Cooking tenderizing in beef.

Heating tenderzes meat in three distinct phases. Up to 65°C aging occurs through proteolysis at specific sites in the myofibrils. From about 70°C the collagen of the connective tissue is denatured and melts. Above about 100°C the myofibrils begin to break down again presumably from non-specific high-temperature hydrolysis. The rate of cooking tenderizing above 70°C increases sharply with temperature and at 100°C is equal to the maximum aging rate at 60°C. However the collagen becomes more resistant to breakdown with animal age since the time to achieve maximum tenderizing of m. sternomandibularis at 80°C increases from 4 h for young calves to greater than 15 h for old bulls. There is little overlap in the temperature ranges of aging and cooking tenderizing above 70°C with a minimum tenderizing temperature of ∼ 67°C. The merits of tenderizing meat by holding it below or above this temperature are discussed.