Structural changes in local Thai beef during sous-vide cooking

Thai beef (Bos indicus) samples were sous-vide-cooked at temperatures of 60°C, 70°C or 80°C for 2 to 36 hrs and prepared for microstructure characterization by light and electron microscopy. Muscle fibers showed a first phase of lateral shrinkage during the first 6 hrs of cooking at 60-70°C and the first 2 hrs at 80°C followed by a second phase of significant alternations of shrinkage and swelling independently of water transfers. Swelling peaked at 12 hrs. Microstructural changes were more variable for samples cooked at 60-70°C than for samples cooked at 80°C that showed a larger cross-sectional myofibrillar mass area (CSA). Hypercontracted fibers were evidenced at all temperature-time combinations and were associated with adjacent wavy fibers and a characteristic structural evolution in the mitochondria. The role of thermal denaturation of proteins and the ultrastructural analogy of hypercontracted fibers with cold-shortened fibers are discussed.