I'm not suggesting that anyone can walk in off the street, stuff bung with ground pork, and walk away with the most perfect mortadella on earth. Just as I would never suggest you can learn to drive a car from a book. But that does not mean there is no chemistry involved. None of us are, or will ever be, Michelangelo.
Ana Rivas-Cañedo, ... Manuel Núñez, in
Processing and Impact on Active Components in Food, 2015
Dry-Cured Meat Products
The first stages of the manufacture of dry-cured meat products involve the selection and preparation of the raw materials, which include bleeding and partial skin removal, when applicable. Afterwards, the pieces are rubbed on the surface with curing ingredients and additives (salt, nitrate and/or nitrite, ascorbic acid, etc.) and covered with layers of dry salt at 2–4°C for several days, depending on the piece’s weight. The salt is then brushed or rinsed off and the pieces are held at 0–4°C and 90% relative humidity (RH) for 20–60 days. Afterwards, the pieces are subjected to the ripening–drying stage, in which time, temperature and RH are combined for at least 6–9 months to achieve a final weight loss around 32–36% in relation to the initial weight.
Complex biochemical reactions leading to the final volatile profile take place during the manufacture of these products. Firstly, proteolysis and lipolysis generate peptides, free amino acids and free fatty acids that contribute to the flavor and the aroma of the product. These reactions are mainly due to endogenous enzymes, with a minor contribution of microbial enzymes (Toldrá, 1998), although molds and yeasts growing on the surface are also responsible for proteolysis and lipolysis. Secondly, lipid oxidation and further interactions of the resulting compounds with proteins, peptides and free amino acids, as well as Strecker degradation of free amino acids and Maillard reactions, generate most of the volatile compounds in dry-cured meat products (Toldrá, 1998). Their volatile fraction is composed of numerous compounds, such as aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, hydrocarbons, lactones, and esters (Toldrá, 1998). Aldehydes, benzene compounds and carboxylic acids were the most abundant chemical families among the 22 volatile compounds identified in dry-cured pork loin, accounting for 67% of the volatile fraction which also included methylketones, alcohols, alkanes, and pyrazines (Campus
et al., 2008). In the volatile profile of dry-cured Serrano ham, 108 compounds were identified, grouped into alkanes, alkenes, aldehydes, ketones (mostly methylketones), alcohols, esters, benzene compounds, sulfur compounds, alkylfurans, and pyrazines (Rivas-Cañedo
et al., 2009a). The most abundant chemical families were linear and branched-chain aldehydes, linear alkanes, secondary alcohols, and sulfur compounds.
