Steamed vegetables are widely used, generally using tough animal raw materials, plant raw materials, dry goods raw materials, fresh or finely processed raw materials, such as chicken, duck, pork, abalone, shrimp, crab, tofu, pumpkin, wax gourd and so on.
Classification of cooking methods
According to the purpose of steam, it can be divided into two types: full steaming and release steaming.
Full steaming: put the processed raw meal or semi-finished product after preliminary heat treatment into a plate, add seasoning and put it into a steamer or steamer, and steam it to the required maturity, and cover the cage tightly to avoid steam leakage. Steamed feet are usually made of fresh animal and plant raw materials, processed by knife and heated in saturated steam until they are mature. The heating time of full steaming should be controlled according to the tenderness of raw materials and the requirements of finished products. If it is a tender, the time should be controlled at 8 to 15 minutes. If "rotten" is needed, the time should be controlled within 1.5 hours.
Steaming: Very tender mash and eggs are usually used as raw materials. After the raw materials are processed into mash, they are steamed in a cage, and there is no need to cover them tightly in this process. According to the nature of raw materials and different requirements of dishes, this cooking method needs to be deflated at different times. There are usually three methods: start deflation, deflate halfway, and deflate when it is about to mature. For example, the time for steaming egg custard should not be too long, and the steam should not be too sufficient. Steam slowly over medium heat first, and then release the steam when the water in the pot boils to generate enough steam.
According to the specific practices and flavor characteristics of steamed vegetables, it can be divided into three categories: steaming, powder steaming and dry steaming.
Steaming: add seasoning to the main ingredients after processing, or add soup (or water) and put it in a vessel to heat until cooked.
1. Selection and processing of raw materials: The raw materials of steamed vegetables should be fresh, such as chicken, pork and seafood. Raw materials must be washed during initial processing and blanched before steaming. For large pieces of raw materials, boiling water is used for a long time; For raw materials with small volume, such as silk and diced, the method of rapid steaming in boiling water is adopted.
2. Seasoning: The flavor of steamed vegetables is mainly salty and salty. Commonly used condiments are refined salt, monosodium glutamate, pepper, ginger, onion and so on. And light seasoning is better.
3. Dishing: Dishing of steamed vegetables can be divided into two types: open dish and dark dish. Ming Ding pot refers to the original utensils that put the raw materials on a plate in a certain order and serve them after steaming; Dark fixing requires changing plates before serving.
4. Features of the finished dish: This kind of steamed dish has the characteristics of primary color, clear soup color and tender texture.
Steaming: mix the processed raw materials with fried rice flour and other seasonings, then put them in a container for coding, and heat them with steam to soften them and cook them.
1. Selection and processing of raw materials: Usually, raw materials with old and tough texture, fresh and full, fat and thin alternately, or tender and gluten-free, and easy to cook are selected for steaming powder, such as chicken, fish, meat, roots and cooked beans. The molding of raw materials is mainly sheet, block and strip.
2. Seasoning: Steamed rice flour needs seasoning first, and only by pickling the raw materials into flavor can we achieve good results. The flavor types of steamed rice noodle dishes are often salty, spiced, homely, spicy and salty. The rice flour needed in the process of stirring is usually fried indica rice until it is slightly yellow, dried and ground into flour. The drying degree of mixing should also be flexibly mastered according to the old and tender degree of raw materials and the ratio of fat to thin.
3. Serving: Steamed raw materials should be placed loosely and cannot be compacted with each other, otherwise the quality of dishes will be affected. Delicate and soft dishes, steamed quickly with boiling water; Soft and rotten vegetables have been steamed in boiling water for a long time.
4. Features of dishes: golden yellow, mellow, oily but not greasy.
Dry steaming: also known as button steaming, the raw materials are only seasoned without soup, and some utensils have to be covered or sealed.
1. Selection and processing of raw materials: Fresh, tasteless, easy-to-cook, soft and tender raw materials, such as chicken, duck, fish, shrimp, pork, vegetables, fruits, etc., are mostly used for dry steamed vegetables.
2. Seasoning: mostly salty and salty. After steaming, it should also be seasoned or assisted.
3. Serving: cooking by dry steaming, and some of them are directly turned into dishes, plates and other utensils for serving, such as "longan is sweet and white"; Some should be accompanied by soup, such as "sesame elbow"; Some should be served after hanging juice, such as "white egg cake"; Some should be served with sauce or seasoning dishes, such as "ginger fish".
