Your next steak, with that unmistakable, succulent combination of muscle and fat, could be synthetic and you wouldn’t even realize it. Engineers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced a new milestone in the food industry: the connection between muscle fibers and fatty tissue for culinary use.
Meat analogues are not something completely new. There are everything from rudimentary replicas of consistency based on vegetables and seasonings, to synthetic hamburgers produced by 3D printers that boast of having the same flavor as natural ones. In general, the search for a meat substitute is on the right track, but food engineers are working to unite at least three essential aspects. The taste of the product, its nutritional value and the texture of a steak are essential for a meat fan to consider trying an analogue.
The advances of Jerusalem engineers focus on the third category. In his recent study published in Nature Communicationsthe scientific team presented their meat analogue that mimics the natural architecture between fat and muscle. For their “steak” they used special compounds known as metamaterials, molded through injection, a traditional method in the aerospace industry.
According to the academic entity, metamaterials are compounds whose properties arise from their structure rather than their composition. The first metamaterial they used is a low-temperature meat analogue (LTMA) that can replicate the fibrous texture of muscle tissue. The second is a proteoleogel (PtoG), a kind of gel stabilized with plant proteins that encapsulates oils. While PtoG allows you to replicate the cooking behavior of animal fat and gives it texture within a three-dimensional structure, LTMA functions as the base of the steak.
“Together, these materials allow the creation of complex cuts of meat, such as steaks, chops and ribeyes, with remarkable precision and sensory fidelity,” stated the scientists responsible in a release.
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