The understanding and control of structural and physical changes in meat during cooking is essential for both meat industries and consumers. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers a non-invasive method for the local and dynamic characterisation of certain properties and structures of a sample. The aim of this work was to demonstrate the feasibility of using MRI in situ during the cooking of meat, and in particular imaging of the connective tissue to monitor deformation in the range 20-75 °C. The associated moisture loss was also estimated. Simulations of the temperature time course during cooking were carried out to relate deformation to sample temperature. The results showed that shrinkage began at 42 °C and accelerated from 54 °C. Migration of water from inside the fibres towards the interfascicular space appeared from 40°C and increased from 52 °C. These findings are consistent with those obtained by other, destructive and (or) non-localised methods. They will be used to determine deformation fields.