Effect of Cooking Time on the Quality of Shredded Beef under Different Cooking Methods

To investigate the effects of cooking methods and time on the eating quality of shredded beef (8 cm × 0.4 cm ×0.4 cm), the sensory characteristics, cooking loss rate, texture, chromatic value (brightness value (L^*), redness value (a^*) and yellowness value (b^*)), energy value and nutritional composition of shredded beef treated with different cooking methods and time: stir frying at 130 ℃ (2, 3, 4 and 5 min), deep frying at 160 ℃ (2, 2.5, 3 and 3.5 min), and air frying at 190 ℃ (6, 8, 10 and 12 min) were determined. The results showed that with the increase in cooking time, the cooking loss rate, hardness, chewiness, stickiness, and energy value gradually increased, while the L^* continued to decrease. Sensory scores, a^*, b^* and protein content first increased and then decreased. Furthermore, through clustering analysis, it was found that the quality of shredded beef cooked by air frying for 8 min was similar to that of traditional stir frying for 3 min, but the sensory score was not so high. The quality of shredded beef cooked by deep frying for 3 min was similar to that of traditional stir frying for 4 min, but the former had higher a^*, better sensory quality and increased nutrient content and exhibited a 25% reduction in cooking time. Therefore, deep frying shredded beef at 160 ℃ for 3 min can achieve the same effect as traditional stir frying, obtaining good sensory quality while improving production efficiency.