In order to predict and establish cooking
times and temperatures of beef to optimize
tenderness and cooked yield, a computer model
was developed utilizing heat and mass transfer
theories. We cooked beef semitendinosus
(eye of round) roasts in a forced-air convection
oven using conventional or modeled, multistaged
cooking. Conventional cooking was defined as
cooking at 325EF to a core endpoint of 150EF.
The model method was developed using a
computer algorithm that predicted heat and
moisture (mass) transfer during a three-stage
cooking process that included preheating,
holding, and finishing. The model was accurate
in predicting actual cooking times and temperatures
during cooking; temperature profile curves
tracked closely between predicted and observed
values. Roasts cooked by the modeled
cooking regimen had lower Warner-Bratzler
shear values than those cooked by conventional
convection cooking. Collagen total unaltered
fraction was lower (P<.05; 44 vs. 55%) and
enzyme labile fraction was higher (56 vs. 45%,
P<.05) in model cooked than in conventionally
cooked samples. Cooking yield was not different
for the modeled and conventional procedures.
These results show that the modeled
multi-stage cooking method was superior to the
conventional cooking method.
