Beef fajitas have become a popular food item, but the supply of traditional
muscles is insufficient to meet the growing demand. There is a need for alternative
muscles that have similar eating characteristics to those currently marketed as beef
fajitas. Four different treatments - papain (P), blade tenderization (B), papain + blade
tenderization (P+B), and control (C) - were applied to sixty USDA Choice M.
diaphragma pars costalis, M. transversus abdominis, M. obliquus abdominis internus,
M. rhomboideus, M. trapezius, M. latissimus, and M. serratus ventralis. Muscles were
cut into sections and frozen at -10ºC for evaluation by a trained sensory panel, consumer
panel, and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) measurements.
Trained panelists found that regardless of muscle, the addition of papain
improved palatability scores. In general, treatment tended not to affect the palatability
scores of the M. diaphragma pars costalis and M. serratus ventralis, which tended to
receive higher scores in comparison to the other muscles. In general, the control and
blade tenderized M. trapezius received the lowest trained and consumer panel
palatability scores and had the highest WBSF values (P < 0.05). Regardless of muscle (except for M. diaphragma pars costalis and M. serratus ventralis), P and P+B
treatments reduced WBSF values (P < 0.05). Consumers (n=81) gave the M.
transversus abdominis, M. serratus ventralis, and M. latissimus similar (P > 0.05)
tenderness ratings when the P treatment was applied. Consumers tended to prefer the
flavor and tenderness of beef fajita strips that were treated with P and P+B and indicated
a preference to purchase muscles with these treatments. Consumers were willing to
purchase M. serratus ventralis treated with P+B and M. latissimus treated with P the
majority of the time. Papain improved the eating quality of the muscles studied. The M.
latissimus and M. serratus ventralis when treated with papain alone or in combination
with blade tenderization, performed well enough to be considered as alternatives for
traditional beef fajitas.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1721 |
| Date | 02 June 2009 |
| Creators | Huerta Sanchez, Diana Lorena |
| Contributors | Savell, Jeffrey W. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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