Elastic modulus measurements of cooked Lutefisk

TL;DR

This study measures the elastic modulus of cooked Lutefisk, revealing that its tissue softness is primarily influenced by fish size and fishing period rather than cooking parameters, despite visual changes.

Contribution

It provides the first quantitative analysis of Lutefisk's tissue softness and identifies key factors affecting its elastic properties.

Findings

Elastic modulus is unaffected by cooking time, temperature, or salt amount.

Fish size and fishing period are the main factors influencing tissue softness.

Visual changes due to salting and cooking are not reflected in rheometer measurements.

Abstract

Lutefisk is a traditional Norwegian Christmas dish, made of dry cod soaked in a lye solution before re-hydrated. We report measurements of the tissue softness of cooked Lutefisk. Surprisingly, we find that the elastic modulus does not seem to depend heavily on cooking time, cooking temperature and the amount of salt, but depends instead mainly on the size of the fish fillets and the period of fishing. Although the salting and cooking of the Lutefisk affects strongly the visual aspect of the fish fillets, these changes are not measurable with a rheometer.