Cooking and palatability traits of beef longissimus steaks cooked with a belt grill or an Open Hearth electric broiler

The objective of this experiment was to compare the effects of belt grill a nd Open Hearth electric broiler cookery on palatability and cooking traits of longissimus steaks. The longissimus thoracis from carcasses of grain-fed steers or heifers was used. Duplicate measurements were made for Warner-Br atzler shear force at 3 and at 14 d after slaughter (n = 180) and trained s ensory evaluation at 14 d after slaughter (n = 91) using both cooking metho ds. Belt grill-cooked samples had lower (P <.01) percentage of cooking loss es (21.5 vs 25.8%) and higher (P <.01) shear force values (4.6 vs 4.3 kg) t han electric broiler-cooked samples. Repeatability of duplicate measurement s was higher for cooking losses (.58 vs .23) and sheer force values (.85 vs .64) for belt grill than for electric broiler cooked samples. Belt grilled steaks had lower (P <.01) cooking losses (20.2 vs 29.8%); higher (P <.01) tenderness (7.0 vs 6.7) and juiciness (6.0 vs 5.1); and lower (P <.02) conn ective tissue amount (7.7 vs 7.8), beef flavor intensity (5.0 vs 5.1), and off-flavor (3.2 vs 3.3) ratings than steaks cooked with the electric broile r. Belt grill cooking increased the repeatability of duplicate sensory meas urements for tenderness (.87 vs .71), connective tissue amount (.66 vs .30) , and juiciness (.51 vs .08) ratings, and cooking losses (.63 vs .18) compa red with cooking with the electric broiler. Belt grill cooking increased th e precision for measurements of cooking, Warner-Bratzler shear force, and p alatability traits of beef longissimus thoracis.