the supplier.
Pin the blank form on the kitchen board, and send your sample request for the three logs, together with any questions on opening a trade account, to the EMKA FOOD sales team.
