AbstractBACKGROUNDIn order to evaluate the effect of cooking temperature on the nutrition quality of dry‐cured hams, 60 biceps femoris samples from 16 Jinhua hams were divided into four groups (control, 70, 100 and 120 °C) and cooked for 30 min. Carbonyl content, sulfhydryl groups, surface hydrophobicity, microstructure, protein aggregation and digestibility of myofibrillar proteins were investigated.RESULTSCooking promoted carbonylation and decreased sulfhydryl groups in a temperature‐dependent way. Scanning electron microscopy and Nile Red revealed that protein aggregation became a main phenomenon at 120 °C; it coincided with surface hydrophobicity. The increased carbonyl content and decreased sulfhydryl groups contributed to the formation of aggregates. Sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis profiles showed the initial difference in proteolysis rate among four groups. The in vitro digestibility of pepsin and of trypsin and α‐chymotrypsin increased from the control to 100 °C and decreased from 100 to 120 °C.CONCLUSIONThe increased digestibility could be attributed to the oxidation of proteins and exposing recognition sites of digestive enzymes, while the decreased digestibility was due to the formation of aggregates. Cooking was a main factor that affected the digestibility of Jinhua ham, and cooking at 100 °C could be an ideal way to gain the highest digestibility of Jinhua ham. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry