Effect of Wet Aging Time on Aroma and Taste of Cooked Pork

To investigate the effect of wet aging time on the flavor of cooked pork, the flavor and taste substances of cooked pork longissimus dorsi with different wet aging times (1, 12 h, 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 d) were measured. The results showed that a total of 38 volatile flavor compounds were identified, and the total content of volatile flavor compounds showed a trend of initially increasing and then decreasing. Aldehydes were the most abundant volatile compounds, and the highest content of aldehydes of 2163.50 μg/kg was observed after one day of aging. Hexanal, heptanal, octanal, nonanal, and 1-octen-3-ol were key aroma compounds. The contents of flavor nucleotides and umami amino acids in cooked pork initially increased and then decreased, with inosinic acid and equivalent umami concentration reaching the highest values of 172.12 and 8.35 mg/100 g after one day of aging, respectively. The contents of sweet and bitter acids were the highest at 12 h of aging. Therefore, cooked pork after wet aging for one day had the best flavor.