European eel Anguilla anguilla is an important fish species of automatic recirculating and intensive culture system in Taiwan. The optimal smoking condition, sensory quality and biochemical changes of processed eel before and after smoking were investigated. Comparing with the raw eel, lower moisture, higher crude protein and ash were obtained in smoked sample (p<0.05), However, there were no significant difference in crude fat and composition of fatty acid during smoking (p>0.05). Decrease in lysine and carnosine, and increase in β-alanine and histidine were observed during smoking process. Content of phenolic compounds and degree of browning increased with the duration of smoking. Much darker browning occurred on sample prepared by one-step smoking. Nevertheless, no significant differences in appearance, flavor, texture, and overall acceptability were obtained among sample smoked by 4 different conditions (p<0.05). The overall ranking of all samples were acceptable or highly acceptable.
Key words: Smoking processing, European eel, Chemical composition, Acceptability