The vacuum cooling of cooked beef was experimentally studied. The time-temperatures, time-pressure and mass loses have been measured to predict whether the time of cooling is a meat size dependent parameter. The second purpose of this study was to find a method to minimise the mass loss of the meat during vacuum cooling. This was achieved by performing of vacuum cooling of meat together with salted water in which the meat was previously boiled (in soup). The mean mass change for 16 experiments was +0.48%, indicating weight gain during the cooling. For injected sirloin the mass was found to increase by +7.7%. The time of vacuum cooling from 75 to 5 degreesC seems to be dependent on the mass of meat samples after cooling. The mean value of the cooling times for all experiments was 762 s. The experiment also showed that the soup penetrates into the meat pores at the end of the vacuum cooling when the vacuum pump is stopped and air is coming through the ventilation valve very quickly. This effect can be used in industrial practice for flavouring of meat with desired natural aroma of sauce (or gravy). (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.