Dimensional Changes in Meat During Cooking

Continuous measurements of changes in meat fiber length with increasing temperature during cooking showed three zones where rates of length change are significantly different. The first (> 40°C) is attributed to myofibrillar change. The second (> 55 °C) is thought to be related to connective tissue shrinkage and shows differences with myofibrillar contraction state attributable to changes in spatial orientation of collagen fibers. The third zone (> 70 °C) is believed to be due to the interaction between myofibrillar and connective tissue contraction. Measurements of changes in cooking loss, length and cross‐sectional area of samples of contracted and stretched muscle showed that cooking losses and the decrease in the cross‐sectional area were greater in contracted samples, whilst length changes were greater in stretched samples. This has been attributed to differences in spatial orientation of connective tissue.