Before I learned how to cook, I liked to learn how to cook and watch one dish on the Internet, but the results were often unsatisfactory, and I often couldn't remember if I didn't follow it.

I have seen many people say that fish should be fried before cooking fish soup, but I just don't understand it and forget it easily.

Later, I went to the chef's school. Besides learning to cook, I also took a theoretical class to learn the cooking principle, and understood the function of frying fish before cooking fish soup:

First of all, frying fish at high temperature can produce Maillard reaction, which makes the fish more fragrant.

Secondly, frying in oil has a high melting point (much higher than the boiling point of water), which can make the fish fat melt quickly and flow out and disperse in the soup, which is beneficial to the whitening of the soup. After the fire boils, the oil and water are fully emulsified under the action of protein, and the soup becomes as white as milk.

This is the principle that the soup turns milky white, and it is also the reason why the fish should be fried.

However, basically all the food recipes and videos don't tell you why you want to do this. Perhaps the space is limited, or some authors have only a little knowledge. The result is often that readers don't understand the principle, just like I used to, I don't know how to use it flexibly, I won't extrapolate, I can only paint a gourd according to a gourd ladle.

Therefore, understanding the cooking principle is also an important part of learning to cook well. When you understand the principle that soup turns white, it is composed of fat, protein and boiling fire. You can make other milky white soups according to this principle. The ingredients are no longer limited to fish, and you can use bones, meat, eggs and so on.

After leaving the chef school, I went to work in a restaurant and hotel. I have worked as a chef for more than ten years, and I have accumulated some experience and experience. Then I will share some cooking principles first. I believe it will help you after reading it.

Foods containing more sugar or starch and protein will quickly solidify, coke or decompose when heated, and it is easy to stick to the pot if not handled properly. How to avoid food sticking in cooking, relying on non-stick pan can not solve the problem fundamentally, and the coating of non-stick pan will fall off, which is not good for your health.

Take cooking as an example. Our chef has a set of standard procedures. After the wok is heated to smoke, pour a little oil for a turn, pour it out, then add a proper amount of cold oil, and then stir-fry the dishes. This is called "hot pot cold oil". Many people know that hot pot cold oil, but they can't say why.

Let me briefly explain the principle:

①. When the temperature of a hot pot is above 2 degrees, the "Leighton Frost effect" will occur. At this time, if water is dropped into the pot, it will not evaporate immediately, but will turn into small water droplets, so food will not stick to the pot when it is placed in a pot with Leighton Frost point.

Of course, the chef doesn't pay attention to this point, and the temperature is enough to burn the pot to smoke by experience.

as far as home operation is concerned, it is recommended to prepare an iron pan with a thick bottom or a thick pan, and let it burn for one or two minutes on high fire (note that non-stick pans can't burn empty, here we are talking about iron pans), then turn to medium heat, pour oil and mix well, and then put the ingredients.

②. Pour the oil evenly for the first time after heating the pan, in order to form a thin oil film, at the same time, increase the medium on the pan surface and make the pan lubricated enough, which is conducive to the sliding of ingredients on the pan surface.

③ the second pouring of oil (cold oil) will give an instant lifting force due to the high temperature at the bottom of the pot, and then the ingredients will not stick to the pot immediately.

In addition, different foods have different treatment methods:

Foods with high starch content will decompose excessive starch when fried and solidify on the surface of the pot. Therefore, foods such as shredded potatoes should be cleaned before frying, and excess starch on the surface should be removed in advance, drained and then fried in hot pan with cold oil, so as not to stick to the pan.

food that can't endure burning, such as pepper, dried pepper, bean paste, minced meat, etc., is easy to be dehydrated and fried, so it needs to be simmered with low oil temperature after the oil is cooled in a hot pot.

For foods with high protein and tenderness, such as fried shredded pork, sliced meat, diced meat and diced chicken, after sizing, add cooking oil, so that the oil can be wrapped around the starch to prevent the starch from directly sticking to the pan.

foods that need frying, such as fried steak, fried fish, fried eggs, fried tofu and so on. Take fried fish as an example, the key points are as follows:

First, fry it with strong fire, which can quickly brown and burn out the special baking flavor coke layer and reduce the water loss of the ingredients.

Second, fry on high fire for at least half a minute, and don't use a spatula to turn over or turn over. Many people fry fish and stick to the pan, which means they are in a hurry. The reasonable way is to fry the fish for a while, let the surface of the fish mature and set, then shake the pot and stir the other side, so that it will not stick to the pot and be fragile.

