Effect of hanging pulp on quality improvement and protein stability of prepared tilapia fillets

Pickled cabbage fish product made from tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) fillets is one of the main types of aquatic pre-made products. To improve the textural stability of fish fillets during reheating, we discussed the effect of starching on the quality of fish fillets and the stability of fish proteins. By adding starch, egg white powder and peanut oil, the steaming loss rate of fish fillets during reheating was reduced, the texture characteristics of fish fillets were improved, and the amount and process of adding three types of substances were optimized to solve the problem of easy breakage of pre-made fish fillets during reheating. The results show that the addition of starch, egg white powder and peanut oil inhibited the water loss of tilapia fillets, reduced the cooking loss, and enhanced the textural properties, having a minimal impact on the turbidity of soup. The optimal starching process to improve the cooking quality stability of tilapia fillets was 4.4% starch addition, 3.6% egg white powder addition, 1.4% peanut oil addition, and a pickling time of 13 min. The synthesis score of fish fillets under these conditions (16.16±0.53) was close to the predicted value (16.70), indicating a stable and reliable process. Compared with the control group, the textural hardness of the fillets cooked under the optimized conditions increased by 74.2%, while the turbidity of soup decreased by 42.7%. The relative content of protein α-helix and β-turn structures was higher, the structure was more stable, the tightness of muscle fiber connections was better, and the edible quality was significantly improved.