The Effect of Oven Temperature, Cooking Method, and Breed on the Tenderness, Juiciness, and Flavor of Beef

The effect of oven temperature, dry-roasting, and breed on the eating quality of beef was determined by sensory and objective methods. Two adjacent standing rib and two adjacent chuck roasts of prime, choice, and good grades from animals of Hereford, Shorthorn, and Charolais breeding were dry-roasted. Control roasts (9-12th ribs) were cooked at 325 F. Experimental roasts (6-8th rib and two chucks) were assigned an oven temperature of 325 or 250 F at random. All roasts were allowed to reach ah internal temperature of 155 F as recorded on a potentiometer. Tenderness, as determined by a Warner-Bratzler shear, was greater in roasts cooked in the 325 F oven. The amount of press fluid and the percentage of total cooking loss due to drip was greater in the 325 F oven. The panel of judges preferred the flavor of meat which was dry roasted to that cooked by a moist heat method. An effect of breed on eating quality was shown: meat from animals of Charolais breeding rated highest by the taste panel for tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. One group of samples from a Shorthorn sire was consistently low in the three factors scored. There was a high correlation between objective and sensory methods of evaluation for tenderness and juiciness. Correlations were high between the taste panel scores for tenderness and flavor and also for juiciness and flavor. Flavor and backfat thickness were shown to be closely related