Tenderness of beef loin steaks as influenced by marbling level, removal of subcutaneous fat, and cooking method

Loins from 12 carcasses of Small minus marbling and loins from 12 carcasses of Slight minus marbling were selected. Steaks from these loins were either completely trimmed of external fat or trimmed to 0.6 cm of external fat. Steaks were cooked to 67 degrees C either by a rapid, high-temperature broiler-grill or by a slower, lower temperature electric broiler. Muscle on the dorsal side of steaks (where fat trimming was performed) was used for shear force measurements (five separate core locations), and the ventral portion was used for sensory evaluation of tenderness. Sensory scores for tenderness were affected (P 0.05) by various first-order interactions, although differences were minimal. Steaks of Slight minus marbling cooked by broiler-grilling had reduced tenderness scores. Only when steaks were cooked by broiler-grilling did complete fat removal produce cores that appeared more well-done. Broiler-grilling produced more well-done cores than did electrical broiling. Correlations between shear force expressed as peak load and tenderness scores were highest in cores that were more similar in degree of doneness to sensory evaluation samples. Although broiler-grilling produced considerable within-steak variation in degree of doneness, some of the highest correlations between shear core degree of doneness and peak load and between peak load and sensory tenderness were obtained with this broiling procedure. This would imply that rapid broiling is important in creating uniform tenderness in loin steaks of reduced fat, but further modifications in rapid broiling cookery are necessary to improve uniformity of cooked meat color