Experiments were carried out to test two combined cooling methods for their suitability in minimising the cooling loss and cooling time to 10 and 4 degrees C of large cooked beef joints. The combined cooling methods were: vacuum cooling of the cooked joint to an intermediate temperature of 3 5, 30, 25, or 20 degrees C and then air blast cooling to the final temperature of 4 degrees C and air blast cooling to an intermediate temperature of 35, 30, 25 or 20 degrees C and then vacuum cooling to the final temperature of 4 degrees C. It was found that the latter method was more effective at minimising the cooling loss with similar cooling loss to air blast cooling. Both methods were similar in optimising the cooling time to 10 degrees C and could produce cooling times similar to the Irish and British recommended cooling times. Neither method could give a cooling time similar to vacuum cooling. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.