From Yield to Flavor: The Role of Lipid Coatings in Beef Aging

Lipid-coated aging has been proposed as an alternative to enhance flavor, particularly using butter as a coating material (butter-aged beef). Thus, this study compared the wet-aged and beef-aged with different lipid-based coatings: milk butter (butter-aged), cocoa butter (cocoa-aged), pork lard (lard-aged), and beef tallow (tallow-aged), all after 8 days of aging. Beef portions with lipid coatings developed cracks, particularly those coated with milk butter (16.7%), cocoa butter (100%), and beef tallow (100%), causing meat surface darkening. In lipid-coated samples, total weight loss (14.3%-16.6%) and yield (83.4%-85.7%) were not affected by treatments. Water activity was higher in initial samples (0.9909) compared to lipid-coated samples (0.9884-0.9890) (p < 0.05). The aging process, with or without lipid coating, increased lightness and decreased redness, yellowness, and chroma compared to initial samples. Display storage time decreased L*, a*, and chroma values and increased hue angle, particularly after 6 days compared to Day 0 (p < 0.05). Sensory evaluation revealed significant differences among treatments for aroma, flavor, and overall impression. Butter- and lard-aged samples showed slightly higher aroma and flavor scores compared to tallow-aged samples. Lipid-coated aging influenced the volatile profile. Principal component analysis revealed that wet-, butter-, cocoa-, and lard-aged samples were more associated with positive descriptors, which were positively associated with overall impression scores, whereas tallow-aged samples were associated with less desirable descriptors such as "bitter" and "rancid." In conclusion, lipid coatings promoted sensory modifications, supported by differences in volatile compounds, but did not improve consumer acceptance compared to wet-aged samples. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Lipid-coated beef aging represents an alternative approach to explore modifications in aroma-related attributes of aged meat. Under the conditions evaluated in this study, this technique promoted significant changes in aroma, flavor, and overall impression, which were supported by differences in volatile compound profiles. However, these changes did not translate into substantial improvements in overall consumer acceptance compared to conventional wet aging. This technique may be of interest for exploratory or niche applications focused on flavor differentiation or product innovation. However, the practical advantages of lipid-coated aging remain dependent on processing conditions and should be further investigated.