chillin while grillin

Yesterday we had the first taste panel training session for the remainder of my thesis project.  I arrived on campus extra early to make sure I had everything ready to go by time we would start cooking at 9:45.  To my surprise, my advisor notified me we would need to move the session a full hour earlier to accommodate a meeting that got scheduled over the weekend.  Being an assertive and organized individual, this change in plans did not settle well.  Soon after his announcement  I developed sweaty palms, a slight headache, and rapid heart rate. At the end of the day, I realized things went fairly well for planning on the fly.....something I never enjoy doing.  


Anyway, back to the process of running a taste panel.  After the product has been selected, sampling randomized, and taste panelist trained, it is time to prepare steaks for tasting.  To ensure all steaks are cooked to a proper end temperature, thermocouples (the red thermo cables below) are threaded through the steak.  We try to place the end of the thermocouple in the geometric center of the steak.  The blue plastic piece is then inserted into a thermometer to measure the change in temperature.



Once steaks reach the desired temperature they can be removed from the grill.  We use an internal temperature of 71 degrees, or medium well.  Using 71 degrees as an endpoint is fairly standard across the realm of meat science research.  It allows the product to maintain its apparent juiciness, yet allows for adequate muscle fiber degradation, or tenderness, to occur.    A simple tug on the thermocouple will remove it from the steak and it is now ready to cut.


For sample size, panelist are served a 1cm cubed pieced of meat.  To do so we use the cubing tray pictured below.  Before the steak is cubed, all excess fat and connective tissue need to be trimmed off the steak to prevent an unacceptable sample.  It works best to square off the steak so it fits better into the tray. 




Since I am such a neat freak I love cubing samples!  It can turn an ugly, un-symmetrical steak into tiny cubes of tasty perfection.  




Panelist are then served 1 cube of meat to do their analysis.  Between samples it is strongly suggested the eat a non-salted saltine crack (yum :S) and take a drink of double distilled water.   This process helps cleanse the palate and prepare the panelist for their next sample.


Through the preparation for taste panels in research, I have relied heavily on my fellow graduate students.  Not only have they helped me cook, clean the kitchen, and serve samples, but they have also made time in the kitchen enjoyable.  Many a conversation have been held in the kitchen...some beneficial some not so much.  But as I said, it sure makes time fly!

the swing of things

This week marks the third and final 4-day work week for me for the month of January.  And I must admit it terrifies me to think how long next week is going to drag on!  Aside from next week being a normal 5-day working week, I am starting taste panel training sessions for the final part of my thesis project.  Although this is exciting, I am also anxious about all the time and effort required in organizing a taste panel.  Nonetheless, I think this panel will be the best way to get back into the swing of things.

Taste panels are commonly used in meat science research to assess the palatability of new products, cooking methods, or aging techniques.  In my case, this taste panel will assess the palatability-or tasting/eating quality-of the extended sirloin cap. Taste panels are a means to detect differences in product tenderness, juiciness, flavor, connective tissue content, off-flavor, visual appearance, and aroma.  It is the true way to determine the way a product will be perceived in the industry.

With that being said, there are two types of taste panels: consumer or trained.  Consumer panels are often conducted in retail or restaurant settings where consumers have little knowledge on product background, and the process of taste analysis.  Consumer panels provide insight to how the general population will receive the product and it's attributes, and often have a large sample population.  Because of this, sample variation is quite large and statistical significance may be difficult to achieve.  Consumer panels also take an immense amount of time and collaboration with grocery stores or restaurants to plan.  Incentives are often given to consumer taste panelists, such as coupons, to increase participation.

As you may have guessed, I will be conducting a trained taste panel session within the next few weeks.  Trained sessions include taste panelists that have been educated on the attributes of a particular product.  These panelists are typically trained using product that is extremely tough, tender, juicy, etc. in order to create a organoleptic scale upon which they will later "grade" a product's acceptability. In my case, panelists will be trained on the extended sirloin cap quality.  We will utilize product from the anterior and posterior ends of the primal, where a true tenderness gradient exists.  Our primary goal for this taste panel is to determine the tenderness differences of the cap depending upon location. For that reason, each steak's location from it's primal will be maintained throughout the panel. Panelists will be asked to rate the product on a hedonic scale (1-8) on the product's apparent juiciness, tenderness, off-flavor, and connective tissue content.  Taste panel sessions will be held twice a day and will consist of 6 panelist.  These panelist will be compensated with a paycheck for their participation and offered chocolate each day--sounds like the real deal, right?!  I can say that I am jealous! haha

All things considered, taste panels are a very important part of what we do as meat scientist.  If we develop a product that consumers find tough, or dry, we need to reconsider how the product was made.  It truly is our way of creating and developing an acceptable and quality product for consumers!