Authors: Wu Kuixin, Yang,

Pay attention to the method of side dishes, so that the dishes are delicious, refreshing and pleasing to the eye, which can induce appetite. The method of side dishes can be summarized in three aspects:

First, according to the basic requirements of cooking side dishes.

General extensive cooking requires excellent color, fragrance, taste, shape, nutrition and name. In other words, every aspect of cooperation must be harmonious and reasonable.

1, about color matching

The color matching of dishes is actually the color matching of main ingredients and auxiliary materials. Generally, auxiliary materials are used to set off or highlight the main materials, and the colors formed can be divided into cis-color, bi-color and hetero-color. (1) color matching. That is, the colors of the main and auxiliary materials are the same or very similar. For example, the "Crystal Frog" is white when the chicken is diced, and the accessories covered on it are shrimp glue, egg white, almonds and so on. It is also white after being evenly mixed and steamed. This dish is white. (2) color. Refers to the auxiliary materials are different colors from the main materials. The matching of different colors of auxiliary materials and main materials must be based on the characteristics of dishes, so that the results of color matching are vivid and harmonious, giving people a beautiful feeling. If it's just colorful and messy, it will only bring boredom to customers. "Lobster with lettuce", with green lettuce leaves on the bottom of the dish and red tomato slices on top. The lobster head is placed at the top of the dish, and the lobster tail is placed at the end. A piece of ham with the same shape and a layer of protein are stacked on each piece of lobster meat in the middle, which makes the dish colorful, vivid, harmonious and beautiful. (3) Different colors. Refers to the main and auxiliary materials with opposite colors. Pay great attention to the collocation of different colors, because it is easy to produce disgusting colors, especially animal raw materials. For example, covering the boiled chicken with black mushrooms can easily remind people of the appearance of pheasant (water chicken) and make them feel sick.

2. About the combination of fragrance and taste

Most of the raw materials of dishes have their own flavor, and very few have no obvious flavor, such as shark's fin, sea cucumber and bamboo sheng. Chefs with side dishes should not only know the unheated taste of raw materials, but also know the aroma and taste after heating, as well as the complex changes of aroma and taste of raw materials caused by different cooking methods. Follow the principles of removing fishy smell, refreshing, enhancing fragrance, reducing fatigue, helping beauty and restraining concentration, and properly match auxiliary materials. If oysters (oysters) are used as the main ingredient, and "roasted oysters" are made by "frying" method, the ingredients are potato powder and eggs, and the cooked dishes are extremely delicious and delicious, which is a famous dish in Chaoshan. If you use oysters to soak in water, you can't use eggs as ingredients, because oysters are used to soak in water and have a weak flavor. Eggs can't volatilize the fragrance and flavor in soup. Fresh and delicious oyster soup must rely on meat, such as one or two soups, plus some chrysanthemums or seaweed, or Chaoshan pickles, in order to be fragrant and delicious.

Generally, the fragrance and taste of the main ingredients are more prominent, and the ingredients play an auxiliary and foil role. If the main ingredient itself has no fragrance or light fragrance, it must be supplemented with thicker accessories, such as "stewed tofu box" Because tofu itself tastes light, it is necessary to add shrimp, chicken, pork, mushrooms and other ingredients to make the dishes tender and rich.

3. On the form of cooperation

Dishes don't pay attention to appearance, and cooking materials are piled up on the plate at will, which can only give people a hasty and hasty feeling and can't make people happy; Dishes with neat and beautiful appearance can make customers feel relaxed and happy. But to pay attention to the appearance of dishes, we should focus on improving the quality of dishes, rather than pursuing formal beauty and ignoring quality. For example, "sour plum eel", after cutting the eel into circles, put it flat on the plate piece by piece, and put an appropriate number of sour plums in the middle of each circle, which is different from smearing sour plum juice on the fish casually.

In principle, the shape matching between auxiliary materials and main materials means that auxiliary materials adapt to the shape of main materials, set off the shape of main materials and highlight the main materials. If the main material is strip, the auxiliary material must also be strip; The main material is granular, and the auxiliary material should also be granular. The so-called "block in block", "block in block", "ding in ding", "silk in silk" and "strip in strip". Generally speaking, the auxiliary materials are smaller than the main materials, so they can't steal the limelight of the main materials. For the main materials that are deformed by heat due to the flower changer, the auxiliary materials can be handled flexibly according to the above principles without hard cutting and matching with their deformed state to ensure their coordination and symmetry.

4. Coordination of dish names

The coordination between dish names and dish names is also a naming problem of dish names.

Most of the dishes that need to be named by catering staff are innovative dishes and trendy dishes. Giving a good name to a new dish is not a matter of hand-picking, but of thinking. Throughout the name of Chaozhou cuisine, it can be roughly divided into 10 types:

(1) is named according to the main ingredients and cooking methods. Such as braised shark's fin, cream crab, braised pig's trotters, oil-soaked belly tips, and raw-fried oysters. This kind of dish has the most names.

(2) Named according to auxiliary materials and main materials. Such as "scallop tofu", "lettuce lobster" and "melon and taro paste". There are also many dishes of this type.

