Pickled vegetable altar: 1 Pickled vegetable altar with good temperature, good enamel, no cracks, no sand holes and beautiful shape is preferred.
Look at the inner wall: press the altar in water and look at the inner wall. It is best to have no trachoma, crack or water seepage.
3. Apparent water absorption: half of the water is mixed into the tank rim, and a roll of waste paper is used. After lighting, put it into the jar and cover it, so that the pickle jar can be sucked dry with better quality (sucked into the inner wall of the jar cover from the edge of the jar), and vice versa.
Listen to the sound: tap the altar with your hand and listen to its sound. The sound quality of steel is good, but the sound quality of empty sound, sand sound and broken sound is poor.
2. Preparation and classification of pickle brine. Well water and spring water are both hard water with more minerals, which can be used to prepare pickle brine with the best effect, because it can keep the brittleness of pickle finished products, and tap water with higher hardness can also be used. The treated soft water is not suitable for preparing brine. (pond water, lake water and field water are not available)
Selection of salt: the salt should be of good quality, with less bitter substances such as magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate and magnesium chloride, and the content of sodium chloride should be at least 95%.
The common salts we use are sea salt, rock salt and well salt. The most suitable pickle is well salt, followed by rock salt. At present, all the salt sold in the market can be used to make kimchi.
The salt content of pickle brine in different regions and varieties ranges from 5% to 28%. Usually, it depends on your own habits and tastes. The method of making pickle brine is very different. Sichuan pickle brine is very fine, but other areas are not very elegant, which is one of the important reasons for the formation of pickle pedigree with different styles.
Strictly speaking, pickle brine refers to the brine used to brew vegetables after pretreatment. However, many families omit the pretreatment process when making kimchi, and wash and drain the vegetables and soak them directly in salt water.
Pickle brine is divided into bath brine, new brine, old brine and mixed brine.
1 bath salt water: refers to the salt water that vegetables need to soak for eating. Its preparation ratio (weight) is: cold boiled water 100, well salt 28, old salt water 25-30% in the new liquid for seasoning inoculation, seasoning and spices are added as appropriate according to the soaked vegetables, and the pH value is 4.5. Generally, it takes a short time to make vegetables in this way, so the salt water is slightly salty.
2 New brine: refers to the newly prepared brine. Its ratio (weight) is: cold boiled water 100, well salt 25. Adding old salt water to make it account for 20-30% of the volume of the new liquid, and adding seasonings and spices according to the soaked vegetables. The pH value is 4.7.
3 Old bittern: refers to bittern marinated for more than two years, with a pH value of 3.7. Mostly used for vaccination. Mixing it with new brine is called mother-child brine. Salt water should be soaked with some young garlic shoots, peppers, aged vegetables, carrots, etc., and spices and seasonings should be added as appropriate to make it good in color, smell and taste. However, due to many reasons such as preparation and management, the quality of old brine is also different. The identification method is as follows:
Identification method of brine grade
First-class color, fragrance and taste are good.
The second-class has a slight deterioration, but it does not affect the color and fragrance of brine, and it has improved after treatment.
Three different types and grades of brine are mixed together.
After treatment, the color, fragrance and taste of the fourth-grade brine are still not good. This salt water should be discarded.
Generally, the brine used for inoculation should be first-class old brine, or artificially inoculated with lactic acid bacteria or added with high-quality koji. Raw materials with low sugar content can also add a small amount of glucose to accelerate lactic acid fermentation.
4. Old and new mixed brine: it is a mixture of old and new brine with a pH value of 4.2.
When you start making kimchi, you can't find old salt water or lactic acid bacteria. In this case, you can still make kimchi with new brine as required, but the taste is a little bad in the previous times. With the passage of time and careful conditioning, pickle brine will meet the satisfactory requirements and flavor. 3. Seasoning collocation: 1 Seasoning: generally including white wine, cooking wine, sugarcane, fermented grains (or glutinous rice wine), brown sugar and dried red pepper.
