Keywords: colour, fish species, browning, kinetic analysis, far-infrared radiation.
IntroductionConsumers often assess the initial quality of a product by its colour and appearance, and colour serves as an indicator of proper food preparation. This is especially important when the selected heating process involves high temperatures, as in the case of infrared radiation grilling.The grilling of fish involves a phase change from liquid water to vapour. An evaporation front exists that divides the body of the food into two regions: the outer crust and the internal core (Wang and Sun, 2006). During grilling, when the surface temperature has reached 100℃, the evaporation zone begins to move toward the centre of the product and crust formation is initiated, which decreases the heat conductivity by acting as an insulator (Quaglia and Bucarelli, 2001). Several studies have analysed the internal core region. Garcia-Arias et al. (2003) reported that cooking induces water loss in fish, which, in most cases, increases its lipid and protein contents (on a dry-matter basis) and only some fat is lost in the case of high-fat fish. Similar results were observed by Gall et al. (1983) in broiled oily fish (mackerel) but not in other lower fat fish species (grouper and red snapper). On the other hand, a few studies have focused on the outer crust region. Wang and Sun (2006) reported that the crust layer increases in both thickness and browning colour formation as the grilling process proceeds.The latter region was taken in consideration in the present study because crust layer formation at the upper surface has an impact on grilled fish appearance.Thus, because "we also eat with our eyes," the significance of browning, a Maillard-type reaction, in consumer acceptance is
TheoreticalKinetic study of browning reaction during grilling The browning kinetics theory used in this study to determine the activation energy (E a ) and frequency factor (k 0 ) of the calculated rate of L* c reduction of the samples was described in detail in our previous reports (Matsuda et al., 2013;Nakamura et al., 2011). Therefore, browning was modelled according to the change in colour intensity and did not directly involve chemical compounds.To determine the calculated a* c and b* c values, based on changes in L* c value, we employed the empirical equations reported in our previous reports.
Materials and MethodsMaterials In this study, the light muscle of Japanese amberjack adults and alevin (Seriola quinqueradiata), Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius), and salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) was used. Additionally, the results of red sea bream (Pagrus major) previously reported in Matsuda et al. (2013) were included for comparison purposes since the theoretical model for colour estimation used here was developed with this species. These fish species were chosen because they are commonly used for grilling. They were purchased from a fish market on the day of the experiment and were in all cases under rigor mortis. The skin and bones were removed, a...