Influence of thermal treatment on formation of volatile compounds, cooking loss and lipid oxidation in foal meat

- The influence of cooking methods on formation of volatile compounds was studied.
- The influence of cooking methods on lipid oxidation and cooking loss was studied.
- When increased cooking temperature increases the formation of volatile compounds.
- The increase of the volatile compounds is related to an increase in lipid oxidation.
- Fat oxidation is essential in the formation of the characteristic cooked meat flavor.

The influence of four different cooking methods (roasting, grilling, microwaving baking and frying with olive oil) on volatile compounds profile (using solid phase microextraction coupled to GC-MS), lipid oxidation (by TBARs measurement) and cooking loss of foal meat was studied. Cooking losses were significantly (P < 0.001) affected by thermal treatment, being higher (29.9%) after microwaving and lower after grilling (19.1%) treatments. As expected, all the cooking methods increased TBARs content, since high temperature during cooking seems to cause an increase of the oxidation processes in foal steaks, being this increment significantly (P < 0.001) higher when foal steaks were roasted or microwaved.Thermal treatments led to an increase on total volatile compounds (ranging from 563 to 949 AU × 106/g dry matter) compared to raw steaks (459 AU × 106/g dry matter). The formation of volatile compounds seems to be related to the temperature reached by the samples during cooking, as it could be assumed from the sharp increase in volatile content observed in the roasted steaks, samples subjected to the highest temperatures. The most abundant volatile compounds in raw steaks were esters, whereas aldehydes were the main compound family in cooked samples.