Revealing the mechanistic correlation between volatile flavor retention and cooking oil fume reduction in stir-fried pork belly.

The relationship between cooking oil fumes (COFs) control and meat flavor retention remains inadequately elucidated. In this study, an intelligent stir-frying system was employed to systematically investigate the effects of various fume-exhaust configurations on the flavor profile of pork belly and concomitant emissions of COFs. In the closed-exhaust group (CC), a total of 39 volatile compounds were identified, among which 3-methylbutanal, 2-methylbutanal, hexanal, and 2,5-dimethylpyrazine were identified as the key aroma-active components. Meanwhile, the CC group exhibited the most pronounced umami and saltiness characteristics. Nevertheless, the total airborne concentration of aldehydes and ketones in the CC group reached 4868.89 μg/m3, approximately 6.5 times that recorded in the open-exhaust group (OO). Network analysis revealed that fume-derived aldehydes and ketones exhibited both synergistic and competitive interactions with meat-derived volatile flavor compounds. Collectively, these findings provide a basis for achieving an optimal balance between flavor enhancement and effective COFs mitigation.