Mechanisms and strategies to tailor dry-aged meat flavour

Background Dry-ageing of fresh meat has been the subject of growing research interest over the past 20 years. To date, inconsistencies in addressing the impact of dry-ageing on the eating qualities of meat are found in the literature, apparently arising from diverse processing conditions. Scope and approach This review aims to critically assess recent work published on the impact of dry-ageing on physical and biochemical changes of meat, mostly on beef muscles, and to establish the mechanisms which impart the development of dry-aged flavour. This review discusses the factors affecting the mechanisms and proposes strategies to tailor dry-aged flavour for industrial applications. Key findings and conclusions The advantage of dry-ageing over commonly used wet-ageing is in flavour development, although the reported results are not consistent. Recent developments in metabolomics and volatile research have advanced the knowledge in unlocking biomolecular signatures for dry-aged meat flavour. The underlying mechanism for flavour development of dry-aged meat is driven by an interplay between microbial activity (mostly yeast and moulds), lipid oxidation and dehydration. Flavour profile of dry-aged meat varies due to factors like animal sources (e.g. using bull beef and lamb), intramuscular fat content, use of novel dry-ageing techniques (e.g. in-bag dry-ageing and combined ageing regimes) and ageing parameters. Tailored flavour profiles and consistent quality can be achieved through manipulating these key elements when designing dry-ageing strategies. Release of lipid-derived volatiles and flavour precursors further contributes to enhancing the flavour of cooked dry-aged meat.