The effects of different cooking regimes on the cook yield and tenderness of non-injected and injection enhanced forequarter beef muscles.

The aim was to investigate the effect of different cooking regimes on the cook yield and tenderness of non-injected and brine injected (0.5% residual NaCl) bovine M. triceps brachii caput longum (TB), M. supraspinatus (SP) and M. pectoralis profundus (PP). Injected and non-injected TB, SP and PP muscle sections (400 g) were (a) conventionally oven cooked to 72 degrees C or cooked slowly (using a Delta10 programme) to 72 degrees C or (b) cooked in a water bath to 72 degrees C or cooked in a water bath to 55 degrees C and held at this temperature for 2 h before heating to 72 degrees C. In addition, injected PP muscle sections were oven cooked to 69 degrees C and held at this temperature for up to 12 h. Slow cooking using a Delta10 programme had no significant (P<0.05) effect on WBSF values of injected or non-injected SP and TB muscles but significantly (P<0.05) decreased the WBSF values of injected and non-injected PP muscles when compared to conventional cooking. Slow cooking significantly (P<0.05) increased % cook yield of injected PP, SP and TB muscles. Staged cooking significantly (P<0.05) decreased the WBSF values and had no significant effect on sensory tenderness ratings of non-injected TB, SP and PP muscles and injected PP muscles. Staged cooked injected or non-injected PP, SP and TB muscles had lower % cook yield values than those cooked straight to 72 degrees C. Increasing the cooking time of injected PP muscles at 69 degrees C to 8 and 12 h decreased % cook yield, decreased WBSF values and increased sensory tenderness ratings. It also alleviated the problem of residual chewiness which was evident in PP muscles cooked using the other regimes. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.