Sensory descriptive profiling and consumer preferences of beef strip loin steaks

The primary objectives of this study were to determine the descriptive sensory profile of beef strip loin steaks cooked two ways (oven and griddles) to three end-point temperatures (65, 71 and 77 °C) and to investigate the acceptability of these steaks to consumers; the secondary objectives involved determining the drivers of consumer preference and understanding the relationship between descriptive attributes and hedonic judgments using partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis. The Warner-Bratzler shear force of the meat and cooking losses were analyzed. Descriptive sensory profiling was performed by 13 trained evaluators using quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA). The acceptability of the steaks was tested with 118 beef consumers. QDA revealed that all attributes except fat aroma and liver flavor differed significantly by sample. PLS regression analysis was not able to identify the descriptors that were positively or negatively associated with the acceptability of the beef strip loin samples. Consumers preferred the appearance, aroma and flavor of beef strip loin samples cooked at the highest temperatures and the tenderness and juiciness of samples cooked at the lowest temperatures.