When soaking vegetables in the jar, white wine, brown sugar and mash juice play an auxiliary role in penetrating salty taste, keeping tender and crisp, and sterilizing. Sugarcane plays the role of absorbing peculiar smell and preventing deterioration, while brown sugar and dried red pepper play the role of harmonizing various flavors and increasing umami flavor.
The ratio of pickling brine to seasoning is:
Salt water-100g
Liquor-1 g
Cooking wine-3g.
Brown sugar -3g.
2 grams of mash juice.
Dry red pepper -5g
Because of the different tastes of vegetable varieties, the proportion of seasoning and pickles brine should be flexibly mastered as needed. If you need to preserve the color of vegetables, don't use brown sugar. You can use caramel and white sugar instead. When using fermented grains, only take juice, not bad.
Some seasonings for meals and pickles, such as stirred salt water (such as white wine, cooking wine and fermented glutinous rice juice), some should be melted and then put into a jar for stirring (such as brown sugar, maltose and white sugar), and some should be placed reasonably when vegetables are put into the jar (such as sugarcane and dried red pepper), so as to give full play to their functions.
Spices: generally including tremella, grass, star anise, Rhizoma Dioscoreae Septemlobae, Amomum tsaoko, Zanthoxylum bungeanum and pepper. Spices play a role in enhancing fragrance, removing fishy smell and removing fishy smell in pickle brine.
However, in order to keep the fresh color of kimchi, Sannai is not suitable for using anise and Amomum tsaoko. Its weight is half that of star anise, and pepper is only used to remove the fishy smell when soaking fish and peppers.
Proportion of spices to pickle brine:
Salt water-100g.
Illicium verum -0. 1 g
Pepper-0.2g
Tremella fuciformis-1g
Mowing -0. 1 g
When in use, cut the lawn into 3 cm long segments, wash the silt with tremella, soak Tsaoko and Illicium verum in clear water for a while to remove dust, then put all the materials into gauze bags, tie up the spices, and then enter the altar. Put it in the middle of the jar with pickles, take it out after a while (as needed), squeeze the salt water in the bag into the jar, stir it quickly, and then put the seasoning bag in another place. Salted vegetables that are stored in a sealed way or are inconvenient to stir must be stirred before eating, so that the fragrance can spread evenly and avoid dead ends. When opening the package for inspection, if the fragrance is too strong, take out the seasoning package immediately (without squeezing salt water). If the fragrance is too weak, you can add spices to adjust it. 4. Cleaning and pretreatment of vegetables:
Most vegetables come directly from the soil, which carries a lot of bacteria. Washing can remove sediments, dust, microorganisms and residual pesticides on its surface. When washing, use flowing clean water that meets hygiene standards. In order to remove pesticides, if possible, 0.05 ~ 0. 1% potassium permanganate, (or 0.05 ~ 0. 1% hydrochloric acid, or 0.04 ~ 0.06% bleaching powder) can be added to the washing water and soaked for about 10 minute (for the first time).
Fresh vegetables need to be sorted after washing, and all unsuitable parts such as rough skin, thick tendons, fibrous roots, old leaves and black spots on the epidermis are removed. Generally, vegetables are not cut, so it is advisable to remind those that are too big to be cut into small pieces, such as carrots, carrots and cucumbers. Remember not to use a rusty knife. Cut the root vegetables into 5 cm and 0.5 cm thick slices, peel off the leaves and old leaves of celery and cut into 4 cm long pieces. Cut the lettuce into 5 cm and 0.5 cm thick slices and remove the cabbage. Remove old tendons from beans, cowpeas, kidney beans, etc. Wash and cut into 4cm pieces, then spread the processed vegetables in a dustpan to dry, occasionally turn them over and dry the water floating on them thoroughly.
The drying of vegetables depends on the brewing time and the needs of varieties. Such as radish, cowpea, green vegetables, garlic moss and so on. After washing, it should be dried in the sun until it wilts slightly, and then treated and brewed. Such dishes are crisp and healthy, delicious and not easy to deteriorate after long storage.
