Cooking Rate of Fish Bone

Abstract

The cooking rates of the bone of mackerel were experimentally examined at various temperatures in distilled water and in aqueous acetic acid solution. The degree of uncooking was determined by the hardness modulus, F/a, which is the maximum force applied in shearing the sample, F, divided by the maximum horizontal length of the cross section of the sample, a. Since the cooking of the mackerel bone could be described by an expression like a first order reaction, the apparent cooking rate constants were obtained in the usual manner. Arrhenius plot gave parallel straight lines at successive intervals according to acetic acid concentrations. The activation energy, 22.2kcal•mol^-1, was obtained from the gradient of the straight lines. It was suggested that an increase of the cooking rate by acetic acid is attributable to a rise of frequency factor. Finally, the power of acetic acid in making the cooking time shorter was shown.