Answer: Permanently.

There are two major types of brine. One is the brine used to make tofu, which originated in the Warring States period or earlier; the other is the brine used for cooking cooked food. The two kinds of brine have the same purpose. This question should be about the brine for cooked food.

The names of brine vary from place to place. In my hometown, it is called braised soup, and the container that contains it is called braised soup jar. Braised soup is mainly used to cook meat, followed by tofu. Because the taste is extremely mellow and fragrant, braised products are deeply loved by people, regardless of north, south or east. There are few people who don't like to eat them. Braised vegetables with a long history are really the brightest pearl in the splendid Chinese food culture.

There is a classic story in brine culture, which is about Daokou roast chicken in Henan. Local chronicles record that Daokou Roast Chicken was founded in the 18th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1661). During the first hundred years, it was tepid and not very famous. It was in the fifty-second year of Qianlong's reign (1787) that the heir to the roast chicken, named Zhang Bing, met the imperial chef Liu Yi by chance. Liu Yuchu taught him orally the secret of palace cuisine: "If you want to roast chicken with a fragrant aroma, add eight ingredients and old soup." The eight ingredients are tangerine peel, cinnamon, cardamom, galangal, cloves, amomum villosum, grass fruit, and angelica. The old soup is the old soup used to cook the chicken. Every time a pot of chicken is cooked, the old soup from the last time must be added. In this cycle, the more it is cooked, the more fragrant it becomes, and the older it is, the better. From then on, the business began to prosper and was out of control. Zhang Bing also changed the name of his roast chicken restaurant to "Yi Xing Zhang", which means "Friendship and justice prosper Zhang". My old Zhang's roast chicken restaurant became prosperous because of my friend Liu Yi, the chef. of!

In the long-term development process of brine, due to different taste habits in different places, the spice formula has also changed a lot, but it remains the same, and it is based on the above eight spices. Taking this opportunity, I would like to share my experience in daily use and management of brine for your reference.

First, use of brine. There are three basic principles that must not be violated, otherwise the brine will be damaged.

One is "separate the meat and vegetables, and do not put the vegetarian dishes in the can." That is, meat and vegetable dishes must be stewed separately, and the vegetable dishes cannot be put directly into the stew pot, but stewed in another pot. Just add part of the old soup. After cooking, discard the soup. Vegetarian stew is mainly soy products.

The second one is "Blanching must be done before brine". All meat must be blanched before brine, otherwise the fishy smell of the ingredients will be directly integrated into the old soup, which will not only destroy the ecology of the brine, but also affect the taste, ruining a can of old brine.

The third one is "let it cool before eating". All stewed ingredients cannot be taken out immediately after cooking. They must be cooled before taking them out. This is because the brine ingredients are generally in large pieces. After the brine is cooked and the fire is turned off, the temperature of the brine gradually decreases, which is the process of ingesting the flavor. Remember, do not turn off the fire before picking up the food, otherwise the flavor will be low and the meat will be burnt.

Second, brine management. There are also three basic principles that cannot be violated, and those who violate them will be ruined.

One is "long winter and short summer". Laolu soup is rich in various nutrients of animals. People love to eat it, but bacteria love to eat it even more. If you are not careful, it will go rancid. When not in use, it should be boiled and sterilized basically once a day in summer, and at least once a week in winter. Even if the freezer is big enough to fit the jars, it still needs to be boiled once a week in the summer.

The second one is "keep it clean". It must be filtered after each use to remove impurities from the minced meat and excess floating oil. There are many ways to filter. As a household brine tank, the capacity is not large. After cooling and taking out the materials, when the debris is at the bottom, pour out the old brine, throw away the sticky impurities at the bottom of the tank, and skim off the excess floating oil. Boil and store.

Three "regular additions". The custom in my hometown is that after using the brine five times, a new spice packet should be added and the old one thrown away. As for water, sugar, soy sauce, etc., you can add them at any time according to actual needs.

