DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM PARTICLE SIZE FOR LOW-FAT, PRECOOKED GROUND BEEF PATTIES

Low-fat (10%) beef patties varying in particle size, C (Comitrol7® flaked), CG (mixture of flaked and ground) and G (coarse-ground) were precooked, frozen and microwave reheated for sensory, instrumental and compositional evaluations. Treatment G had higher cooking and reheating losses, higher shear values and lower final yields. Additionally, G was harder, denser, more easily fractured and less juicy than other treatments. All treatments were similar in sensory flavor attributes. C had the least cooking and reheating losses, lower shear values and higher final yields; however, it also showed surface "puffing" and an internal air pocket after microwave reheating which could be a disadvantage. Results indicated that physical shape, size or density of meat particles played a major role in textural traits. For optimum yield and textural properties, low-fat, precooked beef patties targeted for the frozen market probably should be manufactured using a Comitrol®-grinding (CG) combination.     

PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND SHELF-LIFE CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW-FAT GROUND BEEF PATTIES FORMULATED WITH WAXY HULL-LESS BARLEY

Ten percent hydrated, cracked waxy hull-less barley was incorporated into 90/10 (percentage lean/percentage fat) ground beef to produce a low-fat beef-barley patty which had substantially higher cook yields and water retention than either of the controls (80/20 beef, 90/10 beef). Instron texture profile analysis revealed that the beef-barley burger was less chewy, springy, cohesive, gummy, and hard than the controls. Aerobic plate counts indicated that, after six days of refrigerated storage, the beef-barley patty did not spoil any faster than the control. Thiobarbituric acid numbers (an indication of lipid oxidation) suggested that waxy barley incorporated into ground beef may have an antioxidant effect when patties are stored frozen for more than 90 days.     

PHYSICAL AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF LEAN GROUND BEEF PATTIES CONTAINING METHYLCELLULOSE AND HYDROXYPROPYLMETHYLCELLULOSE1

Broiled, lean ground beef patties containing no additives, two levels of methylcellulose (MC, 0.5 or 1.0%) and two levels of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC, 0.5 or 1.0%) were evaluated for raw and cooked composition, cooking losses, sensory attributes and Instron compression measurements. MC or HPMC addition did not significantly affect the fat, moisture or protein content of the raw and cooked patties. Patties containing HPMC received greater tenderness, juiciness and off-flavor sensory scores when compared with patties containing MC or no additive. MC or HPMC addition increased patty gumminess sensory scores and decreased Instron compression values. Sensory cooked meat flavor decreased with gum addition.     

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF GROUND BEEF PATTIES EXHIBITING NORMAL AND PREMATURE BROWN INTERNAL COOKED COLOR

Premature browning is a condition in which ground beef looks well-done at lower than expected temperatures. To study this color pattern, chemical properties were measured on raw and cooked patties (55, 65 and 75C) that developed normal (NRM) and premature brown (PMB) color when cooked to 55C. NRM patties were visually and instrumentally redder at all temperatures (P<0.05) than PMB patties. Visual color of PMB patties at 55C and NRM patties at 75C were similar (P>0.05). Heme and nonheme iron, total pigment and pH did not differ (P>0.05) between groups. Nonheme iron increased (P<0.05) as endpoint temperature increased. Patties with NRM color had lower (P<0.05) TBA values and oxidative-reduction potentials and higher (P<0.05) total reducing activity than patties with PMB. No difference (P>0.05) occurred in precipitation of juice extracts from NRM and PMB patties during heating (40 to 75C). Premature browning was related to patty oxidation.     

INSTRUMENTAL MULTIPLE TEXTURE PROFILE ANALYSIS OF COOKED GROUND BEEF PATTIES AND SMOKED BEEF

An instrumental texture profile for cooked hamburger patties was obtained by repeated tests on the same samples in the wire extrusion cell of the Ottawa Texture Measuring System. The correlation between sensory and instrumental texture profile parameters was increased when two or more instrument test cycles were applied to each sample in the same test cell. Tests with smoked beef and hamburger patties showed that the change in textural characteristics with repeated cycles depended on the texture of the food.     

WILD RICE AS AN ANTIOXIDANT FOR FRESH-FROZEN AND PRECOOKED BEEF PATTIES

Antioxidant effects, as measured by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), of ground cooked Minnesota wild rice (WR) added at 0, 15 and 25% (weight-weight) to fresh-frozen and precooked extra lean ground beef patties were investigated. WR generally resulted in more desirable sensory panel ratings and lower TBARS values for the fresh-frozen product at 8 weeks frozen storage but not at 0 week or 16 weeks. WR, especially at the 25% level, generally resulted in more desirable sensory panel ratings and lower TBARS in the precooked product at 4 and 8 weeks frozen storage. Ground WR can be an effective antioxidant in fresh-frozen and precooked ground beef patties stored at ?23C.     

AROMA,COLOR, AND TEXTURE OF GROUND BEEF PATTIES TREATED WITH FUMARIC AND LACTIC ACIDS1

Ground beef patties without acid or with added fumaric (FA) or lactic acids (LA) at 1, 3, and 5% concentrations were vacuum-packaged and stored for 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 and 14 days at 4C or tested without storage (0 days). The FA or LA treatments caused small sour aroma increases. Spoiled aroma was lowest for samples with 1% FA at 10 or 14 days or 1% LA at 10 days of storage. Initially, 3 or 5% FA and LA samples had fading. Lightness scores of 1% FA or LA did not differ from the control initially or for up to 14 days of storage. Shear force values for 1 and 3% FA treatments were not significantly different (P>0.05) from the control. The 5% FA patties required significantly less shear force when compared with controls at 0, 1, 5, 7, and 10 days of storage.     

NONMEAT INGREDIENTS FOR LOW-FAT GROUND BEEF PATTIES

Nine ground beef treatments were evaluated to compare chemical, physical and sensory characteristics of low-fat ground beef patties containing various water binders. Treatments 1–5 contained a blend of iota and kappa carrageenans having various viscosity and gelling characteristics (SD389, Viscarin SD 389; ME389, Viscarin ME 389; GP379, Gelcarin GP379; ME389/GP379, 50/50 ME389 & GP379; and ME621, Gelcarin ME621), and treatments 6–9 contained other water binders (XG/LBG, xanthan/locust bean gum; PF, pea flour; ALG, algin; and LB. Lean Bind^TMmodified food starch). Treatment 1, which contained carrageenan (SD389), served as the control. Algin patties were rated lowest in flavor intensity. Algin and LB patties were highest in sensory tenderness and had the lowest shear force values. The patties manufactured from ME389/GP379 and XG/LBG received higher overall acceptability scores than the control SD389 patties.