8. Liver-like off-flavor in beef
With the increased use of muscles from the chuck and round in the US for steak items, rather than roasts or ground beef, restaurant personnel and food service employees that use these steaks have reported an increased number of complaints regarding the flavor of the beef they serve.The majority of the complaints are referred to as liver-like
flavor. Because of the economic impact these steaks have on the beef industry, it is important to identify and understand the causes of this particular off-flavor.
8.1 Cooking rate and holding time
Most of the anecdotal reports of incidences of off-flavors our laboratory received were from food service personnel. It was hypothesized that since food service preparation traditionally cooked the meat quickly and then held the product in warming ovens until the food was presented to the consumer these conditions might promote the liver-like flavor.Seven muscles located in the chuck and knuckle were slowly or rapidly cooked (on a 149EC commercial gas grill or a 249EC grill) and held for 0 or 1 h prior to consumption.Results clearly demonstrated that cooking at a slower rate and holding for a longer time reduce the intensity of off-flavor. It is hypothesized the slower cooking and longer hold time allow the undesirable volatile compounds to dissipate
During this study the observation was made that the samples that would be rated as having intense off-flavor by the trained taste panelists could be smelled during the cooking process. With the knowledge that there appears to be an animal effect and that the off-flavor is at least somewhat volatile, our laboratory has taken two directions in determining the cause of this off-flavor – pre-harvest conditions and compounds differences between lean tissue that is normal and lean tissue that is liver-like in flavor。
8.2. Frequency
The frequency of this off-flavor appears to relatively low, although the initial speculation was the incidence was between 7% and 10% based on Yancey et al. (2006)
and Meisinger et al. (2006). In a survey of urban Nebraska residents, 6.9% (11 out of 159) of respondents who had eaten aM. infraspinatus steak stated they had a poor eating
experience due to flavor.