Effect of End Point Temperature on Cooking Losses, Shear Force, Color, Protein Solubility and Microstructure of Goat Meat

The effect of end point cooking temperature on quality of goat semimembranosus muscle was evaluated. The semimembranosus muscles were removed from 15 goat legs, cut into strips (4.0 cm × 4.0 cm × 5.0 cm) and vacuum packaged. Vacuum-packed strips were heated to one of nine end point temperatures: raw, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 and 90C. Cooking losses (CLs), shear force (SF), color, protein solubility and microstructure of strips were determined. Increasing end point temperature to more than 60C led to a significant increase in CL. SF showed a four-phase change as a result of increasing end point temperature from raw to 90C. The redness a* decreased significantly (P < 0.05) during the range of 50–80C. The collagen solubility significantly increased with increasing temperature up to 55C. The sarcoplasmic protein solubility decreased significantly (P < 0.01), while the myofibrillar protein solubility only increased a little with increasing temperature between 55 and 90C. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Cooking temperature has great influence on meat textural and eating qualities. This investigation measures the effects of end point cooking temperature on CLs, SF, color, protein solubility and microstructure of goat meat. The results are beneficial in terms of providing evidence of the trend and thus allow the industries and consumers to choose the best cooking temperature during processing of goat meat.