Effect of sous vide cooking and ageing on tenderness and water-holding capacity of low-value beef muscles from young and older animals

This study investigated the effect of the age of the animal, sous vide cooking and ageing on tenderness and water-holding capacity of bovine biceps femoris (BF) and semitendinosus (ST). Samples of each muscle from young (<18 months) and older (30-42 months) animals, at 0 and 13 days ageing, were cooked at 55 degrees C, 65 degrees C, and 75 degrees C for 1 h, 8 h and 18 h and tested for Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), cooking loss, total water content and collagen solubility. WBSF reduced with ageing (P < 0.05) and sous vide cooking (P < 0.001) in both muscles. Our results demonstrated that meat from older animals required a higher temperature (75 degrees C) and prolonged cooking (18 h) to achieve equal tenderness in both BF and ST relative to young animals. Cooking time, temperature and their interaction altered cooking loss (P < 0.001) for both muscles. The higher cooking temperature increased collagen solubility (P < 0.001) in both muscles and solubilisation of collagen may have contributed to improved tenderness of BF and ST in sous vide cooking.

Automated summary

The study found that meat from older animals required higher temperature and prolonged cooking to achieve equal tenderness compared to meat from younger animals. Cooking time, temperature, and their interaction significantly affected cooking loss in both muscles. In sous vide cooking, the solubilization of collagen contributed to the improved tenderness of the muscles.