Effect of Cooking Method on Sensory and Instrumental Texture Attributes of Low-fat Beefburgers

The effect of cooking method (grilling, frying, griddling, roasting or deep fat frying) to an internal temperature of 72°C on the quality of low-fat (72±12 g fat/kg) beefburgers was assessed. Proximate analysis, sensory analysis, instrumental texture assessment, cook loss, dimensional changes and pH measurements were carried out. Cooking method significantly affected moisture content after cooking with deep fat fried burgers having the lowest values (P<0.05). Deep fat frying and grilling resulted in the highest cooking losses (P<0.001). The sensory characteristics of overall acceptability, tenderness, overall flavour, meaty flavour, overall appearance (P<0.001), overall texture, moistness/juiciness (P<0.01) and fattiness (P<0.05) were significantly affected by the cooking method. Warner Bratzler peak force (P<0.01), Warner Bratzler peak energy (P<0.05) and cohesiveness (P<0.05) (measured by texture profile analysis) were also significantly affected by cooking method. Burgers that were roasted or grilled had the lowest Warner Bratzler peak force (P<0.05) and energy values (P<0.05). Griddling resulted in the most acceptable low-fat beefburgers while deep fat frying produced the least acceptable ones.