Effect of Cooking Methods on the Chemical Compounds Associated with Umami Taste in Duck Breast Meat

Abstract

Dry-curing, wet-curing, stewing and marinating are sequential Chinese traditional meat-processing methods dating back thousands of years ago. However, little information is available about the contribution of each processing stage to the umami taste in duck breast meat. Therefore, effects of those meat-processing methods on umami taste related chemical compounds were determined in this study. Dry-curing significantly increased free amino acids, oligopeptides and nucleotides and nucleotides degradation products (P < 0.05), however, in the following wet-curing, stewing and marinating stages, the percentages of inosine and hypoxanthine were gradually declined. Electronic tongue and principle component analysis results revealed the difference between dry-cured/wet-cured duck breast meat and marinated/stewed duck breast meat was due to the increase of free amino acids, oligopeptides and inosine monophosphate. Therefore, dry-curing is an important stage in meat processing, not only it produces a pool of taste related compounds, it also stimulates the enzyme activities in the muscle. Meanwhile, in the stewing stage, the umami taste profile of duck breast meat was gradually established. We can conclude that dry-curing and stewing are the two crucial stages to form the umami taste profile in duck breast meat.