Three cooking methods (conventional oven roasting, sous vide and high pressure processing) were compared for their impact on toughness of bovine M. semitendinosus. Oven roasting resulted in the greatest cooking loss (31%) and highest Warner-Bratzler peak shear force (103N) as a result of the greatest shrinkage of the myofibrils and greatest loss of water (via shrinkage and through the dry cooking environment). Sous vide and HPP resulted in similar, low, cooking loss (19% and 17% respectively) with similar shrinkage of the myofibrils. The increased gelatinisation of the connective tissue when using HPP processing resulted in the least toughening of the meat with a peak shear force of 54N compared to (46N for the raw meat). Sous vide cooking also resulted in gelatinisation of the connective collagen, though not to the same extent as HPP, leading to a relatively tender sample with a peak shear force of 75N. Microstructural analysis using light and scanning electron microscopy revealed the structural changes occurring during cooking including shrinkage and increasing crimp of the fibrils. Environmental SEM in particular was able to show the enhanced gelatinisation resulting from HPP processing.

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