Abstract: Roasting is one of the major ways to cook beef in China, but the roasting suitability of different cuts of beef is not clear yet. In this study, beef high rib, shank, chuck tender, silverside, striploin, tenderloin, topside and rump were analyzed for differences in their nutritional quality, physicochemical quality, color, water-holding capacity and muscle fiber characteristics as well as in sensory quality and texture properties after roasting. The key quality indexes of roast beef were determined by multivariate statistical analysis, and a comprehensive quality evaluation equation was established as follows: Y = ?0.138 9X1 + 0.114 3X2 + 0.355 9X3 + 0.262 2X4 + 0.240 3X5 + 0.166 2X6 (X1 through X6 respectively represent fat content, gel hardness, muscle fiber diameter, shear force, raw meat yellowness value b*, and roast beef redness value a*). The roasting suitability of different cuts was determined by K-means cluster analysis on the basis of the calculated comprehensive quality scores. The results showed that the high rib was more suitable for roasting than silverside, striploin, tenderloin and topside, while shank, chuck tender and rump were not suitable for roasting. A regression equation to predict the overall acceptability as a function of the comprehensive quality scores was developed as follows y = 1.633 7x ? 0.243 1 (R2 = 0.831 9), further proving that the comprehensive quality evaluation model could well reflect the suitability of different cuts of beef for roasting. This study can provide a theoretical basis for rational and standardized beef processing.

Key words: beef; cuts; roasting; processing suitability