Analysis of Differences in Volatile Components of Pork between Cooking Methods based on Electronic Nose combined with GC-IMS

Cooking methods could have a great influence on the flavour of food, to investigate the effect of cooking methods on the aroma of pork, this study used electronic nose combined with gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) for multivariate statistical analyses of the volatile compounds in pork under different cooking methods. GC-IMS was used to characterise 100 volatile compounds (including monomers and dimers) of pork under different cooking methods. A final stable model using orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis showed that the cooking method is crucial for the formation of pork flavour compounds. Pork cooked by oven roasting and air fryer methods contained characteristic volatile compounds such as ethyl (E)-2-hexenoate, 1-octen-3-ol, (Z)-4-decenal, 3-nonen-2-one, (E)-2-hexen-1-ol, propyl butyrate, furazanone, and dipentenyl-M, as compared to the two cooking methods of steaming and boiling. The air fryer method pork contained higher levels of (E)-ethyl 2-hexenoate, 1-octen-3-ol, (Z)-4-decenal, and 3-nonen-2-one than the oven-roasted pork. Valeraldehyde and ethyl acetate were labelled as characteristic volatile substance compounds for both steamed and boiled cooking styles, and the results from the electronic nose sensor showed that the rPCA model was effective in identifying volatile substances in pork for each cooking style. The results of the study revealed the effects of different cooking methods on the volatile components of pork and found that the aromas of air fryer preparation and oven roasting were more similar, providing some reference for the cooking and processing of pork.