Flavoring refers to adding or borrowing the flavor of other foods. Although tofu, lettuce, potatoes, fungus and other vegetarian dishes have high nutritional value, many people "avoid them" because they have no umami flavor or have a weak taste.

For this kind of food, we can use some special food raw materials or seasonings to "add flavor", such as mushrooms, chicken soup, lobster sauce, garlic, sufu, shrimp, sesame sauce, yellow sauce, shrimp sauce, oyster sauce, and onion oil, garlic oil, mushroom oil, star anise oil, Chili oil and pepper oil, which can give vegetarian dishes and tofu a very strong flavor, such as "Casserole tofu" is delicious with the help of chicken soup and broth. The fungus in "Mu Shu Meat" is rich and attractive with the help of the taste of meat and broth. Onion and garlic oil, mushroom oil and anise pepper oil can also be used for "flavoring", such as shredded potatoes with pepper oil, amaranth in soup with gold, silver and garlic, etc.

Get rid of the "bad" smell

Taste reduction refers to reducing or masking the taste of food. Contrary to the ingredients that need to be flavored, some ingredients have unpleasant tastes, such as beef, mutton, aquatic products, animal offal, etc., which often have a fishy smell, while spinach, bamboo shoots and bamboo shoots have a slight astringency, which is difficult to eat if they are directly used for cooking.

For ingredients with fishy smell, the following methods can be used to remove the odor. First, do a good job before cooking, such as rubbing fresh marine fish with dry flour after descaling, leaving it for a while, and then rinsing it, which not only removes the fishy smell, but also ensures the freshness of the fish to the greatest extent. You can also simmer beef and ribs before stewing; Second, the good use of spices in cooking, such as pepper, cinnamon, pepper, star anise and other spices, can have an oxidation reaction with aldehydes and ketones, which can not only reduce the odor but also enhance the fragrance, and is generally used to remove the fishy smell of pork and mutton. The fishy substances in seafood are mostly alkaline, and acidic lemon juice can neutralize and remove fishy smell; Third, find a good match, for example, white radish can reduce the smell of mutton, tomato can cover up the smell of beef, and tofu can neutralize the fishy smell of fish.

Bitter vegetables often contain more oxalic acid. After blanching and cooking, there is no unpleasant taste. Studies show that spinach, water bamboo and other vegetables can remove 40%~70% oxalic acid only by blanching in boiling water.

Strengthen the "umami" of ingredients

Taking advantage of flavor refers to the mixing of two or more flavor-presenting substances with the same taste, which can further strengthen this taste and achieve the effect of multiplication.

For example, chicken stewed mushrooms are delicious because mushrooms are rich in guanylic acid salts, while chicken is rich in inosinic acid salts, and both of them will release free sodium glutamate in the process of slow stewing. They work together to produce umami flavor which is far greater than the sum of umami flavor produced when they are used alone. The combination of stewed beef with potatoes and stewed chicken with potatoes also makes use of the synergy between umami substances to enhance the taste. This is because potatoes contain more glutamate, while beef contains not only glutamate, but also many inosine and guanylate.

In addition, kelp, soy sauce, lobster, fish and so on also contain quite a lot of sodium glutamate, while dried fish contains more inosine and guanylate, so it will be very delicious to cook soup with potatoes, mushrooms and other raw materials.

Contrast highlights "delicious"

Deodorization refers to highlighting another flavor by contrast. For example, a small amount of salt can highlight sweetness, and sour taste can enhance salty taste.

A small amount of salt can sweeten food that is originally sweet. For people who love sweets, this "subtle relationship" can be used to reduce the amount of sugar added when cooking. For example, when cooking corn, adding a little salt to the water after the water is boiled can improve the taste of corn, make it more fragrant and sweet. Adding a little salt to coffee will also make the coffee taste sweeter and the taste moist and smooth. Eating some acid can increase the sensitivity of taste buds to salty taste. Therefore, in cooking, more sour seasonings can enhance the salty taste and reduce the salt intake. For example, adding vinegar when frying shredded potatoes can not only reduce salt, but also protect vitamin C and help to increase appetite; Drop a few drops of lemon when grilled fish, and you can get rid of the fishy smell.