3 Results
3.1 Cooking surface and steak temperatures
Cooking surface temperature effects on the steak and cooking temperatures are shown in Fig. 1. Naturally, the cooking surface temperature did not impact the beginning steak surface, beginning internal, or ending internal temperatures. As the cooking surface temperature treatment levels increased, the beginning, flipped, and ending skillet temperatures also increased (P < 0.05). Interestingly, in all three cooking temperature treatments, the surface temperature of the skillet decreased by about 50 °C at the point that the steak was turned, and another 25 to 50 °C by the time that the steak was removed from the skillet. It is well understood that putting a cool steak on the cooking surface will reduce the cooking surface temperature, but additionally, the moisture migration out of the steak also cools the cooking surface. This may be reflected in the fact that the surface temperature of the steak never got above the boiling point (100 °C). Accordingly, additional research is needed in mapping the temperature of the steak as most literature indicates that the formation of MRP begins at 120–150 °C. It is possible that the momentary temperature of the surface was in fact much higher (as indicated by the temperature of the skillet), but that the temperature of the steak surface was below 100 °C when momentarily removed for measurement.