- Changes in Meat Proteins in Cooking and Relationship to Me...
Changes in Meat Proteins in Cooking and Relationship to Meat Tenderness. Illustrate your essay with specific examples.
Introduction
Ever since man became civilized, there have been considerable
changes in his palate. The advancements seen in different fields
also encompass food science. Once of the important aspect of food
science is the study regarding the changes that occur to proteins
upon cooking and the different factors that affect the softness of
the food (Varnam and Sutherland, 1995; Pearson and Gillett, 1996;
Lawrie, 1998). The present study involves an analysis of the
changes happening to meat proteins during cooking and the different
processes that play a role in determining softness of meat. Studies
have shown that juiciness of meat is affected and varies with
cooking rate and final temperature (Aaslyng et al., 2003, Bejerholm
and Aaslyng, 2003, Bowers et al., 1987, Heymann et al., 1990,
Joseph et al., 1997, Laakkonen et al., 1970 and Wood et al., 1995).
Cooking loss happens with increase in temperature. Initially it was
accepted that variation in juiciness was attributed to water loss
but recent studies have shown that this loss is accounted only by
ten percent and the rest to multiple other factors. It is now
accepted that cooking loss due to water content is not the only
determinant of juiciness. Studies that focus on the property of the
internal water content of meat and its contribution to juiciness
and its relationship to temperature are few. Bertram et al (2005)
have shown that juiciness reduces when temperature is elevated.
They found that juiciness of pork reduced when temperature was
elevated from 62°C to 75°C and attributed this loss to the change
in the pores that hold the water in the muscle fibres and also due
to elimination of water. Some studies show that meat tenderness is
also contributed by proteolysis of important myofibrillar proteins
during storage (Koohmaraie et al, 2002).
Discussion and Conclusion
Experimental studies have shown that meat juiciness and tenderness
vary from one cooking method to another (Przybylski et al, 2007;
Ramadan, 2006; Dreeling et al, 2000). They show that meat
tenderness is more when it is boiled. On the contrary when meat is
grilled, it is juicier. The increased breakdown of the proteins,
i.e. hydrolysis contributes to the greater softness in the boiled
sample compared to the frying and grilling methods. During
grilling, there is less meat hydrolysis which happens mainly around
the surface. This results in the meat holding more juice because
the proteins are more intact than that during boiling or frying.
Moreover the surface denaturing seals shut the entry points for the
internal water in the meat. So of all the three methods used in the
present study boiling is the beast when meat tenderness is
concerned but grilling is the best when juiciness is the
requirement.
