Chemical, physical and sensory changes of small abalone meat during cooking

Abstract

Small abalone meats were heated at 80°C and 98°C for 0-120 min and the differences in chemical, physical and sensory changes of the cooked meats were investigated. The decrease in moisture and weight and the increase in browning and Hunter's b-value were relatively higher for cooking at 98°C than at 80°C. After cooking for 20-120 min, the total amount of adenosine triphosphate and its related compounds on a dry weight basis decreased by 17-27% at 80°C and by 30-39% at 98°C; the total amount of free amino acids on a dry weight basis changed insignificantly at 80°C but decreased by 22-35% after cooking at 98°C. The meats cooked at 80°C were higher in cutting force whereas the levels in the samples cooked at 98°C did not decrease until samples had been cooked for 60 min. The hydroxyproline content showed little change during cooking except for in samples cooked at 98°C for 120 min, in which the content was found to be low. The extended cooking at 80°C improved the acceptability of small abalone meat, whereas only the acceptability score of aroma increased significantly for cooking at 98°C.