Hunan stewed dishes recipes

Hunan's braised dishes are famous throughout the country, and one of the secrets lies in the recipe for making the brine. As the most important source of flavor for brine, marinade is also called spices and is composed of a variety of Chinese medicinal materials. Each medicinal ingredient has its own unique health-preserving effect. The marinade formula is mainly divided into red marinade and white marinade. The recipe of Hunan brine is quite complicated, with dozens of ingredients alone, such as osmanthus, lemongrass, red yeast rice, and balsam pear, many of which are rarely heard of by northerners.

1. Ratio of marinade

Marinating ingredients are an important source of flavor for braising liquid. Marinating ingredients are also called spices. Spices are also medicinal materials, which are what we usually call traditional Chinese medicine. Each traditional Chinese medicine has its own characteristics. The reasonable combination of marinating ingredients determines the quality of a pot of braising liquid to a large extent. Over the past thousands of years, people's understanding of spices has been constantly deepening, forming a variety of marinating recipes, including red marinade and white marinade. Geographically, it can be divided into Sichuan braised food, Guangdong braised food, etc.

2. Hunan Brine Formula Ingredients

Dried chili peppers, galangal, angelica, sand ginger, balsam pear, star anise, cinnamon, fresh galangal, bay leaves, licorice, tangerine peel, fennel, coriander seeds, tsaoko, cloves, black peppercorns, magnolia, monk fruit, lemongrass, Lee Kum Kee bean paste, Hunan spicy girl, God of Fortune oyster sauce, scallions, ginger, garlic, onion, refined salt, Maggi chicken powder, Shaoxing Huadiao wine, red yeast rice, rock sugar, and rose wine.

3. Stock ingredients and preparation methods

Ingredients used for broth: chicken skeleton, pork leg bones. Boil the chicken skeleton and pork leg bones (broken with a hammer) in cold water until boiling, remove the blood foam, wash them with clean water, add water again, add old ginger (smashed) and green onions (leave the roots full length), bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat, do not use high heat (low heat will make a clear soup, high heat will make a thick soup), and make into a braised soup for later use. Get a clean stainless steel bucket. Add broth, ginger and scallion, salt, MSG and sugar color, then add the spice bag. Bring to a boil and then simmer over low heat until the aroma is everywhere. This will make fresh brine.

4. Precautions for making red and white brine

1. Master the amount of spices

12.5 kg new brine, 600-700 g of spices (300 g for 6 kg water, 150 g for 3000 g)

2. Wrap the spices. The spices should be wrapped with clean gauze and tied up. It should not be tied too tightly, but should be slightly loose. After the spice bag is wrapped, it should be soaked in boiling water for half an hour before use. The purpose is to remove grit and reduce the medicinal smell.

3. The amount of sugar color used. The red sugar color should be added in portions to avoid damaging the color of the soup. Braised foods should be golden yellow in color.

4. Prepare the original soup. When using chicken skeletons and pork bones to make the original soup, use a low heat to avoid using a high heat to thicken the soup.

5. Replace the spice bag in time. Because the aroma of the brine will gradually weaken after being marinated with certain raw materials, the spice bag should be replaced in time when the spice is no longer strong to maintain its strong aroma.