Cooking is inseparable from raw materials, which have their own fixed smell or taste. For example: the smell of cucumber, mutton, fishy smell of fish and so on. This is the taste of raw materials before heating. If the raw materials are overheated, even the finished product will taste different after cooking. In other words, the smell of raw materials is the basis of the taste of dishes. If we want to make fragrant and elegant dishes, we will choose green vegetables and green leaves as raw materials; If we want to cook rich and fragrant dishes, we will use chicken, duck and fish as raw materials.
Second, the preliminary processing of raw materials
The primary processing range of raw materials is very wide, such as selecting roots to remove impurities, removing spots and leaves from vegetables; Animals are washed, depilated, scaled, washed and so on. Among them, I think it is better to go to the dirty wash to affect the taste. For example, after we scale the fish, we must remove the dirt. As we all know, fish gall is bitter. If you are not careful or the dirty method is improper, it is easy to break the fish gall. In this way, bile overflows, and bitterness is naturally brought into the dish when cooking. Another example is: before cooking (or preliminary heat treatment), the intestines of various animals must be thoroughly and repeatedly cleaned, and a certain amount of alum, alkali, salt, flour, soda and other things must be added until the surface of the intestines is clear, otherwise it will bring odor into the finished product and affect the taste of dishes. Also, when we make "sauce pig's head" and "sauce elbow", we must burn the fluff and sludge on the surface of raw materials and scrape them clean, otherwise the sludge in the finished product will be too heavy. In short, before formal cooking, all the raw materials with different smells (tastes) should be removed to keep the taste of dishes pure.
Third, water.
What affects the taste of dishes is mostly the raw materials of cold water pot. For example, the radish is cut into pieces, boiled in a cold water pot, and then stewed; Another example is: put the intestines in a cold water pot before formal cooking (tightly). Why do these two raw materials use cold water pots? Because these two raw materials are different and have different smells, their differences and smells will be gradually distributed and lost in water or released into the air with the increase of water temperature. If water is discharged from the kettle, the surface of the raw material will suddenly contact with high temperature, forming an outer film. Although this outer membrane is insignificant, it more or less hinders the emission of internal odor and odor, which makes the taste of dishes worse and weakens the quality of dishes.
Fourth, oil.
Overoiling is the process of heat treatment of raw materials. It is a common phenomenon that all oiled raw materials will add fragrance to their finished products. For example, "Fried potato chips with green peppers" can directly fry the raw materials in a pot until they are mature. If the ingredients are oiled and fried separately, the effect and taste will be different. The former is light and the latter is fresh and fragrant.
There are special circumstances in actual operation, and the taste of raw materials will be greatly improved after oiling. For example, we sometimes buy too many raw materials, or the "semi-finished products" that have not been used for the first time have a little taste the next day. At this time, as long as the raw materials in the oil are reused, the taste of the food will be basically the same. But here we must pay attention to two points: first, the raw materials have not deteriorated, and second, the oil temperature is high.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) condiment
Seasoning, in short, is the process of adding a certain amount of seasoning to the pot (spoon) when cooking, which is an important factor to determine the taste of dishes. There are three stages in specific seasoning.
(1) Season the raw materials before heating. It is the seasoning of raw materials before formal cooking and heating. There are generally two methods: one is seasoning, such as "dry fried small fish"; The other is to marinate raw materials only to get the final taste, and don't put too much seasoning. For example, raw materials should be pickled with condiments such as refined salt and cooking wine before "sliding meat slices".
(2) Seasoning when raw materials are heated. It is a seasoning for raw materials in formal cooking and heating. There are many examples at this stage, and most hot dishes are seasoned at this stage, such as fried melon slices, stewed eggplant, sweet persimmon and so on. At this stage, the seasoning is basically sufficient, and the seasoning should be added in a timely and appropriate amount, so it is not necessary to add it separately.
