Seafood product

A method for making a simulated crustacean-meat product is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment for making a simulated crab-meat product, this method comprises the steps of: (1) providing a supply of “dry” scallop adductor muscles or scallop meat, (2) exerting forces on the surfaces of these muscles so as to break them along their natural lines of separation so as to form smaller, natural pieces that are comparable in volume to that of the crab-meat whose appearance the smaller, natural pieces are intended to simulate, and (3) cooking these smaller, natural pieces in a manner similar to that used to cook the crab-meat whose taste and feel is to be simulated by these smaller, natural pieces.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method is disclosed for using scallop adductor muscles to produce imitation or simulated, hand-picked, crab meats. To understand how this might be possible, it is instructive to examine the structure and biochemistry of scallops. Scallops are bivalve mollusks with two, hinged, scallop-edged, fan-shaped values (shells) which can be rapidly closed to enable the scallop to swim by ejecting water from the cavity formed between its shells. FIG. 1 shows the simulated interior of a scallop after its top shell has been removed to reveal its two adductor muscles. Its phasic adductor muscle is the part of the scallop that is most often eaten. It is usually is striated and concerned with the fast, repetitive opening and closing of the scallop's shells. It's tonic adductor muscle, which is eaten less often (possibly because of its high paramyosin content which gives the muscle a somewhat chewy texture), is smooth and is more concerned with keeping the scallop's shells closed for extended periods of time. In most scallops, the two type of adductor muscles lie close to one another and there is often a gradual transition of muscle fiber type from one muscle to the next. Investigators of the microstructure and biochemistry of scallop striated, adductor muscles have found that these muscles contract by a sliding filaments mechanism; with thin filaments sliding past thick filaments. See FIG. 2 . Each thick filament is packed in a hexagonal array and is surrounded by twelve thin filaments, with the thick filaments containing myosin (the commonest protein in muscle cells) and some paramyosin (but much less than the tonic adductor muscles), and with the thin filaments containing actin (the protein that reacts with myosin to help provide the muscle's elastic and contractile properties). Each cell of the muscle is relatively small and ribbon-like (See FIG. 3 ( a )-( d )). These muscle cells are seen to be shorter than the length of the muscle and to contain a single, centrally-placed filament or myofibril which is bounded by a surface membrane. Peripheral couplings with the surface membrane are formed from a complex sarcoplasmic network, the composition of which appears to comprise a near-crystalline array of dimer ribbons of Ca&plus;&plus;-ATPase molecules. The unique anatomy and biochemistry of the scallop have led to rather universal, commercial fishing methods having been adopted for them. Scallops are harvested primarily by dredging. Since scallops cannot hold their shells closed for extended periods of time, once they are out of water, they relatively quickly lose their water and die. Consequently, they're shucked on board the ships, place in containers, and refrigerated. Additionally, these scallops are further processed by soaking them in water to add salable weight. Ingredients, such as tripolyphosphate, salt, baking soda, polyphosphates, and citric acid, are also added to these mixtures to help the scallops retain water. Such “soaked” or further processed scallops have been found to be unacceptable for use with the methods of the current invention. Only “dry” (unprocessed) scallop striated adductor muscles are suitable for use with the methods of the current invention. I have found that such “dry” scallop, striated adductor muscles have natural planes of separation which allow them to be easily separated into smaller, natural pieces by the application of relatively small levels of shear stresses to the muscles' outer surfaces. Furthermore, I have found that these smaller, natural pieces have, after cooking, a taste that is quite different than that which is found by similarly cooking the original “dry” muscles. From the separation of many species of “dry” scallop, striated adductor muscles, I have found that the taste of these cooked, smaller, natural pieces is best characterized by comparing it to that of the taste recognized in the cooked meat of the crustaceans from the same region as that of the scallops. Furthermore, I have theorized that there may exist a general axiom which characterizes this finding for various seafood: “the taste of the unprocessed muscles of a preyed upon species, after these muscles first have been separated into smaller pieces by the application of shear stresses to the surfaces of the muscles and then after the resulting pieces have been cooked, will be comparable to that of the taste of the cooked meat of that particular predator seafood which is know to feed upon the species in question.” Thus for crustaceans, I have deduced that the taste of the crab-meat from a region of the world is a reflection of the mollusks upon which the crustacean feeds (e.g., Maine lobsters-Atlantic sea scallops). See Table I for a listing of potentially commercial scallops. I have found that many different techniques can be employed to accomplish the separation of“dry” scallop, striated adductor muscles. These include various methods for applying sufficient shear stresses to the surfaces of the muscles: (1) two cooperating, parallel rollers having a separation gap between the rollers which is set at a height which is less than that of the diameter of the muscles to be separated and rotating so as to pull the muscles between the rollers, (2) an extruder consisting of a cylinder and plunger mechanism, where the diameter of the cylinder is less than the diameter of the muscles to be separated, with the plunger forcing the muscles through the cylinder, and (3) a conveyor belt on which the muscles lie as they are conveyed beneath an upper surface which is set at a height above the conveyor belt which is less than the diameter of the muscles to be separated. FIG. 4 demonstrates the results that can be achieved using such methods. FIG. 4 ( a ) shows the form of a typical Atlantic sea scallop, and FIG. 4 ( b ) shows the results of breaking these scallops so that they simulate the cooked appearance of lump crab meat in the plate on the right and regular crab meat in the plate on the left. Similarly, I have found that many different means may be used to cooked these smaller, natural pieces of “dry” scallop, striated adductor muscles, including using boiling, steam, dry heat, micro-wave heating, radiation heating, frying, sauteing and other FDA approved cooking methods. The time and temperature needed to cook the various species depends on the size of the separated pieces and the cooking methods used for the predator crustacean whose taste is to be imitated or simulated by these smaller, natural pieces of adductor muscles. Since these cooking methods are well known in the industry, they are not discussed further herein. Although the foregoing disclosure relates to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is understood that these details have been given for the purposes of clarification only. Various changes and modifications of the invention will be apparent, to one having ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.