Tenderisation of the dog cockle (Glycymeris glycymeris) meat by polyphosphates

Clams are widely used in the preparation of several seafood dishes but ther e are still a few bivalve species which have not been extensively used. Amo ng these species is dog cockle (Glycymeris glycymeris), which is a major by -catch of surf clam (Spisula solida) fishing. However, dog cockle has a low commercial value because its texture is too tough after cooking. This stud y was initiated to find the best way of tenderising the meat of this specie s to make it suitable for human consumption. Based on preliminary trials us ing different tenderising products, a mixture of sodium tripolyphosphate an d sodium chloride (3% and 1.5% respectively) was considered the most effect ive. The optimization of the processing parameters (time and temperature) w as done by response surface methodology, According to the sensory analysis, objective texture evaluation and phosphate determinations the optimum cond itions for the tenderisation process were an immersion time of 3 h at a tem perature of 20 degrees C. The tenderised meat was used in the preparation o f two types of canned products (light brine and a pickling sauce known as " escabeche"), which were evaluated by a taste panel and judged satisfactory.