Amino acids beef flavor

Table I summarizes the various meats, meat constituents, and other related substances which have been analyzed, including substances reported on previously (6) as well as those for which new data are given. The substances chosen are intended to provide a cross-section of the type of inherently related material from which volatile irradiation odor and flavor compounds might be expected to form. Thus, in addition to several whole meats, the volatile irradiation products from a number of protein and lipid substances have been analyzed. Among the lipid substances included are typical whole fats and separate moieties such as triglycerides, fatty acid esters, and cholesterol, as an example of a steroid. Among the proteinaceous substances included are a protein, a polypeptide, and some individual amino acids. Finally, beef itself has been separated into a protein, a lipid, and a lipoprotein fraction, and these have been separated, irradiated, and analyzed.

Lipid decomposition volatiles. Reactions of sugar and amino acids give rise to odor profiles that are, at best, common to all cooked or roasted meats. The water soluble materials extracted from chicken, pork, or beef give reasonably similar meat flavor. To develop a species specific aroma one needs to study the lipid fraction and the volatiles produced from those lipids. The work of Hornstein and Crowe (10) reported that the free fatty acids and carbonyls generated by heating will establish the specific species flavor profiles. 

The flavor industry has introduced, over the years, methods of developing meat flavors by processing appropriate precursors under carefully controlled reaction conditions. As a result, meat flavors having a remarkably genuine meat character in the beef, chicken and pork tonalities are available for the food industry. It has repeatedly been stated that the Maillard reaction is particularly important for the formation of meat flavors. However, of the 600 volatile compounds isolated from natural beef aroma, only 12% of them find their origin in sugar/amino acid interactions and of these 70% are pyrazine derivatives. 

Malonaldehyde, a major product of autoxidatlon of polyunsaturated fatty acids is a very reactive substance and reacts with amino acids, proteins and other chemical substances present in meats. Its concentration is generally determined by the 2-thlobarblturlc acid (TEA) test. Malonaldehyde may be used as an indicator for evaluation of the oxidative state of cooked meats. It has been reported that warmed-over flavor in beef is generally perceived when TEA number of cooked meats exceed numerical values of 0.5 to 1.0 (31). Malonaldehyde has also been implicated as having mutagenic and perhaps carcinogenic effects (32). Its presence further affects the rheological properties and texture of cooked meat products. Despite these, malonaldehyde has very little or no... 

Another part of the reaction which is of interest is shown on the right, the Strecker degradation of the amino acids which produces carbon dioxide (sometimes causing container failure), and an aldehyde which may then further condense with other compounds. These aldehydic condensation products, together with the amino acid-carbohydrate residue, are responsible for many flavors. By deliberately reacting mixtures of different amino acids, flavors of chicken, beef and pork can be reproduced. The browning reaction is fairly rapid and occurs at comparatively low temperatures. ... 

In 1986, a review of the analysis of meat volatiles by Shahidi and colleagues (10) listed 995 compounds that have been found in meat. Mechanistic studies that have combined various amino acids and sugars have predicted the presence of even more compounds that have yet to be observed (77). The formation of flavor-producing compounds results from the complex interaction of numerous precursors and treatments. Some factors involved in beef flavor production are diet, postmortem aging, storage time and temperature, and cooking method. Additionally, it has recently been shown by Block et al. (72, 13) and others (74) that the method used to analyze flavor compounds may, in the process, create new flavor compounds. 

Hicks, K.B. Harris, D.W. Feather, M.S. Loeppky, R.N. Production of 4-hydroxy-5-methyl-3(2H)-furanone, a component of beef flavor, from a 1-amino-1-deoxy-D-fructuronic acid. J. Agric. Food Chem. 1974, 22(4), 724-725. 

This interdependency of reactions has been most studied in meats, or model meat reaction systems [42,72,81]. Wasserman [82] was amongst the first to find that the lean portion of the meat supplied the meaty, brothy character and the fat provided the species character much of which is due to lipid/Maillard interactions. This knowledge has long been used in the manufacture of process products (meat flavors). Meat process flavors contain approximately the same sugars and amino acids for the basic meat flavor but contain different fats to give the unique pork, beef, or chicken notes. 

HLA Tarr. The MaiUard reaction in flesh foods. Food Technol 8 15-19, 1954. RL Macy, HD Naumann, ME Bailey. Water-soluble flavor and odor precursors of meat. I. Qualitative study of certain amino adds, carbohydrates, non-amino acid nitrogen compounds, and phosphoric acid esters of beef, pork, and lamb. J Food Sd 29 136-141, 1964. 

After cooling to 100 °C, disodium phosphate is added to precipitate traces of iron, and sodium carbonate is then added for neutralization to pH 5.S. The hot slurry is first filtered to remove insoluble humins and then stored for about two months for maturation. Then it is filtered again. H. results as a red-brown clear liquid, which exhibits the basic flavor of well-browned beef. This is the result of the complex action of - mono-sodium glutamate as a flavor enhancer and of several - amino acids that contribute to the boullion flavor, such as glycine, alanine, proline, leucine, serine, phenylalanine, asparagine, valine and tyrosine. 

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