89A-14 |
|
P. Z. LIAN and C. M. Lee. Dept. of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Univ. of Rhode Island, 106 Ranger Hall, Kingston, RI 02881 Traditional cooking of ocean clams at 100° C results in a tough and chewy texture that has limited consumer market. From changes in muscle characteristics with age, one can deduce that the toughness of clam meat is attributed to the presence of more insoluble and crosslinking collagen and elastin in muscle tissue. It is hypothesized that precooked clam meat can be tenderized through an appropriate cooking in combination with a crosslinking retarding agent. Presently, no reports are available relative to tenderization of heat-denatured clam meat. Our objective was to determine optimal cooking time and sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) level in order to obtain tenderized clam meat with least cooking loss using a moist heat method. Ocean clam meat was obtained from a local seafood company, which had been steam-heated to separate meat with gut removed. Meat was ground through a 3/8 inch perforated plate. RSM was employed for determination of optimal cooking time and STPP level. Shear force and cooking loss were measured at various combinations of cooking time and STPP at 120° C and the clam meat to solution ratio of 1:1.5. The results showed that shear force decreased with the increase of STPP level and cooking time. However, no marked pattern was observed from the contour graph of cooking loss. The RSM results suggest that the most desirable tenderization and least cooking loss can be obtained by 120° C cooking for 15 min with 0.30% STPP. This was further verified by comparing with 100°C treatment. The 120° C/15 min cooking markedly reduced the shear force of the control clam meat by 52%, while the 100°C/16-24 min cooking increased it by 26 to 29%. The results suggest that precooked ocean clam meat can be tenderized by 120° C of treatment instead of 100° C in our parameter range.
Session 89A, Aquatic Food Products: General
2005 IFT Annual Meeting, July 15-20 - New Orleans, Louisiana |