Abstract
The physical properties of squid muscle cooked under reduced pressure were estimated by observing firmness, cooking loss, cohesiveness, and the proton relaxation behavior in relation to the sensory evaluation.
The firmness of squid muscle cooked at 60°C was the lowest, while it increased after cooking at above or below this temperature. The cohesiveness matched well with the change in firmness, while cooking loss and water content were not followed by these changes of firmness and cohesiveness, but retained to increase with temperature. The cooking loss of squid in vacuum cooking was larger than in normal (-temperature) cooking but remained nearly the same over prolonged cooking time (20-50 min). In the sensory evaluation, the squid meat cooked at 70°C indicated a superior evaluation in relation to its chewyness. This sensory evaluation may be related to the proton relaxation behavior which reflects those of water, as assessed from the longest relaxation time at 70°C.
In conclusion, it was found that the most favorable conditions for the vacuum cooking of squid muscle is a temperature of 70°C and a cooking time of 30 min.
