The formation of pyrazines in food cooking is required to obtain satisfactory “roasted” flavor.The aim of this work was to evaluate
the effect of a new red wine pomace seasoning (RWPS) on the formation of pyrazines in barbecued beef patties. Five pyrazines were
successfully identified, 2,5-dimethylpyrazine being the most abundant. Although 2-ethyl-5-methylpyrazine was in lower levels, it
presented the highest odor units, due to its low threshold. RWPS enhanced the formation of the five identified pyrazines (2.1 times),
without relevant changes in the proportion between them.The highest increase was observed for 2-ethyl-6-methylpyrazine (3 times
higher than in control). These results were corroborated by electronic nose analysis, presenting RWPS beef patties higher odor
intensities. Mechanisms to explain these effects are also proposed in the present work, and the high content of polyphenols seems
to be the major cause of the observed results.The use of RWPS could improve the flavor characteristics of meat products or enable
using less intense cooking conditions with no changes in the flavor.
