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Some aspects of the chemistry of meat flavour

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Flavor of Meat and Meat Products

Abstract

The flavours associated with cooked meats have proved particularly difficult to characterize, both for the sensory analyst and the flavour chemist. Meat flavour is influenced by compounds contributing to the sense of taste as well as those stimulating the olfactory organ. Other sensations such as mouthfeel and juiciness will also affect the overall flavour sensation. However it is the volatile compounds of cooked meat that determine the aroma attributes and contribute most to the characteristic flavours of meat. It has been one of the most researched of food flavours, with over 1000 volatile compounds having been isolated. A survey of the volatiles found in meat shows a much larger number from beef (880) than the other meats (361 from pork; 271 from lamb/mutton; 468 from chicken), but this is reflected in the much larger number of publications for beef (70) compared with pork (11), sheep meat (12) or poultry (20) (Mottram, 1991).

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Authors
  1. D. S. Mottram
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Biochemistry and Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, A1B 3X9

    Fereidoon Shahidi

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Mottram, D.S. (1994). Some aspects of the chemistry of meat flavour. In: Shahidi, F. (eds) Flavor of Meat and Meat Products. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2177-8_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2177-8_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5911-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-2177-8

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