2009_Book_FoodChemistry

12.9 Meat Aroma 605
via a separate fluid bed. The packaging materials
used protect the dry mixture from light, air, and
moisture.
12.9 Meat Aroma
Raw meat has only a weak aroma. Numerous
intensive aroma variations arise from heating,
the character of the aroma being dependent on
the type of meat and the method of preparation
(stewing, cooking, pressure cooking, roasting
or broiling-barbecuing). The preparation effects
are based on reaction temperatures and reactant
concentrations. Thus, a carefully dried, cold
aqueous meat extract provides a roasted meat
aroma when heated, while an extract heated
directly, without drying, provides a bouillon
aroma.
12.9.1 Taste compounds
Meat aroma consists of: (a) nonvolatile taste
substances, (b) taste enhancers and (c) aroma
constituents. The latter compounds or their
precursors originate essentially from the watersoluble
fraction. The constituents listed in
Table 12.22 have been identified as the taste
substances of beef broth and roasted meat
juice. Solutions of these substances in the given
concentrations (Table 12.22) give the typical
taste profiles, which are composed of sweet, sour,
salty, and glutamate-like (umami) notes. The
meat note is produced by odorants.
12.9.2 Odorants
Dilution analyses were used to elucidate the
potent odorants (Table 12.23) of boiled beef
and pork and of the meat and skin of fried
chicken. Omission experiments (cf. 5.2.7) show
that octanal, nonanal, (E,E)-2,4-decadienal,
methanethiol, methional, 2-furfurylthiol, 2-methyl-3-furanthiol,
3-mercapto-2-pentanone and
HD3F are the key aroma substances of boiled
beef. These compounds are also present in boiled
pork and chicken, but species-specific differences
Table 12.22. Taste compounds in beef broth and pot
roast gravy
Concentration (mmol/l)
Compound/Ion Broth a Roast gravy b
Aspartic acid 0.05 0.18
Alanine – c 9.41
Glutamic acid 0.3 1.71
Cysteine – c 0.48
5 ′ -AMP 0.14 0.64
5 ′ -IMP 0.4 7.82
Hypoxanthine – c 3.62
Carnosine 6.2 23.4
Anserine 0.7 – c
Lactic acid 25.6 155
Succininc acid – c 2.16
Carnitine 2.0 – c
Pyroglutamic acid 2.6 – c
Creatinine – c 43.3
Creatine – c 20.3
Sodium 2.3 35.6
Potassium 31.3 170
Magnesium 3.0 12.1
Calcium 1.0 – c
Chloride 3.1 18.9
Phosphate 10.1 49.4
a Ground meat (500 g) suspended in 1 l of water and
boiled for 2 h, followed by fat separation and filtration.
b Meat (2 kg) fried for 20 min and braised for 4 h after
the addition of 1 l of water. The meat juice or gravy is
poured off.
c Does not contribute to taste in the sample.
in concentration exist. The meaty/caramellike
note typical of beef is produced by
2-furfurylthiol,2-methyl-3-furanthiol and HD3F,
which occur in relatively high concentrations in
this meat. In comparison, the lower concentration
of HD3F in pork is due to the considerably lower
contents of the precursors glucose 6-phosphate
and fructose 6-phosphate.
The aroma of boiled pork is not as intensive as
that of beef and the fatty note is more pronounced.
The concentrations of the fatty smelling carbonyl
compounds, e. g., hexanal, octanal and nonanal,
are lower in pork, but in proportion to the concentrations
of 2-furfurylthiol, 2-methyl-3-furanthiol
and HD3F, they are higher than in beef. This difference
appears to favor the intensity of the fatty
note in the odor profile of pork. In chicken, the
fatty notes become even more noticeable due to