How to make soup more fresh and fragrant

Nowadays, many people prefer to make broth at home. There are some tips when making broth that will make the taste of the broth more delicious. If you want to drink healthy and delicious broth at home, you must pay attention to these smaller details. For example, cooking with pork bones is better for nourishing the kidneys and blood and nourishing yin and moistening dryness. Choosing beef bones is good for nourishing the spleen and stomach and strengthening the tendons and bones. Choosing sheep bones is helpful for those with a weak body.

1. Careful selection of ingredients is the key to making a good soup. To make a good soup, you must choose animal ingredients that are fresh, have little odor, and little blood, such as chicken, duck, lean pork, pork elbows, pork bones, ham, pressed duck, fish, etc. This type of food is rich in protein, succinic acid, amino acids, peptides, nucleotides, etc., which are also the main source of the soup's flavor.

2. Food should be fresh, that is, choose ingredients that are tasty and have no fishy smell. Freshness is not the "seasonal freshness" that has always been emphasized, such as "eat fresh meat and eat freshly killed fish". The modern term "fresh" refers to 3 to 5 hours after death of fish, livestock and poultry. At this time, various enzymes in the fish or poultry meat break down the protein, fat, etc. into amino acids, fatty acids and other substances that are easily absorbed by the human body. Not only are they the most nutritious, but they also taste the best. 3. Choose good cooking utensils. Old clay pots are best for making soup. The earthenware jar is fired at high temperature and has the characteristics of good air permeability, strong adsorption, uniform heat transfer and slow heat dissipation. When making soup, the clay pot can transfer external heat energy to the ingredients inside in a balanced and lasting manner, and the relatively balanced ambient temperature is conducive to the mutual penetration of water molecules and food. The longer this mutual penetration lasts, the more fresh and fragrant ingredients will overflow, the fresher and mellower the soup will taste, and the crispier the texture of the ingredients will be.

3. The key to making soup at the right temperature is to boil it over high heat and simmer it over low heat. In this way, the protein extracts and other delicious substances in the food can be dissolved as much as possible, making the soup more fresh, mellow and delicious. Only a low heat can dissolve more nutrients, and the soup will be clear and have a rich flavor. 5. Water distribution should be reasonable. Water is both a solvent for delicious food and a medium for heat transfer of food. Changes in water temperature and the amount used have a direct impact on the nutrition and flavor of the soup. The amount of water used is generally three times the weight of the main food for making the soup, and the food and the cold water must be heated together. It is not advisable to use hot water to make soup. If you pour hot water or boiling water into the pot at the beginning, the surface of the meat will be suddenly exposed to high temperature, and the outer layer of protein will coagulate immediately, making the inner layer of protein unable to fully dissolve into the soup. In addition, if you add cold water to the pot halfway through cooking the soup, the protein will not be fully dissolved into the soup, the taste of the soup will be affected, it will not be fresh enough, and the color of the soup will not be clear enough. 6. The combination should be appropriate. Some foods have fixed combination patterns, and the nutrients are complementary, which is the "golden combination" on the table. The most noteworthy thing is the kelp stew. The nutrients of pork, an acidic food, and kelp, an alkaline food, complement each other. It is the "longevity food" of Okinawa, a longevity area in Japan. In order to make the soup taste purer, it is generally not advisable to use too many kinds of animal food together to cook it. 7. The operation requires meticulousness. It is not advisable to add salt first when making soup, because salt has an osmotic effect, which will cause the water in the raw materials to be discharged, the protein to coagulate, and the umami taste to be insufficient. When boiling soup, the temperature should be maintained at 85~100 degrees Celsius for a long time. If vegetables are added to the soup, they should be eaten immediately to avoid the destruction of vitamin C. You can add appropriate amounts of MSG, sesame oil, pepper, ginger, onion, garlic and other seasonings to the soup, but be careful not to add too much so as not to affect the original flavor of the soup.

<<: How to make baby stock

>>: How to make bone broth