Warner–Bratzler shearing blade with a thickness of 3.21 mm, length of 125 mm and width of 70 mm was assembled to the
TA.XT2 Texture Analyser (Surrey, England). It shears or cuts through the sample with a test speed of 2.5 mm/s. The computer software was set to plot a force versus time plot and the results were expressed as the maximum peak force (shear force in N) required to shear through the sample. Other parameter calculated was the area under the curve which describes the total amount of work required to cut through the sample. This test method incorporates compression of fibres beneath the blade, tension in the adjoining fibres and shearing of the fibres (Bouton, Harris, & Shorthouse, 1975). Textural measurements were performed on samples from the fillet. Each sample was measured three times.