Author
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Berry, Bradford |
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Submitted to: Journal of Foodservice Systems
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 2/7/1997 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Consumers have a strong interest in low-fat meat products for diet/health reasons. However, they expect these products to have acceptable eating quality, especially if they cost more than higher-fat meat items. Simply reducing fat in thin-meat items, such as beef patties, often results in a tough, dry product with undesirable flavor. Use of various fat replacers has produced inconsistent results. Much of the testing with low-fat beef patties has used slower research methods of cooking. The fast-food industry requires rapid systems for cooking patties. This study considered a wide variety of beef patty processing and added ingredients for low-fat (10 percent) beef patties. These patties were cooked by two rapid systems (combination of broiling and grilling together or high velocity heated air in an impingement oven) popular in the foodservice industry. Differences in raw materials and/or processing procedures for patties affected cooking, eating quality and tenderness more than the two cooking methods. Muscle from younger-age cattle provided improvements in eating quality over muscle from older cattle. Improvements in tenderness and cooking yields were found when perforations or holes were put in the patties followed by individual quick freezing. Manufacture of thick patties also improved sensory, tenderness and cooking properties. Oat fiber and bran was found to be a suitable fat replacer. This study provided evidence that soy protein should be avoided in the processing of low-fat patties. Technical Abstract: Seven low-fat (8-10 percent) formulations of beef patties were obtained from commercial operations and differed in: (1) raw beef materials, (2) patty formation and freezing method, and (3) added ingredients (iota carrageenan, oat bran and fiber, soy protein concentrate, frozen prehydrated soy protein). An eighth product was a 20 percent all-beef formulation. Patties were cooked to 71C either by impingement oven (IMP) cookery at 260-270C or combination broiler-grilling (BG) at the same temperature range. Improvements in tenderness, juiciness and cooking yields were achieved by either use of beef from young cattle, perforating patties coupled with individual quick freezing or use of oat bran and fiber. The 20 percent fat patties (manufactured from cow beef) received the lowest sensory and instrumental values for tenderness. These findings serve to indicate that high fat levels do not always guarantee high tenderness in beef patties. Patties processed with soy products received the lowest juiciness and flavor ratings. BG produced higher cooking yields and juiciness scores than cooking by IMP. Cooking method did not appreciably influence tenderness. Due to the sizeable differences among formulations in sensory properties and cooking yields, considerable attention appears necessary in selecting raw materials, ingredients and processing procedures in order to insure acceptable low-fat beef patties. |
