Abstract
This study aimed to quantify the effect of muscle, ageing and cooking temperature on the texture, cooking loss and shrinkage of cooked beef. Cuboids from unaged (1 day post mortem) and aged (14 days post mortem) semitendinosus, biceps femoris and psoas major muscles, from both sides of five beef carcasses, were cooked at four different cooking temperatures (50, 60, 70 and 80 °C) for 30 min. and their Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF), cooking loss and shrinkage (longitudinal and transverse) were quantified. The WBSF was reduced by ageing in the muscles at the specific cooking temperatures: psoas major (cooked at 50, 60 and 80 °C), semitendinosus (70 and 80 °C) and biceps femoris (80 °C). The cooking loss was 3% greater in aged compared to unaged muscles. The longitudinal shrinkage was greatest in psoas major at 80 °C amongst the muscle types and it was reduced by ageing in psoas major (70 and 80 °C) and biceps femoris (80 °C). The transverse shrinkage was reduced by ageing only in biceps femoris, across all temperatures; and the diameter of homogenized fibre fragments from semitendinosus and biceps femoris was reduced more by cooking at 50 °C in unaged compared to aged condition. WBSF was related to transverse shrinkage, and cooking loss was related to longitudinal shrinkage. The effect of muscle type on the physical changes occurring during cooking of beef is dependent on ageing and cooking temperature.
Highlights
IntroductionMeat shrinks, loses water and changes in tenderness [1]. Meat shrinkage during cooking can be described as a two-dimensional process
During cooking, meat shrinks, loses water and changes in tenderness [1]
An increase in pH with ageing has previously been reported for bovine psoas major [40] and longissimus [41] muscles, and it was associated with a change in charges on the proteins as a result of the proteolytic activity and protein degradation post mortem [41]
Summary
Meat shrinks, loses water and changes in tenderness [1]. Meat shrinkage during cooking can be described as a two-dimensional process. Transverse shrinkage, or shrinkage perpendicular to muscle fibre direction, is reported to start between 35 and 45 ◦ C [2,3,4,5,6] and to be completed between 60 and 62 ◦ C [3,4,5,6]. Longitudinal shrinkage, or shrinkage parallel to the direction of the muscle fibres, leading to either sarcomere length or fibre length change, starts between 55 and 64 ◦ C [3,4,5,6] and is completed by 90 ◦ C. The phenomenon of meat shrinkage is widely known and recognised, little research has been conducted on the extent of the shrinkage in muscles with different fibre types, collagen content and sarcomere lengths.
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