(3) seasoning the raw materials after heating. It is the seasoning of raw materials after formal cooking and heating. In fact, it also belongs to auxiliary seasoning. Some dishes are delicious, and the taste of the dishes is more pleasing to the eye with a seasoning. For example, "home-cooked stewed eggplant", after cooking, put chopped coriander and add a little bright oil to all kinds of dishes. Generally speaking, the knowledge of seasoning is great, so we should make full use of these three stages, complement each other, take care of each other, and strive to adjust the taste of dishes.
Six, cooking methods
Looking at all cooking methods, we can temporarily divide them into fast cooking method and late cooking method. Instant food refers to general varieties such as "stir-fried", "fried", "fried" and "fried". It refers to putting raw materials in a pot (spoon) and cooking them with low fire. Such as "fried tofu", "fried green pepper", "fried chicken gizzard" and "fried egg", all of which are mainly fresh and elegant; Late-maturing vegetables refer to general varieties such as "stew", "burn" and "stew". Cook in a pot (spoon) with low fire for a long time, such as "stewed beans with pork chops", "braised chicken pieces" and "braised vegetables", which are rich and fragrant.
Why is this? Let's analyze the reasons. For fast food dishes, the main ingredients are mostly easy to cook, which takes as little as 2-3 minutes and as much as 7-8 minutes in the pot (spoon), so the contact time between the main ingredients and the seasoning is relatively reduced, so the seasoning is mostly mixed with the main ingredients and does not penetrate into the interior. However, this is not the case with late-maturing vegetables. The main ingredients are mostly bone-like or massive, and it takes as little as half an hour to more than two hours in the pot, so that the seasoning and the main ingredients are not only mixed together, but also convected with the moisture in the main ingredients and immersed in the main ingredients. At first, it may not be as delicious as fast food, but after chewing, it will have a feeling of endless aftertaste. Therefore, most of the late-maturing dishes are rich and mellow.
Seven, pots and pans
At present, there are mainly two kinds of pots and pans for cooking. One is an iron spoon in an iron pot, and the other is an aluminum spoon in aluminum pot.
Iron pot, the pot body sits in the stove, leaving only a narrow pot eaves outside. Aluminum pot, only the bottom of the pot absorbs heat, and all the pot bodies are exposed. Both the iron spoon and the aluminum spoon sit on the stove, and their heat absorption is basically the same. Most of them are fast food dishes, and the flavor of the finished products is basically the same. But if the same late-stage dishes are processed with iron pots or aluminum pot, the flavor will be very different. It takes a long time to cook late-maturing vegetables, and the iron pot can make full use of the residual temperature to promote the maturity of vegetables by taking advantage of its large heat absorption. It can be said that the cooked dishes are not only soft and delicious, but also have a uniform taste. Aluminum pot only absorbs heat at the bottom of the pot, and only the raw materials at the bottom of the pot are relatively directly heated to change their properties. Other raw materials around or floating on it can only be indirectly heated by the residual temperature at the bottom of the pot. Thus, not only the ripening time is slow, but also the taste of raw materials is uneven. Although it can be remedied by turning over the pot, most of the raw materials are too far away from the fire source, which leads to poor texture of the dishes.
Eight, diet temperature
Dishes can be hot or cold.
Cold dishes should be eaten at room temperature to maintain flavor. For example, "skin jelly", "crystal elbow" and so on, if really heated, will change the shape and quality, but will weaken the quality and style of dishes.
Hot dishes should be eaten at 40 ~ 70℃. The reason is that in this temperature range, the molecules of dishes are more active, the fragrance is tangy, the food is catchy and not hot. Especially for dishes with a lot of soup, the temperature is higher. For example, "stewed mutton", "stewed beef and radish" and other varieties are extremely delicious when eaten hot because they contain more lipids. If cooled, lipids will form a solid hanging on the raw materials or condense in the soup at room temperature, not to mention the flavor of the dishes, and I am afraid that even the interest in eating will be lost.