Exploration of flavor and taste of soft-boiled chicken at different post-mortem aging time: Based on GC-IMS and multivariate statistical analysis

Abstract As a well-known yellow-feathered broiler, Qingyuan partridge chicken was famous for its phenotype with developed subcutaneous and intermuscular fat, thin skin and soft bones. However, the formation mechanism of deeply preferred flavor for traditional low-temperature marinated Qingyuan partridge chicken has yet to be revealed. Post-mortem aging was a momentous process affecting the flavor. In order to explore the optimal post-mortem aging time, the primary physical and chemical characteristics including pH, texture, taste and flavor substances were investigated and analyzed by multivariate methods. The results demonstrated the characteristic taste of umami and sweetness, pH, hardness and cohesiveness were crucial indicators contributed to the sensory scores of different samples. Four free amino acids, three nucleotides, seven low-molecular weight water-soluble peptides and eight volatile aromas were identified as the main ingredients affecting the flavor. The result of partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) indicated that the samples corresponding to1 and 2 h had obvious advantage in taste, but the sample produced at 1 h had a higher value of bitterness. It was determined that the soft-boiled chicken corresponding to post-mortem aging at 2 h was the most outstanding comprehensively, which could provide a theoretical basis for the further processing of yellow-feathered chicken.