The answer to this question will scare you to death. How long do you think a pot of brine lasts? Ten years or eight years? Or decades? In fact, in many places, those doing braised vegetables business use old braised vegetables passed down from their families. What is family heirlooms? It's possible that the pot of brine has been used for decades. So don't underestimate the people selling stewed vegetables outside. Their family background is very deep. So, I can’t say how long a pot of brine can last, but from my perspective, if it’s well maintained, it won’t be a problem for 50 years. However, raising brine takes a lot of time and energy, and it is not suitable for making it at home.

For many people, they always feel that food outside is better than food cooked at home. The same is true for brine. Why is the brine sold outside so delicious? That's how many years of processing others have gone through. And the various spices people use will scare you to death. I'm barely a food lover, but I can't even identify all the spices. I won’t go into why star anise, cinnamon and cinnamon are so common. Cardamom, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Patchouli and Duhuo are all words you’ve heard of. If you can recognize them all, you’re considered amazing. Not to mention there are also saposhnikovia, angelica dahurica, costus, asarum, bupleurum, amomum villosum and so on! So you say, can you make such delicious brine at home?

In fact, eating at home is about safety, hygiene and romance. It’s a small world for two people, spread out a table mat, and have a regular meal, isn’t it? Very romantic? If there is a child and a family of three, each person occupies a corner of the table, what a warm picture. Right?

So, how long can brine be used at most? Maybe the brine store selling it at your doorstep will be older than you by the minute. Many people also want to make brine at home. In fact, as mentioned above, it is unrealistic and requires a lot of time and experience. If you are not careful, all your previous efforts may be wasted. The investment is high and the output is low. It is not cost-effective.

As long as the brine does not deteriorate, it can be used for a long time. The key is how to prevent the brine from deteriorating.

There are different production methods of brine in different places, and there are differences in the storage methods of brine. For example, in some places, the color of brine is not only the spice itself, which has a little auxiliary color effect, but also soy sauce. There are red yeast rice and sugar-colored ones. These are red braised, which are different from soy braised and white braised. Today I will focus on my experience to share with you. I have been working as a chef in Chengdu for nearly 40 years. , I have some experience in the storage of braised vegetables and brine in Sichuan cuisine. Sichuan brine is mainly red brine, and red brine uses sugar color as the coloring material. The longer the brine is used, the higher the value, and the better the taste of the braised food. Because the more food is brine and the longer the brine is, the higher the content of disodium nucleotide in the brine. This is a natural flavor enhancer that can make food more delicious. That is, the longer the brine is, the more valuable it is.

When storing brine, you should pay attention to the following aspects: before stewing food, it should be pre-processed according to the characteristics of the raw materials. There is no need to add salt or add salt. For example, duck intestines do not add salt, because the salt will cause the water to lose. After adding salt, the braised duck intestines will no longer be crispy, tender and refreshing);

Boiled water : Boiling water can remove a certain amount of blood and scum from the raw materials. This process does not include all food raw materials. Mainly those such as pork liver, pork belly, and tripe (urine bags) must be boiled. For example, after boiling pork belly, Scrape and clean before stewing. Most fresh braised foods can be braised in brine after being detached, such as pig heads, rabbits, chickens, ducks, etc.; after the raw materials are brine, bring to a boil over high heat to remove any foam and then simmer over low heat. Braised meat (for meat raw materials), as the saying goes, "boil porridge over high heat, and cook quack over low heat." (Quack means meat).

During the stewing process, observe the color of the brine according to the requirements of the dish. Salt, aroma supplement spices, sugar color, salt and water, ginger and green onion must be added, cooking wine must be added (white wine can also be added), fish out after all the food is marinated, and then fish out the residue in the brine, including ginger and green onion. No, after boiling the brine, turn off the heat, do not use the brine, do not stick to the raw water, do not cover the brine tightly, and do a good job of preventing insects and rats. If you use the brine the next day, there will be no problem. If you do not use it every day , then it must be boiled once a day. If it is troublesome, use a basin or food bag to put the brine (cold) in the refrigerator and freeze it. Take it out and defrost it before use.

Add something here. . I didn’t write about adding MSG and chicken essence. This is because I often add No. 2 ingredient. No. 2 ingredient is prepared and combined with yeast extract and ingredients in proportion. Yeast extract is a green product extracted by biotechnology. Food ingredients.

