2004 Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 83-87
Gel forming abilities of unwashed or washed meat from 19 fish species, which were caught in Tosa Bay and usually used for a fried product of fish meat paste, were investigated to make clear the properties as raw materials for Kamaboko. The fish species could be classified into the following 4 groups. Type I: Neither unwashed nor washed meat gels were disintegrated at 30-90°C. Type II: Unwashed meat gels were disintegrated at about 60°C, but washed ones were improved. Type III: Both unwashed and washed meat gels were disintegrated at about 60°C. Type IV: Unwashed meat gels were disintegrated at about 60°C, but washed ones were newly disintegrated at about 40°C. Type V fish is a novel group at the point that modori (phenomenon of elasticity deterioration) was newly induced around 40°C by washing the meat, accompanying with the degradation of myosin heavy chain. The two-step (2S) heating was carried out by heating at 40°C for various times at first step and subsequently at 80°C for 20 min. 2S heating was not effective for the washed meat gels from Type IV, whose washed meat indicates modori-phenomenon at 40°C. In order to utilize the washed meat from Type IV fish, this meat was mixed with the unwashed meat and the washed meat from the fish Type I and II which have excellent gel-forming ability. The meat pastes mixed with the unwashed meats of these two types did not exhibit the modori at 40°C, while those with the washed meats exhibited it. However, the modori at 60°C occurred in the mixture with the unwashed meat of Type II. Therefore, it is necessary to take attention to the heating temperature when the washed meat of Type IV is mixed with meats except for the unwashed meat of Type I, although the gel-forming ability of it at 80°C was improved.