1. After the animals are slaughtered, their muscles are relaxed for a short time without experiencing rigidity, so they will not lose too much water. At this time, if they are cooked immediately, the meat quality will be very tender.

However, the muscle will soon contract and cause water loss, and the meat quality will be particularly hard, and the lower PH will cause the meat quality to become sour, which is the most unsuitable stage for eating. When muscle fibers run out of energy, it takes about 3 hours for beef and 6 minutes for pork, mutton and chicken. This is called "corpse rigidity".

fortunately, after several hours, the muscle structure will weaken and the meat will soften. Chaoshan beef hotpot is especially fresh and tender, that is, beef in fresh period (within a few hours of slaughter) is selected.

In addition, chickens, ducks, geese, etc. that have just been slaughtered should not be cooked immediately, or they should wait for several hours before cooking.

2. Why does the cooked meat taste rough and rough? How can I make the meat tender?

There are two main reasons why meat is old:

① There is little water in meat. For example, tenderloin itself does not contain much water, and when cooked, it will lose about 2% of the weight of water, so the meat quality is rough.

the solution is to supplement and maintain the moisture in the meat as much as possible.

to replenish water, we can add a little salt before fetching water. Don't make a mistake in the order, otherwise it will be easy to drain water.

Because salt is given first, the interaction between salt and protein (salt dissolution reaction) will increase the water capacity of muscle cells, and then absorb more water. Secondly, salt can dissolve part of the protein structure that supports the contraction of myofilaments.

The simplest way to maintain moisture in meat is sizing. The starch can be pea starch or corn starch, which is versatile and has high fault tolerance rate.

Although starch can't protect shredded pork, sliced meat and diced meat at room temperature, it will gelatinize at high temperature, and the hydrogen bond between starch molecules will break, and the volume will expand to 5-1 times, forming a paste-like sol which will be wrapped on the surface of meat, which can well prevent the loss of water and flavor substances in meat.

② There are several ways to deal with the coarse meat fiber. If you don't smash the meat fiber with tools such as knife back and loose meat hammer, if you don't destroy the fiber with enzyme, you can use tender meat powder and edible powder.

The tenderizer of these meats is an enzyme extracted from plants such as pineapple, papaya, fig and kiwi fruit. After refining, it is ground into powder and put in a seasoning jar with salt and sugar.

Summary: Meat should be tender, keep moisture and destroy meat fiber.

1. I believe you should have seen many videos saying that you have to blow things up twice, but do you know why? The first medium-temperature frying is for frying, and the second short-time high-temperature frying (re-frying) is for forcing out the oil in the food, reducing the greasy feeling, and frying the skin crisp.

2. how to determine the oil temperature?

in our kitchen, we usually divide the oil temperature into 1% oil temperature, 2% oil temperature, and every 3 degrees is 1%, for example, 6% oil temperature is 18 degrees, and so on.

As far as cooking is concerned, easy-to-paste ingredients, such as minced meat, are suitable for cooking at 3-4% oil temperature.

Sized ingredients, such as fried shredded pork, sliced pork, diced pork and diced chicken, need to be heated in a hot pan and cooled with oil, which will be scattered by fire. It is better to control the oil temperature at about 6% to 7%, that is, the medium-high oil temperature, that is, about 2 degrees Celsius.

because the higher the temperature, the faster the gelatinization of starch and the earlier the protective layer is formed. Moreover, the higher the temperature, the easier it is for shredded pork and sliced meat to mature, the shorter the time and the less water loss. Therefore, high oil temperature is a key point to keep the meat tender.

what about at home?

the fire power of the stove is not strong enough, and it is impossible to pour half a pot of oil like the kitchen in a restaurant to finish the primary processing of ingredients.

For home operation, we can put more oil after heating the pan, which is twice as much as usual. We don't have to worry about waste or greasy. We can wait until the meat is cooked, then pour out half of the oil and save it for the next stir-fried meat and vegetarian dishes.

heat it to 6% to 7% and pour in the starched ingredients. Some people may want to ask, how to judge the oil temperature is 6% to 7%?

at the beginning of oil burning, the oil temperature starts to rise when the bottom of the pan starts to crackle and creak. After burning for a while, the oil will roll with ripples. If it doesn't sound at all, it will be medium-high oil temperature, and the starched ingredients will be cooked at medium-high oil temperature!

