the muscle fibers in place once they’ve shortened, and reinforcement with large amounts of connective-tissue collagen Catch muscles have an opalescent appearance, much like the tough tendons in a chicken leg or leg of lamb, and they are tough to eat as well unless cooked for a long time In the scallop, the small catch portion would detract from the large quick portion’s tenderness, and so is usually cut away Mollusc Texture The adductor muscles largely determine the texture of several bivalves — especially the scallop, whose large and tender “swimming” muscle is often the only portion served The other bivalve bodies are eaten whole, and include one or two adductors together with miscellaneous innards; small tubes and thin sheets of muscle and connective tissue; soft masses of eggs, sperm, and food particles; and a general proteinaceous mucus that lubricates and binds food particles Clams, mussels, and oysters are thus slick and both crunchy and tender when raw, chewy when cooked The greater the proportion of muscle tissue, the chewier the mollusc Mollusc texture is also strongly affected by the animals’ reproductive stage And as they approach spawning and their bodies fill with eggs and/or sperm, the bivalves develop a soft creaminess that cooking sets to a custard-like texture Immediately after spawning, the depleted tissues are thin and flabby Abalone, octopus, and squid meats are mainly muscle tissue with a lot of connectivetissue collagen and a complex fiber arrangement They’re chewy when lightly cooked, tough when cooked to the denaturation temperature of their collagen, around 120–130ºF/50–55ºC, and become tender with long cooking .. .food particles Clams, mussels, and oysters are thus slick and both crunchy and tender when raw, chewy when cooked The greater the proportion of muscle tissue, the chewier the mollusc... Mollusc texture is also strongly affected by the animals’ reproductive stage And as they approach spawning and their bodies fill with eggs and/ or sperm, the bivalves develop a soft creaminess that cooking sets to a... spawning, the depleted tissues are thin and flabby Abalone, octopus, and squid meats are mainly muscle tissue with a lot of connectivetissue collagen and a complex fiber arrangement They’re chewy when lightly