The aim of this review is to investigate the basic principles of red meat cooking technologies, including traditional and modern methods, and their effects on the physical, thermal, mechanical, sensory, and microbial characteristics of red meat. Cooking methods were categorized into two categories: traditional (cooking in the oven and frying) and modern (ohmic, sous vide, and microwave cooking). When red meat is subjected to high temperatures during food manufacturing, it undergoes changes in its engineering and quality attributes. The quality standards of meat products are associated with several attributes that are determined by food technologists and consumers based on their preferences. Cooking improves the palatability of meat in terms of tenderness, flavor, and juiciness, in addition to eliminating pathogenic microorganisms. The process of meat packaging is one of the important processes that extend the life span of meat and increase its shelf life due to non-exposure to oxygen during cooking and ease of handling without being exposed to microbial contamination. This review highlights the significance of meat cooking mathematical modeling in understanding heat and mass transfer phenomena, reducing costs, and maintaining meat quality. The critical overview considers various production aspects/quality and proposed methods, such as, but not limited to, hurdle technology, for the mass production of meat.

The thermal conductivity of four different types of meats (Veal, Hashi, Noeimi and Najdi) was determined for a temperature range of 5–40°C and moisture content range of 30–75% (wet basis). Thermal conductivity increased almost linearly with the increasing levels of both temperature and moisture content. Multiple regression models with high R² < 0.91) values were developed to correlate thermal conductivity as a function of temperature and moisture content. Statistical analysis revealed that both variables had significant effect on thermal conductivity of meats.

The specific heat and enthalpy of four different types of meats (Veal, Hashi, Noeimi, and Najdi) were determined in the temperature range of −40 to 40°C and moisture content range of 30–75% (wet basis). The two properties were measured by the modulated differential scanning calorimeter (MDSC). The specific heat increased almost linearly more significantly with the increasing levels of moisture content than temperature. Multiple regression models with high R² values were developed to correlate specific heat as a function of moisture content. Statistical analysis revealed that moisture content had significant effect on specific heat of meats. Experimental enthalpy data were compared with predictive models from the literature which gave similar results but none of them was suitable to interpret MDSC results in the temperature range of phase change.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the sous vide and electric oven cooking methods on the physical and sensory characteristics of camel meat. A combination of 4 cooking temperatures (70, 80, 90, and 100 °C) and 6 cooking times (30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 min) was applied. Both methods significantly affected the meat’s physical properties (pH, cooking loss, density, lightness, redness, and yellowness color components), except for water activity. Furthermore, the cooking temperature and time significantly affected all the sensory properties (tenderness, flavor, juiciness, and general acceptance). The cooking loss was the only parameter affected significantly by the interaction of the cooking method, cooking temperature, and cooking time. It is concluded that the sous vide method is the more suitable method for cooking camel meat compared to the electric oven method considering the cooking temperature and time. Further studies are recommended to estimate energy consumption for both cooking methods evaluated in this study aiming at reducing the overall power expenditure.