Aroma Compounds of Flash-Fried Rice

Abstract

The flash-frying technique (phad-fai-dang, in Thai) is similar to stir-frying but it allows fire to contact with the food being fried to give a unique smoky/burnt aroma. This studycompared the aroma compounds of flash-fried rice (FFR) with those of stir-fried rice (SFR) and steamed rice (SR). Sensory evaluation using differences from the control test confirmed that 30 panelists were able to differentiate the unique aroma of FFR from that of SFR (P ≤ 0.01). Volatile compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Aroma-active compounds were analyzed using gas chromatographyolfactometry. The most prominent volatile compounds of FFR that had the highest flavor dilution (FD) factors with a value of 81 were 2,4-heptadienal (stir-fried oil, burnt), nonanal (scented candle), heptanone (metallic, rust) and unknown compounds M (fishy, salty) and N (sweet, stale). There were two unknown compounds (O and Q) with FD factors of 9 and 0 that had a “wok” or flash fried aroma characteristic. SFR had octadienone (metallic, rust) and an unknown compound C (sweet) with an FD factor of 81 as its prominent aroma compounds. Steamed rice had 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (sweet, pandan like) and an unknown compound P (sour) with FD factors of 27 and 3, respectively, as its aroma-active compounds.