Freezing of Cooked Meat: Influence of Freezing Rate and Reconstitution Method on Quality and Yield

The combined effects of freezing rate, frozen storage and reconstitution method on meat quality and yield were studied in multifactorial experiments using pan‐fried 1.5 cm slices of longissimus muscles and deep‐fat fried meat patties. On the whole, a slight improvement in sensory quality and yield was seen with increasing freezing rate, except that liquid nitrogen immersion freezing influenced flavor negatively. In contrast with earlier results of ours with raw beef, an advantage was now seen for reconstitution after previous thawing over reheating directly from the frozen state, and pan frying gave better sensory quality but lower yield than continuous microwave reheating. Tenderness of sliced, cooked beef tended to increase during frozen storage, while the opposite was earlier observed for frozen raw beef. Otherwise, a general trend was seen towards decreasing yield and sensory quality during frozen storage. A number of significant interactions between variables was obtained, suggesting that their influence on quality and yield is interrelated in a rather complex manner.