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What are the Factors Affecting Beef Texture and Juiciness?
Texture
of beef remains the
most important aspect of eating quality of beef in United States and has been
extensively researched to understand, control, and predict this characteristic.
Meat juiciness is also an attribute
valued by most consumers. Although consumers routinely pay more for cuts of
meat that are typically more tender, there is some expectation that the meat
will also be juicy. Moreover, meat juiciness plays a key role in meat texture
probably contributing to its variability.
To improve tenderness
of beef, it often is aged (i.e., stored refrigerated) to allow endogenous proteolytic enzymes to
weaken structural and myofibrillar proteins. Wet aging is accomplished using vacuum packaging to reduce spoilage
and yield loss. Dry aging involves
hanging primals (usually ribs or loins) in humidity-controlled coolers. Outer
surfaces dry out and can support growth of molds (and spoilage bacteria, if too
humid), resulting in trim and evaporative losses.
Evaporation concentrates the remaining proteins
and increases flavor intensity; the molds can contribute a nut-like flavor.
After two to three days there are significant effects. The majority of the
tenderizing effect occurs in the first 10 days. Boxed beef, stored and
distributed in vacuum packaging, is, in effect, wet aged during distribution. Premium steakhouses dry age for 21 to 28 days or wet age up to 45 days for maximum effect on flavor
and tenderness.
Meat from less tender
cuts or older cattle can be mechanically tenderized by forcing small, sharp
blades through the cuts to disrupt the proteins. Also, solutions of exogenous
proteolytic enzymes (papain, bromelin or ficin) can be injected to augment the
endogenous enzymes. Similarly, solutions of salt and sodium phosphates can be
injected to soften and swell the myofibrillar proteins. This improves juiciness
and tenderness. Salt can improve the flavor, but phosphate can contribute a
soapy flavor.
Factors
Affecting Beef Texture and Juiciness
The four important
factors that determine meat tenderness are background toughness (determined antemortem),
the toughening
phase during rigor onset, the tenderization phase (during the postmortem
aging period), and the denaturation/solubilization of proteins during cooking.
Logically, antemortem factors that influence the moisture or fat content
of meat, as well as the effects of the toughening, tenderization, and cooking
phases on proteins, also affect meat
juiciness. Thus, numerous ante- and postmortem factors may have a
significant influence on the final tenderness and juiciness of meat.
Chilling Regime
Low temperatures are
required during carcass storage to prevent microbial spoilage. However, cold
shortening or cold toughening depends on the difference between hot carcass and
environmental temperatures. Carcass size and degree of fatness are other factors
that influence carcass temperature decline. Therefore, regarding beef texture,
several strategies have been proposed to
increase tenderness by reducing the sarcomere shortening during rigor development.
Delayed
chilling has been
demonstrated to decrease toughness in beef. Chilling carcasses at temperatures >15°C for 15–20 h leads to a
decrease in sarcomere shortening and to an increase in proteolysis. However,
the higher risk of microbial proliferation makes this method unsuitable for
commercial purposes.
Ensuring that muscle
temperature is not <11°C before muscle pH reaches 6.1–6.3 minimizes cold
shortening. Based on that premise, slower chilling procedures have been
developed to reduce carcass temperature in 36–48 h cycles instead of the
traditional 24 h cycle. Thus, for the past 20 years, commercial chilling
regimes have been designed to try to avoid having carcass meat temperatures
fall to <11°C within the first 10 hours postmortem. That modification
has been shown to increase tenderness acceptability between 10% and 40% in
different muscles.
On the other hand,
several reports indicate that very fast chilling, namely the attainment of –1°C within approximately 5 hours
postmortem, can result in improvements to tenderness in species
other than beef, such as pork and lamb. Low temperatures, obtained by very fast
chilling, bring about a considerable release of calcium from the sarcoplasmic
reticulum to the myofibrils. This early supply of free calcium, together with a
high muscle pH, could result in an advanced and increased activation of
calpains. In beef, applied blast chill temperatures of –20°C or –40°C for ~3 h
can lead to deep hip temperatures of only 11°C by 4 h postslaughter if carcass
backfat thickness is increased. Thus, some studies report an increase in
toughness after very fast chilling, perhaps due to an insufficient decline in
the internal temperature of the muscle. In order to obtain the targeted
temperature, extreme blast-chilling conditions (7 and 10 h at –35°C) need to
be used. Although these conditions result in more tender beef after 6 days of
aging, differences disappear after 21 days of aging. Therefore, the main
advantage of very fast chilling is a reduction
in the necessary aging time to achieve an acceptable product.
Freezing
When meat is frozen,
the cell membranes are damaged,
which results in a lower water-holding
capacity (WHC) and a higher cooking loss, and consequently, a risk of less
juicy meat. On the other hand, for similar reasons, it is known that freezing
beef also influences tenderness. Thus, beef that is aged and then frozen and
thawed has been reported to have lower shear force values compared to chilled
meat aged the same time. However, the effect of freezing and thawing on
instrumental shear force has not been corroborated by consumers, while the
negative effects on juiciness were confirmed by trained panel analysis.
Master
the art of tenderizing. Read... How
to Tenderize Beef
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