Such factors include the degree of maturity, color of lean, texture, and finally the degree and distribution of marbling.
Properties of beef texture include both initial (first bite with incisors) and overall tenderness (after multiple chews) as well as more complex sensory attributes of chewing and mouthfeel with multiple descriptors such as fiber cohesiveness, adhesion, friability, chew count, mealiness, mushiness, softness, amount of residual connective tissue, rubberiness, and hardness.
The texture sensation of meat is influenced by the presence of several factors including the amount of intramuscular fat, water holding capacity, the state of the actomyosin complex and the quantity and, mostly, the quality of collagen.
Meat juiciness also plays a key role in meat texture, probably contributing to its variability. The tenderness of cooked meat will be largely influenced by connective tissue and myofibrillar components. This is because during heating, a number of chemical changes associated with the muscle fibres and connective tissues occur. The cooking temperature therefore has a marked effect on the force deformation curve for meat.
Beef meat texture
