Should I fry the chicken before stewing it?

Chicken soup is a food made with chicken as the main ingredient and stewing as the main cooking method. It is also a soup with extremely high nutritional value and delicious taste. Of course, many people wonder whether it is necessary to stir-fry the chicken before stewing it in soup. In fact, the ingredients can be fried before stewing the chicken soup, but since it is a whole chicken, you only need to clean the chicken and blanch it in water!

1. Do you need to fry the chicken before stewing it?

The chicken should be whole. The ingredients can be slightly stir-fried (usually not). You can buy it in the supermarket. Blanch the chicken in boiling water first to remove the blood and make it taste fresher. The heat is just enough, use a large stew pot. Add the ingredients and chicken together, bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat for 2 hours. You can also do it as before, and then put it in a stewing pot and stew it in a pressure cooker, cook it on high heat for 10 minutes and then on low heat for 10 minutes.

2. Don’t forget to rinse it with water first

Before stewing any meat, the main ingredient should be boiled in boiling water. This not only removes the raw smell, but also is a process that thoroughly cleans the meat, making the stewed soup fresh and not turbid, and fragrant without any peculiar smell. Never cook meat with cold water. If you cook meat with cold water, the nutrients of the meat will be seriously lost from cold water to boiling. Therefore, it is best to put the meat in warm water and then cook it for 7 to 8 minutes. During the cooking process, turn the meat over from time to time.

3. Do not add water midway

When you start stewing chicken soup, avoid using boiling water and avoid adding water continuously during the process. Chicken soup should be put into the pot with cold water, and enough water should be added at one time. Do not add water at will in the middle of the process. The ingredients should be allowed to fully release their nutrients and aroma as the water temperature gradually rises.

Generally speaking, a chicken weighing about 3 kilograms should be put in about 6 kilograms of water. Let the ingredients fully release their nutrients and aroma as the water temperature gradually rises.

4. Don’t start with a low heat

Many people would say "simmered chicken soup", but in the eyes of the chef, this statement is incorrect. The main purpose of stewing soup is to drink the soup and then eat the meat, so it is not recommended to use a pressure cooker to stew soup. Therefore, chicken soup should be cooked in a casserole, boiled over high heat for about 10 minutes, open the lid, and skim off the foam on the surface. This way the chicken soup will be white and clear. After skimming off the foam, turn to low heat and simmer for about 3 hours. During this period, do not remove the lid casually, otherwise the soup will lose its original flavor.