(3) Named according to condiments and main ingredients. Such as "abalone horn in oyster sauce" and "duck in bean paste".

(4) Name dishes according to their shapes. For example, the modifiers "Green Hibiscus Chicken" (made of hibiscus flowers wrapped in protein) and "Hydrangea Cabbage" explain the shape of the dish.

(5) Name the dishes according to their colors. Such as "white scallop" and "innocent jade belt" (goose liver soup).

(6) Named according to the cooking method and the characteristics of color, fragrance, taste and shape of raw materials. Such as "fried squid with wheat ears", "raw fried chicken rice", "braised curry chicken", "braised duck" and "dried fried liver flower".

(7) Naming according to the cooking method and the names of main materials and auxiliary materials. Such as "fried Sichuan pepper balls" and "stewed mushrooms and zucchini".

(8) Named after a place name. Such as "Chenghai Pig Head jiaozi" and "Chaozhou Fish Pills".

(9) Named by image metaphor or implication. For example, "magpies brood", big birds and small birds are made of shrimp glue, and nests are decorated and shaped with vermicelli, Nostoc flagelliforme and protein silk. Another example is "swimming fish reflecting the moon", which is made of shrimp glue and fresh squid. An egg yolk is placed in the middle of the plate to symbolize the moon, and coriander is placed around the plate.

(10) Named according to cooking methods, place names and main ingredients. Such as "boiled fish in the West Lake" and "burning sweet potatoes after cakes".

Generally speaking, we should pay attention to be worthy of the name when naming dishes, and we can basically appreciate the connotation of dishes from their names. Secondly, we should be elegant and decent, that is, we should not use gorgeous words indiscriminately, but also prevent vulgarization.

Second, according to the composition characteristics of the raw materials of the dishes, the dishes are served.

The characteristics of hot food ingredients can include many aspects, including: (1) there is only one main ingredient in a dish; (2) Dishes have both main ingredients and auxiliary materials; (3) Dishes are not primary or secondary, and the raw materials are diverse.

1, single ingredient dishes

There are several kinds of dishes with only one raw material: (1) Without any auxiliary materials and condiments, the raw materials can be served after being turned into clinker, such as "boiled shrimp", "boiled chicken" and "shellfish" clam. This kind of dish usually has a particularly delicious flavor from the raw materials themselves. In order to taste its original flavor, it does not penetrate other flavors. When cooking this dish, you should pay attention to two points in the side dishes. First, the ingredients should be refined. For example, "white-cut chicken" chicken must be a local tender hen; Second, prepare dishes dipped in sauce, and "white chopped chicken" should be accompanied by Puning bean paste; Shrimp dip should use onion bead oil, white soybean oil and proper amount of monosodium glutamate; Clams need three sauces. (2) Serve the dishes after seasoning. For example, cooking is fried in oil and made with Tonga seasoning; Another example is marinated products: marinated goose, marinated duck, marinated pig tongue and so on. Boiled in marinated soup with various spices and seasonings. When making this kind of dishes, the caterer should also attach great importance to the choice of ingredients. For example, fried vegetables must be fresh and tender in the season. If it is "frying the whole dish", it should be measured by people, and the size of each dish should be balanced when selecting materials. (3) For dishes with a single raw material, if the raw material itself is boring, such as shark fin. Catering operators must properly and completely match the auxiliary materials needed in all aspects of cooking in advance.

2. Dishes with both main ingredients and auxiliary materials

There are both main ingredients and auxiliary materials, that is, the main ingredients need supplementary, auxiliary, foil and collocation dishes. Has flavor, color and shape, and is beneficial to nutrition regulation; There are also two or several. The quantity of auxiliary materials and the proportion of main materials vary widely, depending on the dishes. The usage of auxiliary materials is also different, some are taken out after seasoning, and some are served on a dish. For example, "stewed and boiled duck", the boneless duck belly is filled with various auxiliary materials and seasonings, such as diced meat, diced chicken, lotus seeds, etc., and thick bones are used to enhance the soup flavor. The auxiliary materials of this dish are rich in taste and shape, but the thick bones must be removed after the soup tastes. Another example is "Hibiscus Pigeon", in which minced chicken is soaked in two pigeons. One pigeon sprinkled minced ham on the minced chicken, and the other pigeon sprinkled minced celery, which was cooked and thickened before it was served. Bright color, one red and one green, mellow taste. The auxiliary material of this dish is both color and flavor. As for boiled fish, ginger, onion, celery, red pepper and other auxiliary materials are usually used, which can remove fishy smell, enhance freshness and enhance color.

For dishes with auxiliary materials, the food coordinator must first make clear the purpose of the ingredients, whether it is the coordination of color, fragrance, taste, shape or nutrition, and must follow the principle that auxiliary materials are to highlight and serve the main materials, and rationally match the auxiliary materials to make the dishes more exquisite.

3, mixed with a variety of raw materials to make dishes regardless of primary and secondary.

