Abstract:
Hairtail meat was rinsed with various concentrations of four salt solutions, and the effects on its gel strength and flavor were studied by electronic nose and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), using the relative amount of salt-soluble proteins, gel strength, and rate of loss of fish meat during rinsing as indices. The different salinity levels of the salt solutions were found to influence the fish meat to different degrees, and the appropriate concentrations of four salt solutions were determined to be 0.3% sodium chloride, 0.06% calcium chloride, 0.5% sodium bicarbonate, and 0.5% sodium citrate. The electronic nose analysis revealed that there were significant differences in the principal component analysis (PCA) plot for the surimi flavor between the control and experimental groups involving four salt solutions, without an overlap. Relatively more overlaps were found in the PCA plots for the surimi samples treated with calcium chloride, sodium chloride, and sodium citrate solutions. According to the GC-MS analysis, there were 51, 36, 40, 38, and 56 different volatile compounds in the surimi samples from the control, sodium chloride-, calcium chloride-, sodium bicarbonate-, and sodium citrate-treated groups, respectively. These compounds were mainly aldehydes, ketones, and alcohols. Compared with the control group, the experimental groups showed an increase in the concentration of esters upon removal of volatile acids. The concentrations of alkanes and alkenes noticeably increased in the calcium chloride-treated group, while the concentrations of ketones, alcohols, and aldehydes significantly increased in the sodium chloride-, sodium bicarbonate-, and sodium citrate-treated groups.