I am happy to answer the question. I love to share the delicious food of braised vegetables.

The brine can be used longer if it is well preserved. Braised vegetables are generally famous. Everyone will exaggerate and say that their products are made from brine that has been brine for hundreds of years, so the brine can be reused no matter how many times it is used.

Although brine can be used for such a long time, it can only be used if it is well preserved. If it is not well preserved, the brine will be useless.

How to preserve and maintain brine? There is a detailed explanation in my previous Q&A, if you want to know more, you can check it out. Today I will also talk about how to save it.

1: Use pottery to hold the brine. Do not use metal containers to hold the brine after the brine is completed. Otherwise, the salt substances in the brine will react chemically with the metal, causing the brine to taste bad. Therefore, the brine must be filled in pottery.

2: Don’t have too much floating oil on the brine. There is a layer of floating oil on top of the brine. If there is too much oil floating on the brine, it will be difficult for the brine to cool down, and the heat will cause the brine to simmer. It smells bad and can easily become moldy over time. If there is no floating oil, the aroma will easily develop. The brine is easy to oxidize and deteriorate, so it is better to have a thin layer of floating oil on the brine.

3: Boil brine regularly throughout the year. Everyone knows that brine must be boiled in summer, but not regularly in spring, autumn and winter. In fact, it must be boiled throughout the year.

4: The brine must be filtered to remove impurities. After the brine is completed, use gauze to filter out meat residues and spices to prevent these deteriorations from affecting the brine.

5: When the brine is not used for a long time, boil the brine and then cool it, put it in a pottery container, seal it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator to freeze.

I only know that brine is made from a variety of spices, including ginger, green onions, light soy sauce, rock sugar and other seasonings. The longer the brine is cooked, the more fragrant it becomes, and the finished dish has a unique flavor.

If the brine is properly maintained, it can be used continuously. Some stores now claim to be century-old soup. I think there are more gimmick ingredients. For well-known reasons, private enterprises in New China were only allowed to operate privately after the reform and opening up. Where did the century-old soup come from? However, the existence and possibility of old soup that has been passed down for hundreds of years has its existence and possibility in history. Putting aside this, the brine I use here has been around for 15 years. As far as my personal experience is concerned, as long as it is properly maintained and used in the correct way, . The more brine, the more fragrant it becomes and can be used continuously for a long time.

I have also answered some questions about the use and maintenance of brine in previous questions and answers. Here is a brief summary:

1. Lay a good foundation when mixing brine for the first time. The brine must be made from pig bones, keel bones, tail bones, old chicken, and duck stock as the base. No soy sauce or fried rock sugar is needed for coloring. Soak the spices in water for 1 hour to remove the "jerky" smell, fry the ginger, garlic, and onions until they turn yellow, then fry them dry and add them to the ingredients.

2. The ingredients required to be marinated must be boiled thoroughly in white water and rinsed before being marinated in the pot to prevent blood foam from contaminating the brine.

3. When braising, the fire must be low, and the brine should be kept in a state where the brine seems to be open but not open. The braised products will soon reach the required taste. When the state is reached, turn off the heat in advance and allow the braised products to soak in the brine. First, it is convenient. Secondly, the soaked braised products are bright and moist in color and are not easy to dry out or change color after being cooked. Why should we turn off the heat before the brine products reach the brine requirements? Because the brine is still very hot after the fire is turned off, it will further mature the brine products.

4. Keep boiling once a day and twice in summer. After boiling, turn off the heat (do not continue to boil over high heat to avoid the brine becoming muddy, sticky, black and depleted). Do not stir or drop into raw water. After stewing for several times, the material package should be replaced, sugar should be stir-fried to color according to the situation, and the stewing soup should be added when the soup is short.

The above is just some basic knowledge. There is a lot of knowledge and skills in specific usage and operation. If you study more and study more, you will slowly master the secrets.

I have a say in this. I used to sell braised vegetables at home when I was a child. As long as I constantly add Chinese medicinal herbs and spices instead of chemical aromatic crystals, filter out impurities, add salt and fried sugar juice, During the process of braised meat, the brine will increase or decrease as the weather changes. Add water and adjust when it decreases. When it increases, discard the brine with a lot of impurities at the bottom.

