Air‐dried beef is a traditional specialty dried meat product that has a rich history in Inner Mongolia. In‐depth understanding of the characteristic flavor substances of air‐dried meat in different regions can help branding of traditional air‐dried meat products and sustainable development of the air‐dried meat industry in Inner Mongolia. This study aims to investigate the characteristic flavors of air‐dried beef from various regions of Inner Mongolia (Ordos, Xinlingol, and Chifeng) by using electronic nose and GC‐MS combined with ROAV value and explore the impact of the vacuum tumbling curing process on the flavor of air‐dried meat. The samples from each region were found to contain characteristic flavor substances such as alcohols, aldehydes, hydrocarbons, and oxygenates. There are five characteristic flavor substances unique to the Ordos region: 3‐dodecanol (5.938), 4‐methyl‐5‐decanol (32.686), 2,4‐dimethyl‐2‐pentanol (4.139), methylheptenone (67.445), and 3‐ethyl‐2,5‐dimethylpyrazine (4.256); three characteristic flavor substances unique to the Xilingol region: isovaleraldehyde (68.917), ethyl phenylacetate (3.746), and thymol (2.091); and two characteristic flavor substances unique to the Chifeng region: 2‐heptanol (3.984) and 6‐methyl‐2‐heptanone (6.191). Vacuum tumbling curing not only improved the pH (6.35) and L∗ value (33.74) of air‐dried meat but also increased the variety of flavor substances characteristic of air‐dried meat, including trans‐2‐decenol (2.989), isopentanol (0.585), trans‐2‐nonenal (2.937), methyl decyl ketone (4.836), phenylacetic acid (4.262), and benzoic acid (0.554). In conclusion, the addition of vacuum tumbling curing process in the industrial production of air‐dried beef products can increase the curing efficiency and improve the flavor of air‐dried beef products.
