Extractive components of boiled-dried scallop adductor muscle and effect on the taste of soup after mixing with chicken leg meat

The extractive components of raw and boiled-dried scallop adductor muscle were examined. On a dry weight basis the levels of total free amino acids, total adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and related compounds, and betaines in the boiled-dried sample were lower than those in the raw muscle, which may have been due to the outflow of these compounds during boiling. Soup prepared from the boiled-dried scallop and chicken leg meat was assessed by sensory evaluation. This soup cooked with the scallop and chicken was stronger in sweetness, umami and body and rated higher in overall preference than the soup containing these ingredients after cooking separately. The inosine monophosphate (IMP) level in the former soup was 4.4 times higher than that in the latter. The adenosine monophosphate (AMP) deaminase (EC 3.5.4.6) activity in the crude extract from the chicken meat was 9.16 units 1(-1), whereas no activity could be detected in the crude extract from the boiled-dried scallop. It is concluded that AMP, which was mainly derived from the boiled-dried scallop, was converted to IMP by AMP deaminase from the chicken meat during the preparation of the soup, resulting in an improvement in the taste. (c) 2004 Society of Chemical Industry.