The Effect of Sous-vide Cooking on Tenderness
A study by Cover and others showed that roast beef products (triceps and biceps) obtained after heating at 80°C up to 43 hours were more tender than those obtained after short heating at 125°C. This shows the importance of slow heating rates. A study by Bramblett and Vail showed that products in a vacuum bag sealed by a vacuum sealer heated at an oven temperature of 65°C had better tenderness and overall appearance, while the food cooked at 93°C in an oven did not have similar qualities. They also pointed out that increasing the core temperatures close to 60°C was essential to obtain more tender meat. Other researchers found that keeping heating temperatures close to 60°C not only avoided the increase in toughness of the meat observed at higher temperatures, but also tenderness was improved after 4 hours. These observations were further confirmed in beef, pork and lamb. The current consensus is that sous-vide cooking improves the tenderness of the meat. However, studies have shown that differences in the characteristics of the raw materials, temperature and time can also have an impact on tenderness. For beef, after being heated at 60℃ for 4 hours, the toughness of the longissimus dorsi muscle is lower than that of some muscles (hemilateral muscle, semimembranosus and biceps femoris) measured by a shear force tester. Increasing the heating time from 5 hours to 17 hours did not change the shear force values of the porcine semitendinosus at any temperature between 48℃ and 63℃, while the longer holding time will make the meat more tender at temperatures from 58℃ to 63℃.
Pulgarl and others studied pork with a lot of connective tissue, and the results showed that extending the roasting time from 5 hours to 12 hours at 60°C did not affect its texture properties such as hardness, cohesion, elasticity, cohesion and chewiness), but a significant decrease in meat-related texture properties happens at the same experiment at 80°C. In the few studies using young and old animals, the age of the animal also has an impact on the final degree of tenderness of the product. For example, shear and adhesion values are reduced for veal and young bull meat (0 to 12 months) at temperatures between 50 and 53°C after heating for less than 4 hours, while the same shear and adhesion values can be obtained for cows at the age of 2 to 17 after heating at 55 to 65°C for 8 to 24 hours. However, there are few articles on whether the quality of pork cooked by sous-vide cooking will be affected by the age. Only Christensen and others researched the related subject and found that the shear force of the longissimus dorsi muscle from old pigs was less prone to change by sous-vide cooking for a long time.
There are many explanations for the changes in tenderness, and changes in the connective tissue an important role, which holds muscle fibers, skeleton and fat in place. It acts as a muscle bundle around a single muscle fiber and bundles of these fibers. Experiments found that there were significant differences between different age groups (reflecting collagen thermal stability) and between different muscle types (reflecting collagen content), suggesting that changes in connective tissue are a mechanism for the tenderization of sous-vide cooked meat products. The contribution of connective tissue to tenderization during sous-vide cooking may be different from that during prolonged heating and boiling, where higher temperatures can completely denature collagen, with collagen fibers starting to shrink at around 60°C, but becoming more serious at 65°C. The shrinkage mainly destroys the three-layer helical structure in it, transforming it into a water-soluble random structure, which is called a gel. However, the influence of connective tissue in the measurement of shear stress in cooked meat cannot be directly assessed, so it cannot be assumed that connective tissue is the only contributing factor.
Pulgarl and others studied pork with a lot of connective tissue, and the results showed that extending the roasting time from 5 hours to 12 hours at 60°C did not affect its texture properties such as hardness, cohesion, elasticity, cohesion and chewiness), but a significant decrease in meat-related texture properties happens at the same experiment at 80°C. In the few studies using young and old animals, the age of the animal also has an impact on the final degree of tenderness of the product. For example, shear and adhesion values are reduced for veal and young bull meat (0 to 12 months) at temperatures between 50 and 53°C after heating for less than 4 hours, while the same shear and adhesion values can be obtained for cows at the age of 2 to 17 after heating at 55 to 65°C for 8 to 24 hours. However, there are few articles on whether the quality of pork cooked by sous-vide cooking will be affected by the age. Only Christensen and others researched the related subject and found that the shear force of the longissimus dorsi muscle from old pigs was less prone to change by sous-vide cooking for a long time.
There are many explanations for the changes in tenderness, and changes in the connective tissue an important role, which holds muscle fibers, skeleton and fat in place. It acts as a muscle bundle around a single muscle fiber and bundles of these fibers. Experiments found that there were significant differences between different age groups (reflecting collagen thermal stability) and between different muscle types (reflecting collagen content), suggesting that changes in connective tissue are a mechanism for the tenderization of sous-vide cooked meat products. The contribution of connective tissue to tenderization during sous-vide cooking may be different from that during prolonged heating and boiling, where higher temperatures can completely denature collagen, with collagen fibers starting to shrink at around 60°C, but becoming more serious at 65°C. The shrinkage mainly destroys the three-layer helical structure in it, transforming it into a water-soluble random structure, which is called a gel. However, the influence of connective tissue in the measurement of shear stress in cooked meat cannot be directly assessed, so it cannot be assumed that connective tissue is the only contributing factor.
Next: Moisture and Heating Losses in Sous-vide Cooking
Previous: Sous-vide Cooking