When the brine is to be stored for a period of time, be sure to boil enough salt and new spices. The important thing is that there must be a layer of oil on top, and then pour it into a large earthen jar and place it. Never touch it during the process. Then it can be left for a year or two without any problem. Next time When using, throw away the moldy oil on top and boil the brine below to adjust and use. This is called laolu. If someone wants to do the stewed vegetable business and comes to find the mother-child water, they must give a big red envelope!

Brine can be eaten as long as it is well kept. Every time the brine is brined, the color, saltiness, aroma or amount of brine must be checked, and seasonings should be added at any time to ensure the quality of the brine. In addition, in order to ensure the cleanliness of the brine, impurities must be filtered after each brine of raw materials; if there is too much grease attached to the surface of the brine, some should be removed; after each brine of raw materials, the brine must be boiled before storage; long-term The unused brine should also be taken out and boiled regularly so that it can be stored for a long time.

Xiang braised food is to marinate various raw materials in pre-adjusted brine to give the raw materials a unique flavor. The flavor of brine mainly comes from spices. There are many types of brine, and the brine in different regions is also different. Commonly used brine is: home brine, white brine, Sichuan style brine, and Chaozhou style brine. 2. The ratio of spices in brine is very critical. Many restaurants have developed secret formulas based on long-term practice to make their own brine unique. Spice packets should often be added to the brine to maintain the aroma of the brine. 3. The formula of brine is different. Taking 5000 grams of fresh soup as an example, the spices and proportions that can be added are: 20 grams each of coriander, Chinese ginger, and star anise, 50 grams each of onion, carrot, pepper, and red yeast rice, celery, and ginger. , 100 grams each of green onions, 20 grams of grass fruits, 15 grams each of cinnamon and licorice, 10 grams each of cloves, amomum villosum, and kaempferol, 30 grams each of cauliflower and bay leaves, 5 grams of nutmeg, 250 grams of dried chili peppers, 2 mangosteen , sugar color, Huadiao wine 150 grams each, rose wine, salt 50 grams each. 4. Use fresh soup to make brine, and boil pork bones, beef bones, chicken bones, old chicken, chicken feet, old duck, scallops, Jinhua ham, etc. together.

Scope of application: Braised pork knuckles, ribs, offal, duck, goose, eggs, soy products, kelp, etc.

Representative dishes: Braised platter, braised duck, braised pork ribs

The amount of sugar used when making brine can be determined according to the food being brine. For example, less sugar should be added to sausages, pork belly, etc., and a little more sugar should be added to chicken wings and pig's trotters. The spices in the spice bag should be used. You can change it when it is not strong. Do not change both at the same time to avoid the spice smell being too strong. The brine should be filtered every day, remove the residue, boiled, and kept covered. The brine for braising rabbit head fat intestines cannot brine other raw materials. It should be separated. If the salt taste is not enough, add salt. If the rabbit head is raked too much, it will not be shaped. The flower kernels should not be too broken. .

The repeatedly used brine is the legendary old soup. Since it is an old soup, the more it is used repeatedly, the more mellow the taste will be, and the taste of the stewed soup cannot be brought out by seasoning the new soup.

If it is a restaurant or braised meat shop, then this pot of old braised soup will be braised every day and it will be hot almost all the time, so there is no need to consider the problem of spoilage. However, the maintenance of the old braised soup is also very particular. Otherwise, the color of the soup will turn dark after being cooked several times, and no one will dare to eat anything stewed by then.

First, do not put onions in the repeatedly used stew. There is a lot of mucus in the onions. In addition, after the onions are boiled, they will dissolve and become flocculent. These substances will stick to each other and change color after repeated heating. It affects the color of the soup, and after a long time, the smell of rotten onions will appear, and the pot of soup will be useless.