If you are still worried that the oil temperature can't be mastered well at first, the easiest way is to remove a shredded pork and put it in the pot. If you sink to the bottom immediately, the shredded pork will not respond and the oil temperature will be low, and then wait.

the oil temperature should be exactly: the pulp will turn white and float when the shredded pork is put into the pot.

Another key is to deal with the desizing of sizing oil: if the meat will be desized as soon as it is put into the pot (the water slurry will break away from the shredded pork and become white slurry), it means that the oil temperature is not enough, so you have to slow down the shredded pork to prevent it from sticking to the pot, and wait for the oil temperature to come up before stirring.

The above-mentioned lubricating oil and shredded pork slices are not all cooked like that. Simply stir-frying, you should pay attention to the fact that shredded pork is cut along the silk, and you should know that the taste of all dishes is directly proportional to the selection of materials.

Stir-fried shredded pork: stir the meat at a high temperature. When the raw meat is completely invisible, stir-fry it a little, cook some vinegar (to remove the fishy smell and make the meat tender), then cook some soy sauce (to remove the smell and enhance the fragrance), and then add other ingredients.

why are the green leaves fried in restaurants shiny and watery, but no matter how they are fried, they don't have that effect? This is because there is a lot of fire and oil in the restaurant, so how to operate at home?

There is a way. Because the firepower of domestic stoves is small, you can put more oil to make up for it. After all, oil can conduct the temperature well, and then stir-fry quickly with strong fire. It is best to stir-fry with chopsticks (chopsticks stir-fry some specific dishes much better than a spatula, and stir-fry evenly and flexibly). When it is about 8% hot, it will be cooked immediately, and when it is put on the plate, it will continue to mature into vegetables. When it is served, the heat is just right and the color is beautiful.

On the contrary, when the heat is low, green leafy vegetables tend to produce a lot of water, which makes them cooked, and the appearance and taste are the second. Moreover, if the heating time is long, the chlorophyll contained in green vegetables will turn into pheophytin, yellow and black!

1. I prefer rice wine to cooking wine, especially aged rice wine. There is no other reason. If you look at the ingredients of cooking wine, you will know that all kinds of umami agents, on the other hand, yellow wine is much more honest. Moreover, yellow rice wine is matched with meat, and it also has a charming and unique flavor when used for frying seafood.

2. It is effective to add high-grade sorghum liquor to white wine and braised dishes, which can reduce the greasy feeling of fat meat. The principle is that the fat is dispersed in the soup by using the dual solubility of alcohol and ethanol.

It can also enhance fragrance. The principle is that fatty acids react with alcohol to generate fragrance substances.

it should be noted that the white wine must be added when the pot is very hot, and then it must be quickly turned over to make the wine smell completely distributed, leaving only the sweet and fragrant feeling of the grain. Remember not to add soup just after adding wine, or the "smelly" taste of liquor will be completely lost.

3. The yeast in beer is a good umami substance, but it can't be cooked for a long time, otherwise it will have a bitter taste.

4, ginger and onion water, people who don't want to eat onion and ginger, or some ginger and onion in dishes especially affect the taste, but they don't give it and lack the taste. For example, making meatballs, you can pat the onion and ginger flat, grab them in hot water, soak them for two or three minutes, and finally replace the ginger and onion with soaked water. Including meat stuffing or cooking, can be added, which not only can remove the fishy smell and enhance the fragrance, but also won't have the unpleasant feeling of biting the onion and ginger.

5. piperine, the main pungent compound of pepper and black pepper, is stored in the thin peel and seed surface. The pungent degree of piperine is about 1% of capsaicin in pepper, and the main flavor components of black pepper will bring fresh, citrus, wood and floral overall taste.

white pepper is as spicy as black pepper, but half of its fragrance is missing because the outer seed coat has been removed. However, the charming aroma of white pepper can't be replaced by other seasonings, especially in small wonton, which is a kind of food with soup and water.

it should be noted that what you want to buy is "1% pure pepper", not the cheap "pepper product" with rice and pepper added.

There are too many other cooking techniques and cooking principles. How to store ingredients, the harm of freezing to ingredients, how to thaw them correctly, the principles of food taste, color and fragrance, and how to adjust colors and flavors to enhance fragrance! The flavor and collocation of spices, the principle of fermentation, the amount and proportion of ingredients and so on, will be discussed later.

Senior Brother of Private School (End)