Abstract
AbstractToughness development in beef sternomandibularis muscle during cooking has been measured by a tenderometer, cleaving samples at right angles to the fibre direction. Since the muscles had been set in rigor mortis in an unshortened state, such toughening was not related to that induced by pre‐rigor contraction.Two distinctly separate phases of toughening develop with increasing cooking temperature. A three‐ to fourfold toughening occurs in the first cooking phase between 40 and 50 ºC, followed by a further doubling in the second phase between 65 and 75 ºC. The first phase is associated with loss of myosin solubility, presumed to indicate denaturation in the contractile system. The second is closely associated with collagen shrinkage. This apparently induces shortening along the meat fibre, forcing out meat juice.
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