foods Article Influence of Muscle Type on Physicochemical Parameters, Lipolysis, Proteolysis, and Volatile Compounds throughout the Processing of Smoked Dry-Cured Ham Nives Maruši´cRadovˇci´c 1,* , Ivna Poljanec 1, Sandra Petriˇcevi´c 2 , Leticia Mora 3 and Helga Medi´c 1 1 Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, Pierottijeva 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;
[email protected] (I.P.);
[email protected] (H.M.) 2 Croatian Veterinary Institute, Regional Institute Split, PoljaniˇckaCesta 33, 21000 Split, Croatia;
[email protected] 3 Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos, CSIC, Avenida Agustin Escardino 7, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +385-146-05-130 Abstract: The influence of muscle type (biceps femoris, BF and semimembranosus, SM) on physic- ochemical parameters, volatile compounds, and the extent of proteolysis and lipolysis during the manufacturing of smoked dry-cured ham was investigated. A total of fifty smoked hams were sampled: raw ham, after salting, smoking, drying, and ripening. Almost all physicochemical pa- rameters were affected by muscle type, manufacturing stage and their interactions. SM had lower water, ash, NaCl content, and water activity (aw), while fat and protein content were higher after ripening compared to BF. BF showed higher L*a*b* values compared to SM. The results of texture Citation: Maruši´cRadovˇci´c,N.; profile analysis showed that almost all analyzed parameters were influenced by muscle type and Poljanec, I.; Petriˇcevi´c,S.; Mora, L.; production stage. A total of 88 volatile compounds were identified, showing an increase in its number Medi´c,H.