Effect of steam heating on the quality and flavor of beef celery baozi filling.

Background: As a traditional Chinese food, baozi are mainly cooked by steam heating. The lipid oxidation level during the steaming process has an important effect on the formation of flavor. Therefore, physicochemical parameters, electronic nose, electronic tongue, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and headspace gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry were used to analyze changes in the quality and flavor of beef celery baozi filling during steam heating.

Results: The cooking loss rate, hardness, chewiness and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances of filling increased from 18.74%, 223.09 g, 83.85 g and 0.17 mg kg^-1 to 26.77%, 1615.00 g, 803.28 g and 0.67 mg kg^-1, respectively, after steaming for 19 min. The response values of E-nose were largest when the baozi were steamed for 13 min. The response values of salty and umami receptors in the S-13, S-16 and S-19 groups were greater than those of other receptors. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry, a total of 64 and 85 volatile components were detected, respectively. According to the orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis model with variable influence on projection value as the index, 20 and 16 characteristic aroma compounds were screened, respectively.

Conclusion: The combination of intelligent sensory instruments retained overall information about the volatile components of baozi fillings under different steaming times to the greatest extent. When the steaming time reached 13 min, the content of volatile substances in the filling became more abundant. The results might provide a new way to understand the flavor changes in meat and vegetable baozi during steaming, and provide a reference for determining steaming time in both household and commercial settings. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.