Pretreatment of vegetables:
The pretreatment of vegetables is to put vegetables in 25% salt before canning.
Solution, or directly pickled with salt. Under the action of salt water, vegetables are forced to contain too much water, which permeates a part of salty taste, so as not to reduce the quality of salt water and pickles after canning. Salt has bactericidal effect. Keep salt water and pickles clean and hygienic. After pretreatment, some pigments of green leafy vegetables can be removed, which is beneficial to their color fixation and color protection, and can eliminate or alleviate the influence on pickle brine. It can also eliminate odors and so on.
Vegetables have different textures due to different growth conditions, types, seasons and edible parts in four seasons. Therefore, selecting materials and mastering pretreatment time and salinity have great influence on the quality of kimchi. Such as cabbage head, lettuce, yellow seedling white, lotus white and so on. Tender, crisp and healthy, with high water content and easy salt penetration. At the same time, these vegetables are usually suitable for eating while soaking, so they should not be stored for a long time, so the salinity should be lower during pretreatment, while peppers, taro and onions are generally used for brewing because of their old texture, low water content, slow salting and soaking, and these varieties are suitable for long-term storage.
The general relationship between vegetable characteristics and pretreatment time is as follows:
Description of Pretreatment Time of Vegetable Names in Category Items
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The older types-taro and onion for 5-7 days 1 have poor infiltration effect.
2. It is beneficial to remove odor ——————————————————————————————————————————
Be gentle
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1, such as stem, root-Robinia pseudoacacia, ginger, etc. It will last for 2 ~ 4 days.
2 discharge too much water.
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1 stem and leaf osmosis-green vegetables, Chinese cabbage, etc. The validity period is 2 ~ 3 days.
2 color fixation and color retention
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Fresh and fragrant types-boxwood white and lotus white 1 ~ 2 hours 1 have better infiltration effect.
Celery heart, etc. 2 Remove excess water.
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Individual species-1 have poor permeability within 2 ~ 4 days.
2 discharge too much water.
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Individual races-cowpea, green beans, etc. 1 ~ 2 days 1 good permeability.
2. Conducive to discontinuity.
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Pretreatment can also be omitted when making kimchi at home.
Five: vegetable stall method:
Because of the different needs of vegetable varieties, brewing and storage time, it can be roughly divided into three types: dry jar, interval jar and salt water jar.
1, dry-packed jar: It is suitable for dry-packed jar, because of its high buoyancy and long brewing time (such as pickled pepper).
Methods: Wash and dry the jar, put the vegetables to be brewed into half of the jar, put the seasoning bag on it, then fill it to 80% full, press it with a piece of bamboo (bluestone), put the seasoning into salt water, stir it evenly and pour it into the jar. When the salt water overflows the raw material, cover the jar and fill the edge of the jar with clear water.
2, interval tank: In order to give full play to the benefits of condiments and improve the quality of kimchi, interval tanks (such as cowpea, garlic bolt, etc.). ) should be adopted.
Methods: Wash and dry the jar, and add the vegetables to be brewed and the needed condiments (dried red pepper, small red pepper, etc. ) put it into the jar at regular intervals, put the seasoning bag on it, then fill it to 90% full, press it with a piece of bamboo (bluestone), put the remaining seasoning into salt water and pour it into the jar. When the salt water overflows the raw material, cover the jar with clear water.
3, salt water tank: root vegetables (such as radish, onion, green onion and so on. ) When brewing, it can sink by itself, so put pickle brine directly into the tank in advance.
Methods: Wash and dry the jar, inject salt water, put the seasoning into the jar, stir evenly, put the vegetables to be brewed into half the jar, put the seasoning bag on it, then fill it to 90% full (the salt water should have flooded the raw materials), and then cover the jar with clear water.
To sum up, we must pay attention to the following four points:
1, according to the specific needs of vegetable varieties, seasons, tastes, eating methods, storage period, etc., it is both proportional and elastic.
