Beef meat flavor

The flavors and aromas associated with beef are generally those that develop during heating. When water-soluble substances derived from precursor compounds dissolve in the saliva, they bind to the taste buds and stimulate a response that is perceived in the brain.

Meat flavour forms during cooking, as a result of the Maillard reaction and lipid oxidation. The Maillard reaction was first identified by the French scientist Louis-Camille Maillard, a little over a century ago, and it occurs between amino acids and sugars at high temperatures.

Studies showed that fat may affect flavor in two ways:
*Fatty acids, on oxidation, can produce carbonyl compounds that are potent flavor contributors, and
*fat may act as a storage depot for odoriferous compounds that are released on heating.

Volatile compounds released from fat or produced from triglyceride or phospholipid fractions may be responsible for the species-specific flavors.

A wide array of flavor-active volatiles occurs in beef (acids, alcohols, aldehydes, aromatic compounds, esters, ethers, furans, hydrocarbons, ketones, lactones, pyrazines, pyridines, pyrroles, sulfides, thiazoles, thiophenes).

Beef meat flavor