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Marinating of Cephalopods
The pieces of cephalopod mantles and arms are marinated in salt, acid (vinegar or
citrus-fruit juice), or sauces like soy sauce. Other interesting marinades can be made
of miso or sake lees (sake kasu) that serve both to tenderize the meat and to impart
umami taste. When marinating in acidic media one should know acids make the
muscle proteins contract and can lead to a firmer texture in the short run and only
tenderizing over longer times. Squid and cuttlefish mantles cut in fine strips along
the long direction of the mantle are particularly suited for marinating. These strips,
called ika-somen in Japan, look like a kind of fettuccine pasta and are often served
on top of a bowl of rice (chirashi-zushi) or in a soup broth (Mouritsen and
Styrbæk 2018).
Drying of Cephalopods
Cephalopods contain high amounts of water, resulting in their short shelf life.
Drying is an effective method to increase the shelf life of such products. Dried and
seasoned products are most popular products in Asian countries, especially in China
and Japan. Dried and seasoned squid products are consumed as popular snack foods
worldwide because of their delicious taste. The demand for dried squid products is
growing steadily (Deng et al. 2014). Dried-seasoned squid is produced with addition of amino acids, saccharides, and organic acids, and smoke flavours in China,
Japan, and other Asian countries. Main squid species in dried-seasoned squid production are neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartrami), Argentina squid (Illex
argentines) and jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) (Chiou et al. 2010; Zhu et al. 2016).
These products are popular in these countries due to their pleasant flavour. Colour
and appearance are important features in these products. The mantles are skinned,
cooked at 65–80 °C for 3–5 min, cooled, graded, and seasoned at a temperature
below 20 °C for more than 4 h with sugar, salt, sorbitol, phosphate, sweetener, and
organic acid. They are then dried at 40–45 °C for 12–20 h, until the moisture content
drops to 40% and depending on the size of the squid. The semi-finished product is
kept in a cold environment for 2 weeks or more. Then it is dried again at 110–120 °C
for 3–5 min. It is then mechanically crushed and seasoned a second time and dried
to 25–27% moisture. The product colour is slightly yellowish or brownish (Yean
et al. 1998).
Drying causes different changes on the composition, physicochemical and structural properties of foods. The conformational stability of muscle proteins changes
and muscle proteins degrade. This results in changes in the microstructure, such as
pore formation and compactness (Deng et al. 2014). Squid turns into a hard structure when dried. This hard structure makes the consumption of dried squid especially difficult for the elderly and children (Zhao et al. 2017). It is reported that the
hardening of dried squid is usually caused by coagulation of sarcoplasmic proteins,
breakdown of the sarcoplasm, fibre shrinkage and dehydration (Benjakul et al.
2000). For this reason, some methods are used to soften the dried squid, such as
3 Molluscan Shellfish
Marinating of Cephalopods
The pieces of cephalopod mantles and arms are marinated in salt, acid (vinegar or
citrus-fruit juice), or sauces like soy sauce. Other interesting marinades can be made
of miso or sake lees (sake kasu) that serve both to tenderize the meat and to impart
umami taste. When marinating in acidic media one should know acids make the
muscle proteins contract and can lead to a firmer texture in the short run and only
tenderizing over longer times. Squid and cuttlefish mantles cut in fine strips along
the long direction of the mantle are particularly suited for marinating. These strips,
called ika-somen in Japan, look like a kind of fettuccine pasta and are often served
on top of a bowl of rice (chirashi-zushi) or in a soup broth (Mouritsen and
Styrbæk 2018).
Drying of Cephalopods
Cephalopods contain high amounts of water, resulting in their short shelf life.
Drying is an effective method to increase the shelf life of such products. Dried and
seasoned products are most popular products in Asian countries, especially in China
and Japan. Dried and seasoned squid products are consumed as popular snack foods
worldwide because of their delicious taste. The demand for dried squid products is
growing steadily (Deng et al. 2014). Dried-seasoned squid is produced with addition of amino acids, saccharides, and organic acids, and smoke flavours in China,
Japan, and other Asian countries. Main squid species in dried-seasoned squid production are neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartrami), Argentina squid (Illex
argentines) and jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) (Chiou et al. 2010; Zhu et al. 2016).
These products are popular in these countries due to their pleasant flavour. Colour
and appearance are important features in these products. The mantles are skinned,
cooked at 65–80 °C for 3–5 min, cooled, graded, and seasoned at a temperature
below 20 °C for more than 4 h with sugar, salt, sorbitol, phosphate, sweetener, and
organic acid. They are then dried at 40–45 °C for 12–20 h, until the moisture content
drops to 40% and depending on the size of the squid. The semi-finished product is
kept in a cold environment for 2 weeks or more. Then it is dried again at 110–120 °C
for 3–5 min. It is then mechanically crushed and seasoned a second time and dried
to 25–27% moisture. The product colour is slightly yellowish or brownish (Yean
et al. 1998).
Drying causes different changes on the composition, physicochemical and structural properties of foods. The conformational stability of muscle proteins changes
and muscle proteins degrade. This results in changes in the microstructure, such as
pore formation and compactness (Deng et al. 2014). Squid turns into a hard structure when dried. This hard structure makes the consumption of dried squid especially difficult for the elderly and children (Zhao et al. 2017). It is reported that the
hardening of dried squid is usually caused by coagulation of sarcoplasmic proteins,
breakdown of the sarcoplasm, fibre shrinkage and dehydration (Benjakul et al.
2000). For this reason, some methods are used to soften the dried squid, such as
3 Molluscan Shellfish