A comparison of restructured steaks made from pre-rigor and post-rigor beef

There is a question of how to best utilize muscle tissue from older (C, D, and E) maturity cattle or from lower priced cuts. This study was undertaken to test the viability of utilizing older cow meat to make intermediate value products (restructured strip steaks) by mixing flaked cow beef with fat from USDA choice grade carcasses. Objectives were to determine: (1) the effect of various ratios of pre-rigor and post-rigor beef on bind, textural and physical properties of restructured steaks, and (2) the effect of various flake size combinations on the bind, textural and physical properties of re structured steaks.

The results showed that the post-rigor treatments showed less distortion, less cooking loss, and had a more attractive appearance. However, the pre-rigor muscle tissue flaked to 0.750 inch flake size proved to be the treatment most resembling an intact muscle product. The pre-rigor 0.750 inch flake size treatment had superior shear, bind, hardness, cohesiveness and chewiness scores.