Advantages of spice crushing: 1. Fast and uniform taste;
Among the spices we use, there are many large ones, such as cinnamon, galangal and nutmeg, and many small ones, such as cloves and peppers. If these spices are mixed together in proportion and put into a spice bag, small pieces of spices will soon have fragrance when put into brine, while large pieces of raw materials will have fragrance after more than half an hour of marinating, so the fragrance is not so consistent. But after the spices are broken, they can be quickly tasted at the same time.
2. Conducive to the preservation of flavor
After the spice is broken, it smells fast, but it lasts for a short time, so you should add the broken spice every time. This operation can keep the flavor of brine unchanged.
Disadvantages: 1 Salt water turns black easily.
Many spices we use contain melanin, which is more easily dissolved in salt water after crushing. Stewing for a long time will make the brine deeper and deeper, which is not suitable for braised pork products with high color requirements.
2. It is not conducive to the deodorization of the spice itself.
Spices themselves have a lot of peculiar smell and bitterness, especially bitter spices, which generally need to be soaked for a long time or soaked in white wine to remove the peculiar smell. If it is crushed, it is inconvenient to remove the odor, and it may also bring the odor into the brine, resulting in blackening or bitterness of the brine.
Advantages of all spices: preventing brine from blackening.
On the one hand, it is the disadvantage of broken spices. Spices can be soaked, cleaned and packaged before use, which can not only remove the odor of spices to the greatest extent, but also keep the brine from blackening.
Disadvantages: it is not conducive to the maintenance of flavor.
Knock off large pieces of spices for use, so that the size of spices is even, and use one spice bag two or three times by taking advantage of slow fragrance. If the quality grade of spices is not uniform, the fragrance will become weaker and weaker after two or three times of use, and the flavor of the cured products will be slightly different.
To sum up, I think there is little difference between using whole spices or breaking spices. It is more important to say that the ratio of spice and brine is better than whether to use the whole spice or crush it.
Finally, it is written that the function of spices for brine is nothing more than those three: 1. Enhance the aroma of braised pork, 2. Remove the smell of braised pork, 3. Increase appetite. In fact, all three functions can be realized by crushing spices or using whole ones. Therefore, I think that under the premise of having a good formula and paying attention to the overall processing technology, we must do a good job of braised pork. As for which method to use spices, you can adjust it according to your own habits and preferences.