The role of thickening
(1) to increase the viscosity and consistency of the dish soup
In cooking dishes, add some soup or liquid seasoning (such as soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, cooking wine and other seasonings), while the raw materials in the heat of the overflow of water, become the dish soup. The soup is too thin, can not adhere to the raw materials, affecting the "flavor". After thickening, the soup increases the viscosity and concentration, so that the soup and vegetables are blended, fresh and flavorful.
(2) to maintain the dishes crispy, tender state
This effect is most obvious in the slippery dishes. Such as slippery vegetables is characterized by crispy, soft and tender inside, if the sauce is not thickened, it will directly penetrate the surface of the raw material, so that has been fried crispy raw materials back to soft, destroying the outside of the crispy, soft and tender effect. Seasoning sauce after thickening, due to starch paste into a thick, wrapped in raw materials on the surface of the gravy is not easy to penetrate, to maintain the flavor characteristics of the dish.
(3) so that the soup and vegetables melt, the main ingredient is prominent in some stew, braising, steak and other cooking methods for the production of dishes, soup, raw materials, raw materials and a variety of flavors of seasonings are to be dissolved in the soup, the soup is particularly tasty. So that the raw materials and soup can not be fused together, only after thickening, due to the role of starch paste, increase the concentration of soup, so that the soup, vegetables are fused together, not only increase the taste of the dish, but also produce a soft and tender special flavor. And because of the thickening of the soup after thickening, buoyancy increased, the main ingredients floating, prominent, changing the phenomenon of seeing the soup do not see vegetables.
(4) make the dishes beautiful shape, bright color
Because the starch becomes sticky when heated, produced a unique luster, the color of the dishes and the color of the condiments more distinctly reflected.
(5) can play a role in keeping the dishes warm
Because the gravy is sticky after heating, wrapped around the exterior of the raw materials, reducing the internal heat of the dishes to reduce the heat of the dishes, can be a longer period of time to maintain the heat of the dishes.
While thickening is an important means of improving the taste of dishes, color, form, but by no means that every dish must be thickened, should be based on the characteristics of the dish, the requirements to determine the timing of thickening and the need for thickening, and some special dishes to be thickened and then under the main ingredients. For example, "hot and sour soup", "jade shrimp soup". Egg, shrimp to be thickened after the pot to shorten the heating time, highlighting the main ingredients, increase the smoothness of the dish. Generally speaking, the following types of dishes do not need thickening:
(1) the requirements of the taste of fresh dishes do not need thickening, especially fried vegetables.
(2) the raw material texture is crisp and tender, the sauce is easy to penetrate into the dishes do not need thickening. For example, Sichuan cuisine, dry burning, dry stir-frying dishes.
(3) the soup has been naturally thick or has been added to the dishes with viscous condiments do not need to thicken. Such as "braised hoof", "braised fish" such dishes gelatinous, the soup will naturally thick. Another example of Sichuan cuisine in the "back to the meat", Beijing cuisine in the "sauce burst chicken" and other dishes, they have been added to the seasoning bean paste, sweet flour sauce and other viscous condiments, so there is no need to thicken the gravy.
(4) a variety of cold dishes do not need thickening. Because the cold dishes are characterized by fresh and crisp, dry and not greasy, if the thickening instead of affecting the quality of the dishes.