4. Features of dishes: complete shape, original flavor, fresh and delicious.
Matters needing attention in steaming vegetables
Proper use of heat is the key to the success of steamed vegetables. Different dishes need different firepower and time to heat. Generally speaking, dishes that require fresh and tender texture should be heated by strong fire, full steaming and quick steaming for 5-20 minutes. The dishes with older texture and larger volume that need to be steamed and crispy need to be steamed in boiling water 1 to 4 hours; The raw materials are tender or carefully processed, and it is best to steam them slowly with medium-low boiling water.
In the process of steaming vegetables, raw materials should not be mixed with seasonings, especially when the gas in the cage is saturated, the juice of the vegetables itself is not easy to seep out, and the seasonings are more difficult to enter the raw materials. Therefore, steamed vegetables mainly rely on seasoning before heating, and must be adjusted once.
Pay attention to the placement of raw materials in the steamer. Put the dishes with less soup on top and the dishes with more soup on the bottom; Light-colored dishes should be placed on top, and dark dishes should be placed below; Dishes that are not easy to cook are placed on top, and those that are easy to cook are placed below.
Steaming is an important cooking method, and there is a saying that "vegetables are not steamed" in China. Steaming means heating with steam to make raw materials with good taste mature or crisp. It is characterized by maintaining the original shape, original juice and original flavor of dishes, and can preserve various nutritional components of dishes to the greatest extent. Steamed vegetables are delicious, tender and refreshing, beautiful and colorful, with little loss of raw juice, so steamed vegetables are widely used and have many varieties. Besides, some other cooking methods are based on steaming.
There are many steaming utensils, such as wooden steamer and bamboo steamer. The shape can be large or small, and the layers can be more or less, depending on the amount of raw materials. When steaming vegetables, you must pay attention to layered placement. Put the dishes with less soup on top, the dishes with more soup on the bottom, the light-colored dishes on top, the dark dishes on the bottom, the dishes that are not easy to cook on top, and the dishes that are easy to cook on the bottom.
Steamed vegetables should follow the cooking requirements, and the raw materials are old and tender. Quickly steam tender raw materials, such as fish and vegetables, with boiling water. Steam, not rotten, 15 minutes or so. For raw materials that are coarse and old in texture and need to be steamed crispy, they should be steamed with boiling water for a long time, such as crispy duck and steamed pork with flour. Vegetables with fresh and tender ingredients, such as eggs, should be steamed slowly with medium fire and small fire.
There are many varieties and methods of steaming, mainly the following:
1. Powder steaming is to steam the raw materials and rice noodles together.
2. Buckle steaming Put the raw materials together to make various patterns and steam them in a special vessel.
3. Steamed leaves and lotus leaves are steamed with seasoned raw materials, and some are wrapped in cellophane before being caged.
4. Steaming, also known as stewing, is to add seasoning and a little broth to the raw materials, steam them in a cage, and then gently pour them on.
5. Boiling and steaming refer to coating raw materials with minced fish, minced shrimp and minced chicken. Painted in various shapes and colors, or stuffed with various flame cores in food and steamed in pots and bowls. After steaming, the original color and taste are still maintained.
6. Modeling steaming: After the raw materials are processed into velvet, add seasonings and coagulants, such as egg white, starch and agar. Making into various forms, steaming in a mold, and steaming into a solid state.
1. The raw materials should be fresh, because the protein in the raw materials is not easy to dissolve in water during steaming, and the seasoning is not easy to penetrate into the raw materials, so the original flavor is maintained to the maximum extent. So be sure to choose fresh raw materials, otherwise it will affect the taste.
2. adjust the taste. Seasoning can be divided into basic flavor and auxiliary flavor. The basic flavor enhancement is to enhance the flavor of the raw materials before steaming, which takes a long time to soak and enhance the flavor, and spicy spices can not be used, otherwise it will inhibit the umami flavor of the raw materials themselves. Tonifying means steaming before adding the sauce. The sauce should be salty and not too thick.
3. When the steaming method is adopted, coarse rice flour can be used as raw material, and fine rice flour can also be used as raw material. Spices, pigments, etc. It should be treated according to the needs of raw materials, and the thickness of rice noodles should be appropriate.
4. When steaming, grasp the temperature of raw materials, and the humidity of raw materials should be high to keep the dishes fresh and tender. Less water should be added to raw materials with more water, and more water should be added to raw materials with less water.
5. According to the degree of gas impact resistance of raw materials, raw materials are steamed by emergency gas hood, that is, they are steamed in boiling gas after being covered tightly. Open or semi-open cage water rolling steaming. Steaming with warm air, gradually heating on cold water until the breath is short.
In short, fire, plenty of water and short time are the seven-character formula of steaming.