91C-26 |
Microwave/convection combination heating on texture of fish mince |
S. N. ABDUL-MALEK1, K. M. Schaich, and K. L. Yam1. (1) Food Science, Rutgers University, 65 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Microwave/convective heating of food combines the penetrating microwave energy for speed cooking and the convective heat for browning and crisping. Microwave energy and convective heat have different heating modes that can result in different changes in the food product. Although microwave heating and convective heating have been studied individually for a long time, knowledge about the multimodal microwave/convective heating is still limited. There are many ways that microwave and heat can be combined, even if the energy inputs are kept constant. This work is to investigate the effects of microwave/convective heating combinations on the texture of fish mince. Fish is chosen as the food model because its muscle proteins are sensitive to the high-speed nature of microwave heating. Microwave heated fish often has dry, hard and rubbery texture, making it one of the least popular foods for microwave cooking. Any improvements achieved using microwave/convective heating can have a significant economic impact. A computer-controlled microwave/convective oven was used. Fish mince were prepared from frozen fillets. The independent variables are microwave time and convective heating time, from which microwave/convective heating combinations were constructed. The dependent variables are product temperature, water holding capacity, textural properties (hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, and resilience), and protein solubility. PAGE analysis was conducted to study the molecular changes that might reflect the textual changes. The results showed that the textural properties are significantly different for different microwave/convective heating combinations. The texture is closely related to the extent of muscle protein degradation during the heat treatment. The results also indicate that disulfide bond formation is a major covalent bonding force for fish protein interactions. This work helps to define the range of microwave/convective heating most useful to the food and microwave oven manufacturers. Although the textural properties are changed significantly, their practical significances must also be confirmed by sensory analysis.
Session 91C, Food Engineering: Food process engineering
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