Three muscles were sampled from each animal: Longissimus
lumborum (LL, rump steak), Longissimus thoracis
(LT, rib steak) and Triceps brachii (TB, chuck). One day
post-mortem, these muscle samples were sliced into five
(chuck) or seven (rump steak, rib steak) pieces. One piece
from each muscle was frozen at 35 C and stored at
20 C awaiting further analyses. Other pieces were stored
in a vacuum and kept in the dark at 4 C for further maturation.
Overall, three durations of maturation were
applied to all muscles: 1, 3 and 14 days.
Cooking was then applied to muscle samples matured
for 3 or 14 days. The mode of cooking differed depending
on the type of muscle. Rump steak was either deep-fat fried
or roasted, rib steak was either pan fried or grilled, and
chuck was braised. Cooking conditions are described in
Table 1. The cooked pieces of meat were then frozen in a
vacuum at 35 C and stored at 20 C awaiting further
analyses. A total of 304 samples was thus generated for
subsequent analysis.