Prepared dishes are usually distributed as frozen food and consumed after reheating.The reheating methods with different frozen durations may largely affect the flavor of dishes, but limited research has been conducted on this aspect.In this study, headspace solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS), relative odor activity value (ROAV), principal component analysis (PCA), and descriptive sensory analysis were used to investigate the influence patterns of three reheating methods (water bath, microwave, and steam) on the flavor of prepared twice-cooked pork under different freeze-thaw cycles simulating frozen storage.The results revealed that 159 volatile compounds across nine chemical classes were identified in both fresh and freeze-thaw-reheated samples.The volatile substances in all of the twice-cooked pork samples (except the samples of reheating with microwave after 3 freeze-thaw cycles had 84) were more (105 to 121 kinds of volatile compounds) than in fresh samples (90 kinds of volatile compounds).Among these, 31 key flavor compounds exhibited ROAV≥1, including 11 aldehydes, 2 ketones, 4 alcohols, 1 hydrocarbon, 4 heterocyclic compounds, 3 sulfur compounds, 3 esters, 2 acids, and 1 phenol.In the vast majority of freeze-thaw-reheated samples, water bath reheating demonstrated superior flavor retention during the initial stage (1 cycle;similarity score 6.25).Fermented soybean and meat aromas (e.g., dipropyl disulfide increasing and 2,3-octanedione decreasing) were dominant.Steam reheating exhibited optimal performance after 3 cycles (similarity score 6.45), meaty aroma (e.g., 2-methylpyrazine and n-nonanal increased) were dominant.After 5 cycles, microwave reheating yielded the highest similarity score (6.15) by significantly enhancing sauce and meat aromas (benzaldehyde and 2,5-dimethylpyrazine).Overall, the choice of reheating method depends on the freeze-thaw cycles, which represents the simulated frozen storage duration, and this study provides a theoretical and experimental basis for the selection of reheating methods for prepared dishes.
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