Dishes with all kinds of raw materials have no priority, and "no priority" does not mean absolute balance in quantity, but equal status in dishes. However, due to the different properties and characteristics of raw materials, the proportion in quantity is also different. Such as "five frozen fruits", including watermelon and lotus seeds. When serving this kind of food, we should accurately grasp the proportion. Because of the different raw materials, cooking often needs to adopt different methods according to the characteristics of raw materials, and finally synthesize a complete dish. When preparing a dish, the caterer must determine the selection and quantity ratio of raw materials from the aspects of the coordination of raw materials, the needs of dish modeling and the requirements of raw materials during cooking.

3. Processing side dishes according to the shape of dishes.

Dishes pay attention to color and shape, and people are used to calling dishes with shape characteristics "fancy dishes". Fancy dishes must have exquisite raw materials, careful processing, perfect side dishes and good cooking skills in order to make delicious dishes with beautiful shape, bright and harmonious color and delicious taste.

Chaozhou cuisine fancy cuisine has always been famous for its exquisite cooking skills. Every dish often goes through many links, first of all, semi-finished products processing. Then match it reasonably. Here's how to make it.

(1) plastic

Plastic is to shape the image of dishes. For example, "Hydrangea Cabbage" takes cabbage as the main material, and the dishes made look like hydrangea. This is a complicated processing procedure: peel the Chinese cabbage one by one, cut off the heart of the Chinese cabbage, cut the remaining vegetables into petals and put them in the gap, put the stuffing made of chicken, chicken gizzards, mushrooms and ham in the middle of the dishes, then wrap the petals and tie them tightly with celery sticks to make them look like meatballs. Dip in starch, stir-fry in oil pan, add all kinds of auxiliary materials (fire) to stew the seasoning, take it out and add seasoning. These dishes are shaped like hydrangeas. Side dishes must be made according to the needs of modeling.

(2) volume

Roll is to roll all kinds of irregular raw materials into a cylindrical shape. Such as "dry fried shrimp tube", the prawns are sliced and flattened, with fat meat, ham, mushrooms and other auxiliary materials sandwiched between them, then rolled into a tube, coated with flour and then coated with a layer of protein solution. After frying, the shape is like a tube, crisp outside and fragrant inside, fresh inside and tender inside.

Step 3 wear

Wearing is to put the raw materials cut into silk or strips into separate animal raw materials, so that the semi-finished products are neat in shape and delicious. For example, the "Hosta Frog" is to remove the leg bones of the frog leg, then shred the ham, mushrooms and bamboo shoots, put them together in the leg meat, spread the thin powder, oil it, and thicken it with seasonings to make a dish. It looks like a Hosta, and its shape is neat and beautiful.

(4) packaging

Bag refers to the raw materials processed into various shapes, which are wrapped with rotten film (rotten skin), yarn (pigskin oil), protein skin and other thin food raw materials, and then fried or cooked to form a certain shape. Such as "white eel bag" and "pulp". "Dry fried pulp" is made by mixing shredded or granular pork, wax gourd, onion, horseshoe and Sichuan pepper with a gauze fork or rotten film, wrapping them into strips, cutting them into 3-4 cm sections, dipping raw powder in the incision and frying them.

(5) String

String refers to connecting a variety of raw materials in series with hard objects to make them into special shapes. For example, in "Flag Duck", ducks are picked up, 10- 12 bones are taken, and duck meat is cut into pieces. Mushrooms are also cut into the same shape and strung together with duck bones to become a dish with beautiful appearance.

(6) Brewing

Brewing is a kind of mashed auxiliary material made by processing and seasoning, which is covered on the main material, padded under the main material, or embedded in the middle of the main material, making it beautiful in appearance and adding delicacy. For example, the "stuffed chicken" of Chaozhou cuisine is to wrap the chicken with stuffing made of raw materials such as shrimp glue. "Fermented money swim bladder" is to paste shrimp and red meat together, add chopped square fish and brew the swim bladder. "Brewing seven-star chicken" means brewing shrimp glue under the main ingredient chicken.

(7) Paste

Sticking is to stick the main ingredients and auxiliary materials together, so that the shape is decent and the taste is increased. For example, "crispy hibiscus duck" looks beautiful by putting protein foam slices with coriander leaves and ham slices on fried duck slices.

(8) ties

Tie refers to the process of processing raw materials into strips or sheets, and then tying them with threads to form a tie. For example, "dry fried crab and jujube", the ingredients such as crab meat are rolled into strips with rotten film, then tied with shredded salt grass, cooked and shaped, and then fried.

(9) Buckle

The buckle is to meet the needs of the taste and shape of dishes. Put the main ingredients at the bottom and stew them. Turn the dishes over when serving. For example, "glass cabbage", first put the oiled Chinese cabbage into a bowl, add ingredients such as mushrooms and meat, turn over after stewing, and add thin powder to thicken the raw materials, and the dishes will be as white as a mirror, oily and soft.

(10) Fill in

Mainly, after the internal organs and bones of poultry are removed, the processed and seasoned fine materials are filled in the abdomen. Such as "swallow swallow by pigeon", "swallow by pigeon", "boiled chicken" and "boiled duck". Side dishes must be based on the requirements of various shapes of dishes, and all kinds of raw materials must be accurately and reasonably matched.