Prediction of cooking times and weight losses during meat roasting

In this work, a meat oven cooking model is developed, and its ability to predict three main process variables - evaporative loss, dripping loss and cooking time - is evaluated. Heat transfer is modelled by Fourier's law, while the internal moisture content variation is modelled as a function of water demand, which depends on the water holding capacity of beef. Experimental cooking of semitendinosus muscle samples was carried out in a convective oven to obtain general information about the process and to assess the model accuracy. Simulations were done by means of the finite element method, using three-dimensional irregular geometries as simulation domains. The model predictions were in good agreement with the experimental ones; the average absolute relative error was 3.91% for cooking time prediction, and 7.96% for total weight loss prediction. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.