4. Conclusions
Cooking loss has an important effect on the eating quality of meat. The amount of fat in raw lamb and goat SM muscle was reduced after heating. In microwave heating the fat reduction in goat SM muscle was greater than conventional heating. The cooking loss was also greater in goat SM while in lamb was less. As a result, microstructure of lamb and goat SM muscle might have an influence on the cooking loss and most probably initial distribution of fat cells plays an important role (Garcia-Garrido, Quiles-Zafra, Tapiador, & Luque de Castro, 1999). The fat cells in the interior of muscle, lost more slowly compared to the fat located near the surface of muscle. The overall migration of fat globules during microwave cooking was higher than conventional cooking.