| abstract |
The smell of smoke, which is generated by burning, incompletely burning or thermally decomposing a plant material, is modified by heating with a secondary heating device. In the case of producing a dried and smoked fish product as a smoked food, in particular, boiled fish are dried in a hot air stream until the water content thereof is reduced to 30% by mass or lower and then the thus dried fish are maintained in a smoke atmosphere to thereby allow the modified smoke components to stick to the fish. It is preferable that temperature of the hot air stream is 120oC or higher at the initiation of the drying and then decreased to lower than 120oC at the termination of the drying. According to this method, a favorable flavor can be imparted to the food while reducing harmful components such as benzopyrene. In producing a dried and smoked fish product by this method, in particular, fish can be dried within a short period of time without generating an offensive fishy smell and a favorable smoked flavor can be imparted thereto within a short period of time. |