Modeling of cooking strip loin and outside round steaks in a forced-air convection oven (2003)

E Obuz,Melvin C Hunt,T.J Herald,Larry E Erickson,Michael E Dikeman

doi:10.4148/2378-5977.1664

Abstract

We used a forced-air convection oven to cook steaks from two muscles; strip loin (longissimus lumborum) and outside round (biceps femoris). We used a mathematical model to predict cooking time and temperature profiles for each steak. No differences (P>0.05) were found in cooking times between experimental and model values for either of the steaks. Modeled temperature profiles were consistently higher (except for the beginning of the cooking cycle) than the experimental values up to 65°C (150°F) in the cooking cycle for outside round steaks, whereas better agreement between experimental and modeled values was found for strip loin steaks. A highly positive linear relationship was found between experimental and modeled temperature histories for both strip loin (R2=0.99) and outside round (R2=0.96) steaks. The developed model should be useful for steak cooking, because the constant time to a given degree of doneness should increase consumer satisfaction by reducing variation in degree of steak doneness.

Highlights

Current practices in foodservice and restaurants do not rely on measurement of meat the temperature during cooking; rather, meat doneness is determined by visual observation
Modeled temperature profiles were consistently higher than the experimental values up to 65°C (150°F) in the cooking cycle for outside round steaks, whereas better agreement between experimental and modeled values was found for strip loin steaks
The developed model should be useful for steak cooking, because the constant time to a given degree of doneness should increase consumer satisfaction by reducing variation in degree of steak doneness

Summary

Introduction

Current practices in foodservice and restaurants do not rely on measurement of meat the temperature during cooking; rather, meat doneness is determined by visual observation. The problems associated with current practices are twofold: 1) the meat often is cooked to a higher endpoint temperature than intended, which results in customer dissatisfaction; or 2) the meat is cooked to a lower endpoint temperature than intended, which may cause food safety problems as well as customer dissatisfaction. Mathematical models have been used since the 1950’s to predict cooking time or temperature profiles of meat during cooking. Earlier models were mostly based on predicting response variables such as cooking time, thermal conductivity, and beef tenderness from a measured property such as water content of the meat. The objective of our study was to model cooking time and temperature profiles for oven roasting of beef strip loin or outside round steaks using a computerized mathematical model

Objectives

Results

Conclusion