Strictly do the author's personal hygiene, utensils and containers, especially inside and outside the pickle jar.
When vegetables are put into the pickle jar, they should be placed in order, not too full. There must be a gap in the jar to prevent the salt water from expanding.
4 Salt water must flood the soaked raw materials to prevent them from oxidation and deterioration.
Six: the management of pickle brine
Pickles made according to the above steps can ensure the good color, fragrance and taste of pickles, but accidents may occur in the management process, the most common one is moldy flowers, which will lead to turbid brine and maggots if not treated in time. What followed was the obvious expansion, contraction and bubbling of salt water. But it has little effect on the quality of kimchi. It should be noted that the long mold flower, also known as "hop yeast", is a white membrane-like microorganism on the surface of brine. It has strong salt tolerance and acid resistance and belongs to aerobic fungi. It can decompose lactic acid, reduce the acidity of kimchi, soften kimchi tissue, and even lead to the growth of other corrupt microorganisms. Reduce the quality of pickles.
Precautions: 1 The water along the altar should be changed frequently and kept clean at all times, and salt should be added in the altar to make the salt content reach about 15 ~ 20%. If there is little water along the altar, it should be replenished in time.
Don't bring raw water into the tank when opening the tank cover.
When taking kimchi, wash your hands or chopsticks first to prevent oil pollution.
4 Check the quality of brine regularly, and handle it as appropriate in time when problems are found.
Treatment: 1 If there are too many moldy flowers in the jar, don't stir them. You can tilt the jar mouth and slowly pour in salt water to make it overflow gradually. If there are few moldy flowers in the jar, they can be removed by salvage.
Adding garlic, onion, perilla, carrot and other vegetables can kill hop bacteria because of the bactericidal effect of allicin and anthocyanin.
Adding high-concentration liquor and sealing it can also inhibit its continued harm.
4. Adding proper amount of salt into the pickle jar from which moldy flowers have been removed can ferment vegetables to form a dominant population of lactic acid bacteria, which can also inhibit its continued harm.
Spices and condiments should be added to the brine after removing moldy flowers as appropriate.
In addition, if the salt water is turbid and black, pickled vegetables will appear some deterioration phenomena, such as salivation, bad taste, discoloration, maggots and so on. All pickled vegetables and salt water should be discarded, and the pickle jar should be disinfected at high temperature to avoid infection.
Seven: the edible art of kimchi
1 Identification of finished kimchi: The finished high-quality kimchi is clean and hygienic, maintaining the inherent color of fresh vegetables, rich in aroma, delicate in texture, crisp in taste, moderately salty and sour, slightly sweet and delicious, and still maintaining the original special flavor of raw materials. Other than that, none of them are up to standard.
2 How to eat kimchi: How to eat kimchi can be divided into four types: original flavor, mixed food, cooked food and modified taste.
1 original flavor: you can eat any flavor. This is the most basic way to eat.
2. Mixed food: On the basis of maintaining the original flavor of kimchi, depending on the characteristics of dishes or objective needs, condiments are also commonly used to mix food. Whether it is delicious or not depends on whether the seasoning is suitable.
3. Cooking: Kimchi is cooked after being treated with a knife as required. This is only applicable to some varieties. There is a difference between vegetarian cooking and meat cooking, such as soaking carrots and cowpeas. It can be fried with dried peppers, peppers and garlic seedlings, or cooked with meat. Fish with Chinese sauerkraut, duck with Chinese sauerkraut and shredded chicken soup with Chinese sauerkraut are more popular.
4. Taste improvement: put the prepared kimchi into salt water with another taste to make it have the required compound taste. This is an emergency method and is only used under special circumstances. However, due to the short processing time, the effect is far less than that of direct brewing.
Grasp the consumption of kimchi: the basic principle is to take as much as you can according to the number of people and the degree of preference, and the rest can't be poured back into the jar to prevent kimchi from going bad.