Second, if you want to keep the old soup, you must change it. This may seem like a contradiction, but it is not. After the stewed food soup is left to rest, the soup will be divided into three layers. The top layer is the fat from the meat, which must be discarded; the second layer is the old soup we want; the third layer is the old soup. The bottom of the three layers is a soup base that is black in color and has fine residue. You must not ask for it. Therefore, when we want to reuse the old soup, we must skim off the surface layer, throw away the bottom layer, and leave only the scooped-out middle layer. Fill the remaining old soup with boiling water, replenish the brine, salt and sauce to make the next pot of brine.

Third, after the food is stewed, the lid of the soup pot must not be covered. Because there is a lot of soup and it is very hot, the large brine bucket sometimes cannot cool down all day and night, so a large amount of hot air will condense on the lid and then drip. Once the temperature drops below 70 degrees, rancid bacteria will breed. So the lid must not be closed.

Therefore, as long as the brine is well maintained, it does not matter how long it is used, and the more you use it, the better.

"If you want to have a fragrant taste, add eight ingredients and broth." This is really a very useful saying for braised food for a long time. The so-called eight ingredients are tangerine peel, cinnamon, cardamom, Galangal, cloves, Amomum villosum, Caoguo, Angelica dahurica, Laotang is the old soup for cooking meat. Every time a pot of meat is cooked, the old soup from the last time must be added. In this cycle, the more it is cooked, the more fragrant it becomes, and the older it is, the better.

In the long-term development process of brine, due to the different taste habits of different places, the spice formula has gradually evolved into many differences, but the ones mentioned above can never be separated. The "eight ingredients" are added as the basis.

We have all talked about how to make brine in the previous article, but many friends do not know how to preserve it. You must know that the preservation of a good pot of brine is also very important. It's important.

First of all, there are three basic principles when using brine, which must not be wrong, otherwise the brine will be damaged.

The first one is "separate the meat and vegetables, and do not put the vegetarian dishes in the can". That is, meat and vegetable dishes must be braised separately, and the vegetable dishes cannot be put directly into the braised soup pot, but braised in another pot. Just add a part of the old soup. After cooking, discard the soup. The braised vegetables are mainly soy products.

The second one is "Blanching must be done before brine". All meat must be blanched before brine, otherwise the fishy smell of the ingredients will be directly integrated into the old soup, which will not only destroy the ecology of the brine, but also affect the taste, ruining a can of old brine.

The third is "let it cool before eating". All the stewed ingredients cannot be taken out immediately after they are cooked. They need to be cooled before being taken out. This is because the brine ingredients are generally in large pieces. After the brine is cooked and the fire is turned off, the temperature of the brine gradually decreases, which is the process of ingesting the flavor. Remember, do not turn off the fire before picking up the food, otherwise the flavor will be low and the meat will be burnt.

About the management of brine. There are also three basic principles that cannot be wrong, otherwise the brine will also be bad.

The first one is "long winter and short summer". Laolu soup is rich in various nutrients of meat. Everyone likes the taste, and bacteria also like it. If you are not careful, it will go rancid. When not in use, it should be boiled and sterilized basically once a day in summer, and at least once a week in winter. Even if the freezer is big enough to fit the jars, it still needs to be boiled once a week in the summer.

The second is "keep it clean". Filter after each use to remove impurities from the minced meat and excess floating oil. There are many ways to filter. As a household brine tank, the capacity is not large. After cooling and taking out the materials, when the debris is at the bottom, pour out the old brine, throw away the sticky impurities at the bottom of the tank, and skim off the excess floating oil. Boil and store.

The third "regular feeding". According to the old master's custom, after using the brine five times, a new spice bag should be added and the old one thrown away. As for water, sugar, soy sauce, etc., you can add them at any time according to actual needs.

I think if it is stored well, it can be used forever. The longer the brine is, the more fragrant it will be.

The pig's trotters are braised by ourselves every day to ensure freshness.

Personally, I think it is better not to use the ingredients package. The loose ingredients can bring out the flavor better. I change the ingredients every two times and use a leak-proof drain to completely clean out the last ingredients. I feel that the soup tastes better. When it's particularly fragrant, you can take out part of it and let it cool and freeze, so you don't have to worry about problems.

Focus on Shaanxi snack gourd heads. If you love pig trotters, welcome to communicate.