A new approach to correlate textural and cooking parameters with operatingconditions during double-sided cooking of meat patties

Cooking and textural parameters during double-sided cooking of hamburger pa tties were correlated with volume-averaged temperature at the end of the co oking process and gap thickness between plates. Frozen parries were cooked in a clamshell grill set at different plate surface temperatures (177C; 191 C; 204C; 218C), for different gap thicknesses (9.65 mm; 10.05 mm; 10.55 mm; 11.05 mm) for 120 s. A decrease in the gap thickness and an increase in th e plate surface temperature resulted in an increase in the cooking loss val ues (24-36%) and in a decrease of press juice values (8-25%). The values of peak load (183-215 N), modulus (16-19 N/mm), work needed in shearing (2300 -2800 Nmm), hardness (25-32 N), cohesiveness (0.76-0.83), and chewiness (10 7-152 Nmm) of the patties increased when the gap thickness decreased and th e plate surface temperature increased. There was no effect of the variables studied on springiness. The correlation equations involving the operating variables and quality parameters obtained are simple and useful in developi ng optimal process conditions.