Investigation on key odorants in braised chicken thigh meat and their changes during storage

Abstract

To identify the key odorants in braised chicken thigh meat (BCTM) and to investigate their changes during BCTM storage from 1 month to 23 months at room temperature, volatiles were isolated by both solid-phase microextraction and solvent extraction combined with solvent-assisted flavor evaporation; a total of 27 odor-active regions were detected in the isolates by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry–olfactometry. Twenty-four odor-active compounds were identified positively by comparison of their odor characteristics, mass spectral data and retention indices with those of authentic compounds; their flavor dilution (FD) factors ranging from 1 to 512 were measured by aroma extract dilution assay. Eugenol had the highest FD factor of 512. The odorants with FD factors ≥ 4 were quantitated by internal standard curve method, and their odor activity values (OAVs) were calculated. 2-Methyl-3-furanthiol and (E,E)-2,4-decadienal had the highest OAVs. Fourteen compounds with OAVs ≥ 1 were determined to be the key odorants of BCTM; recombination experiments confirmed that these odorants could simulate the overall aroma profile of BCTM. To further investigate the changes in odorants during storage, their concentrations and OAVs were determined. The results showed that the number of key odorants did not change, and no off-odor compound was detected.