Abstract:

In this study, the enzymatic hydrolysis conditions of beef and the proportions of added sugar, amino acids and
thiamine were optimized to build a Maillard reaction model system for generating roast beef flavor. By using orthogonal
array design, the optimum enzymatic hydrolysis conditions were determined to be hydrolysis at 50 ℃ for 50 min with
8% of a mixture of flavourzyme (F) and protamex (P) at a mass ratio of 1:1 with an initial pH of 6.5. The optimal Maillard
reaction system developed using a factorial design consisted of 20 g of beef hydrolysate, 1.0 g of glucose, 0.8 g of glycine,
0.3 g of thiamine, and the reaction was proceeded at 120 ℃ for 90 min with an initial pH of 7.5. The gas chromatographymass
spectrometry (GC-MS) results demonstrated that the contents of 2-methyl-3-furanthiol, 2-methyl tetrahydrothiophen-
3-ketone and 3,3’-disthiobis[2-methyl-furan] were relatively high, which featured the roast beef flavor. Overall, this model
system was characterized by high degree of browning, the highest absorbance (0.263), inviting meat flavor and strong roast
flavor as indicated by sensory evaluation.

Key words: enzymatic hydrolysis of beef, Maillard reaction, roast beef flavor, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)