Suitability Of Largehead hairtail (Trichiurus lepturus) Fish For Hot Smoking

Abstract

Largehead hairtail fish(Trichiuru lepturus) used in the present study has no industrial use in Egypt up to now. The study aimed to investigate the suitability of this fish for preparing hot smoked steaks. Physical, chemical, and technological characteristics of fresh and smoked fish were studied. Two trials were done for preparing smoked fish steaks, skin-on and skin-off. The hot smoked (skin-off) steaks were highly accepted by panelists because of its pleasant flavor and good golden brown color. The results of the chemical analysis of fresh and skin-off flesh showed that the hot smoking process lowered the moisture content of the fresh sample from 73.15 to 66.68%, a relative decrease in both crude protein and total lipids, while an increase in ash, Na, Mg and slight decrease in other minerals content of fresh fish steaks. The total essential amino acids in the fresh and smoked fish represented 46.05 and 43.21 g/100g protein, respectively.Triacylglycerols fraction considered the main compound of total lipids of both fresh and smoked steaks. Monoacylglycerols, and hydrocarbons appeared and a slight increase in diacylglycerols and free fatty acids fractions were noted in smoked steaks of smoked flesh. The level of saturated fatty acids (SFA) of smoked fish was relatively increased, while, the polyunsaturated fatty acids(PUFA) were relatively decreased. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) were found to be the major n-3 PUFA.The ratios of n-3/n-6 were 7.64 and 6.53 of fresh and smoked largehead hairtail fish (LHF) steaks, respectively.