Combined ohmic and plate heating of hamburger patties: quality of cooked patties Original Research Article

Combined ohmic and conventional cooking of hamburger patties has recently been patented as a new method of cooking. The method is based on passing electric current through the meat patties causing internal heat generation. It has been found to reduce cooking time up to half the time usually required in conventional cooking. However, the effect of applying ohmic cooking on the quality of cooked patties is not known yet. This work summarises the experimental investigation made on the quality of hamburger patties cooked by conventional and ohmic-assisted cooking. Several properties of the patties cooked by the two methods were tested such as mechanical properties, oil and moisture contents. The results showed insignificant differences in the properties of the patties cooked by the two methods. It was concluded that ohmic heating has no effect on the quality of the cooked hamburger, which was also confirmed by non-expert tasting.