Chicken meat flavor

Chicken meat is widely consumed and it is the most common and popular poultry species in the world. The flavour comprises mainly of taste and aroma and is involved in consumers’ meat-buying behavior and preferences. Chicken meat flavour is supposed to be affected by a number of ante- and post-mortem factors, including breed, diet, post-mortem ageing, method of cooking, etc.

Chicken meat flavors result from interactions between proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and other components found in the meat. Cooking promotes the development of freshly cooked flavors that are derived via amino and fatty acid reactions to form volatile and nonvolatile compounds.

The Maillard reaction or Maillard-like reactions occur during heating, especially when high heat and dehydrating types of cooking are used. Once chicken meat is cooked, oxidative reactions quickly initiate: first, within the phospholipids fraction, and then within hours result in the development of detectable oxidized off-flavors.

The reaction of cysteine and sugar can lead to characteristic meat flavour especially for chicken. Volatile compounds including 2-methyl-3-furanthiol, 2-furfurylthiol, methionol, 2,4,5-trimethyl-thiazole, nonanol, 2-trans-nonenal, and other compounds have been identified as important for the flavour of chicken.

Chicken meat flavor