Physical, Chemical, and Palatability Traits of Raw and Precooked Ground Beef Patties

Abstract

Boneless beef (U.S. Utility chucks or triangles; U.S. Choice plates) was ground (0.95 cm plate), standardized to 26% fat, reground (0.38 cm plate) and divided into two lots. One lot'remained in Plant A and the other lot was shipped via air-freight to Plant B. On the same day and at the same time, meat at both Plants was formed into patties. Half of the patties at Plant A were precooked in a moisturecontrolled oven broiler, half of the patties at Plant B were precooked in an open-hearth broiler; the remaining patties at each Plant were not precooked and were frozen in the raw state. Precooked and raw patties at both Plants were frozen (-30°C) in spiral air blast freezers, boxed, air-freighted to College Station, Tex. and Beltsville, Md. and stored at -20°C. Frozen patties were cooked to 63°C (11 mm at 190°C) and palatability was evaluated by an 84-member consumer panel and by an 8-member trained panel. Precooking of ground beef patties: (a) reduces cube space-weight,dimensions, thus economies would accrue in packaging-transportmgdistributing such product in comparison to requirements for raw patties; (b) increases total weight loss by approximately 1.8-9.4 percentage points; (c) resulted in increased moisture retention but increased loss of fat during final heating of product; (d) increases incidence of off-flavors by 7-16 percentage points and decreases flavor desirability if performed by use of a moisture-controlled oven broiler; (e) increases tenderness of heated patties; and (f,l has no apparent effect on amount of organoleptically detectable connective tissue, flavor intensity or ready-to-serve appearance. It is very doubtful that the advantages in size reduction and tenderness are sufficient to offset the disadvantages in off-flavor incidence, in cookingfreezing-heating losses, in energy required to cool the product after precooking, and in the necessity to use heat twice (once for precooking, once for heating prior to being served) to prepare the product for ultimate consumption.

Effects of Cooking and Subsequent Reheating on the Properties of Low‐fat Beef Patties

“…Higher shear force properties in patty samples as a result of precooking and reheating have been previously reported (Cross er al. 1979;Joseph et al 1980).…”

Effects of Pre‐chilling, Freezing Rate, and Storage Time on Beef Patty Quality

“…In North America, the hamburger, also known as the ground beef patty, has become an integral part of the diet. Palatability associated with beef patties has been shown to be a function of such factors as freezing rate (Sebranek et al, 1978), mechanical treatment of raw materials (Berry et al, 1981), composition (Cross et al, 1976), precooking (Joseph et al, 1980) and the use of pre;rigor beef (Jacobs and Sebranek, 1980). It has been considered for many years that foods which are "quick frozen," yield optimum quality.…”

Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Vitamin E on Frozen Storage Stability of Precooked Beef Crumbles

“…Over a 96 h period of 4C storage, salt usage (2 or 4%) in ground beef increased thiobarbituric acidreacting substances (TBARS) numbers (Torres et al 1988). While cooking of meat has been found to increase oxidative off-flavor (Sato and Hegarty 1971; Keller and Kinsella 1973), several studies involving precooking of beef patties coupled with frozen storage failed to demonstrate an increase in lipid oxidation (Cross et al 1979;Joseph et al 1980). The effects of cooking on lipid oxidation may be highly dependent on cooking times, temperatures and methodology (Arganosa et al 1989).…”