There are many varieties of mustard.
There are many kinds of mustard in China, which are mainly divided into two categories: heading mustard and non-heading mustard. The leaves of heading mustard are long from the center to the outside, and the leaves are round and thick, which will be arched and oval, and can be peeled off one by one. Add more water to soften them. Non-heading mustard leaves are slender and slightly fiber-rich, and are often used for pickling.
Mustard is a long-term dish that we often eat during the Spring Festival.
? Brocade mustard: Also known as mustard, its petiole is particularly thick, and it tastes less fiber and spicy. It is a widely used variety in restaurants and a long-term dish on the Chinese New Year table, which mostly appears in the Lunar New Year.
? Big leaf mustard: The stem is thick, the leaf surface is wide, and the pungent taste is low, so it can be directly cooked or pickled with dried Cheng Mei, Fucai and pickled cabbage.
? Mustard: It has a strong spicy taste and bitter leaves. Generally, it is salted and made into "snow red" as the main way of eating.
? Chinese cabbage: Do not eat leaves and petioles, but only take "stem mustard" from the stem, and its stem is particularly fat and rod-shaped, also known as "Chinese cabbage"; It is often used to cook soup, stir-fry or cut into sections for seasoning and pickle into side dishes.
Chinese cabbage is also a kind of mustard, which is generally sold on the market with its leaves removed.
Selection skill
? Brassica juncea, Brassica juncea
Tight coating: first observe the appearance, the color of fresh mustard is green and slightly shiny; The leaves are tightly wrapped and not loose. If there is a large area of damage or rot, don't buy them. The whole wrapped mustard can be checked by turning over the external leaves. If it blooms, it will easily affect the quality and avoid buying.
"Mustard kernels" with external leaves removed are common in general retail markets.
Solid weight: feel the weight of the whole fresh mustard in your hand, choose the heavy and solid one with more water content.
Stem and leaf hypertrophy: touch the petiole with your hand, and the petiole and stem are plump, stiff and solid, which is fresh and sweet.
Petiole must be plump, stiff and solid. Spotless, thick and watery.
Mustard
The plant is not too long: the whole plant is preferably between 20 and 30 cm. If it is too long, it means that the stems and leaves are too old and the taste is not good.
Smooth stem bottom: check the bottom of stem, the section must be smooth and flat, if there are black spots, it may have been infected by bacteria and the quality is not good.
No dampness, no blackening: the leaves and stems are bluish green, and there should be no flowering, bolting and fibrosis.
? Chinese cabbage (Chinese cabbage)
Look at the appearance: the diameter of the stem is about 3 ~ 4 cm, and it is better to avoid choosing too thick to avoid the surface layer being too old, and the epidermis should be free of pests and diseases.
Weight of the temple: you need to have a little weight in your hand so that you won't buy a big cabbage with a hollow center.
How to cook mustard?
Know the cleaning method first
It is easy to store sediment at the base of leaf tip of heading mustard, so it is suggested to peel off the leaves one by one from the outside to the inside and put them under flowing clean water for hand washing, especially at the thick petiole.
It tastes better this way.
Can be cut into various shapes according to cooking needs, and can be cut into strips or slices if it is fried; Blocks and thick slices are suitable for stewing soup. Mustard leaves can be fried like ordinary leafy vegetables, or chopped and pickled with salt. After the salt water is drained, it is delicious pickled vegetables.
Blanching in salt water: blanching in boiling salt water after cleaning and cutting, which can reduce bitterness, maintain color, soften fiber and shorten subsequent cooking procedures; After the pot is taken out, it can be bathed in clear water or soaked in ice water, which can increase the crispness and maintain the green appearance, and then quickly stir-fry and stew with strong fire before serving.
Remove the hard part: before cooking the stem with mustard (such as Chinese cabbage), you must first peel off the skin and remove the rough and hard parts, which will have a better taste. Then cut according to the cooking method, for example, strip heel blocks are suitable for pickling, hob blocks and thick cuts are suitable for stewing soup.
How to cook mustard well?
Mustard is slightly bitter at first, but after chewing for a while, it will have a sweet taste, and the change from bitter to sweet is a symbol of "bitter is sweet"! Because it tastes astringent and slightly bitter, most of them will be stewed with meat with high oil content, and it is more delicious to stir-fry with chicken oil. In addition, mustard and scallops will be steamed or stir-fried together during the Chinese New Year, which will help to remove the fishy smell and improve the taste and taste by combining the sweetness of seafood with the bitterness of mustard.
Many people will remove the leaves of long-term vegetables and eat only the stems. The Chinese cabbage is sweet enough for stewing.
As for the edible stem, because of its sweetness, it is very suitable for cooking soup, and the sweetness will be naturally released in the soup head after cooking. The pickled cabbage, Fucai and dried plums we often eat are actually dried vegetables pickled with mustard, which are an indispensable part of Hakka cuisine, such as fried large intestine with pickled cabbage, braised pork with dried plums and sliced pork soup with Fucai, all of which are extensions of mustard cuisine.
Mustard preservation method
Mustard: put it in a plastic bag, squeeze the air out of the bag by hand and seal the opening, or directly wrap it in white newspaper, and cover it with a plastic bag on the outer layer, and then put it in the fruit and vegetable freezer of the refrigerator after fixing it with a rubber band. You can also treat the mustard you bought home and then refrigerate it.
Mustard: First remove the broken and rotten yellow leaves when you buy them home, spread them out in the shade for half an hour to keep the leaves free of moisture, then subcontract them with newspapers according to each consumption, and finally seal them with dry plastic bags and put them in cold storage, which can be stored for 4 ~ 5 days.