Moisture transport during cooking of meat: An analysis based on Flory-Rehner theory

It is proposed that the moisture transport during cooking of meat can be described by the Flory-Rehner theory of rubber-elasticity. This theory contains the essential physics to describe the transport of liquid moisture due to denaturation and shrinkage of the heated protein matrix. The validity of the proposition is shown by a numerical model, which comprises a linearisation of the Flory-Rehner theory augmented with Darcy's law for porous media flow. The model is used to simulate cooking experiments performed with a rectangular piece of beef. Reasonable comparison between simulations and experiments is obtained. Further analysis of simulations renders insight of yet unexplained phenomena observed during cooking of meat. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.