Ground beef patties prepared from brisket, flank and plate have unique fatty acid and sensory characteristics

•Ground beef was formulated from brisket, flank, and plate primals.•Brisket patties contained more monounsaturated fatty acids than flank patties.•Brisket patties had more pleasant headspace volatiles than flank patties.

We hypothesized that unique ground beef products could be formulated from brisket, flank, and plate primals. Primals were taken from 4 USDA Select carcasses from conventionally produced cattle, selected at random in a commercial packing plant. Lean and fat trims were separated, and ground beef was formulated from each primal to contain 10, 20, or 30% total fat. Brisket patties contained higher proportions of monounsaturated fatty acids and less saturated fatty acids than flank patties. There were no differences in n − 6 or n − 3 fatty acids across primal type or fat level. After cooking, brisket patties had higher bloody/serumy and fat-like descriptor values than flank patties. Plate patties generated higher amounts of lipid-derived volatiles than patties from the brisket or flank. Brisket patties generally had higher amounts of pleasant headspace volatiles whereas the plate relied more heavily on Maillard-derived volatiles than flank patties. We conclude that individual primals can be used to formulate ground beef with unique compositional and flavor characteristics.