When I first learned to cook, because I was not good at cooking, I always placed my hopes on external objects.
The flavor is not enough, so I add MSG. If the food is not fragrant, add more oil. Later, I discovered that the aroma is not directly related to the amount of oil used. On the contrary, the more oil makes the vegetables greasier.
When I was at a loss, I saw the star anise that my mother had just bought, and I started to think about it again. I dug out the spices at home and started studying them.
The arrogant star anise, the numbing peppercorns, the curly and hard cinnamon bark, the small and exquisite fennel, and the green and stretching fragrant leaves.
I seemed to have found the savior of fragrance at that moment. People are like this, the less they understand something, the more powerful it feels.
Ever since, for a certain period of time, a strange fragrance lingered in our kitchen every day.
Such as cinnamon potato shreds, fennel and eggs, bay leaf Chinese cabbage , etc. The fixed combination of one dish and one spice has become the main theme on the table.
My grandfather, who had few teeth left in his mouth, was getting thinner and thinner day by day. After my old man hit me with the sole of his shoe more and more often, he finally stopped me from going astray in spices.
But my biggest advantage is that a dog can't change its habit of eating shit. When I was learning to cook, my master was a master at smoking brine. When I saw those spices I had never seen before, I made the same old habit again.
To make a braised pork , I put angelica , cloves , nutmeg , grass fruit , galangal, cloves, and pinched some lemongrass into it.
In order to practice Master's philosophy of "eating the flavor and not seeing the shape", halfway through the stew, he picked out the various spices and threw them away.
I still remember the scent when I opened the lid later, as if I had slipped into the misty curtains of the primeval forest.
My master didn't criticize me directly. He only punished me for a week and punished me by cleaning the grease on the stove and range hood for half a month.
Combining my own cooking experience and cooking experience, I have divided up the spices. For daily cooking, you don’t need to master so many kinds of spices, but I suggest you focus on the ones mentioned in this article. How to use them.
Number one: star anise
If you only have one spice at home, I recommend you buy star anise.
Originated from star anise in Guangxi, my country, it is the most like us Orientals in the spice industry, low-key and restrained but rich in heritage.
Star anise is the most colorful ingredient for meat.
does not steal the main flavor, removes the fishy smell and adds fragrance. Most of the time, the "flavor of ingredients" we eat in restaurants outside is provided by star anise.
The high status of star anise in my mind is also due to the influence of my master. The old chef likes star anise very much. He will throw two star anise in chicken, duck and fish when marinating and cooking.
But he specifically told me one thing: when making soup, you must be careful when using star anise.
The soup used in the store is a large amount cooked at one time and uses a lot of raw materials. It has a relatively fishy smell, so you can add a few star anise.
After being diluted by a large amount of water, it will not affect the umami taste. What is commendable is that the star anise has a slightly sweet finish, which is a prerequisite for it to be included in the soup.
But if you make soup at home, try not to use it. Even if the taste is not so sharp, it will be a devastating blow when it comes to umami.
Of course, beef soup and mutton soup, which are mainly fragrant, need the support of spices, which is a separate matter.
Use anise, don't be too kind, it will be "exploded".
Put the scallion and ginger in the pot together. When the oil reaches high temperature, the star anise will let go and completely release the fragrance. It is not impossible to throw it directly into the stew pot, but it will waste the fragrance.
There is another difficulty with star anise. You have to work hard to buy good ones. When choosing star anise, you should buy one with all eight corners full and open.
Second place: pepper
Pepper is known as the most valuable spice in the world, and almost all chefs around the world use it.
In foreign countries, it exists more in the form of black pepper, but what I want to say is white pepper , and it is white pepper.
In the information age, we can appreciate the cooking process of many professional chefs at close range. Interested friends may have discovered long ago that almost all chefs prefer white pepper.
The black pepper preferred by Western chefs is actually the same thing as the white pepper commonly used in Chinese food.
Black pepper is picked directly with the peel and dried when the fruit just begins to turn red.
White pepper is a fruit that has taken off its peel after it is fully ripe.
Whether it is black pepper or white pepper, their taste is relatively distinct "spicy and umami".
knocks on the blackboard, it is bright rather than strong.
Therefore, when cooking white meat, fish and shrimp that do not have a strong smell, pepper has the best effect. When encountering beef with a high blood content, pepper is also a bit stretched.
Spicy and fresh is a very smart combination that can maximize the sensitivity of the taste.
Strictly speaking, spicy is not a taste. The human body does not have spicy receptors. It is just a stimulation of the epidermis.
is less stimulating and can keep the taste buds excited, making other flavors more noticeable. But if it’s too much, the stimulation will turn into burning pain, and it’s easy for people to reject it.
And Pepper has just grasped this "degree", like a wise leader, he will always put a little pressure on employees, so that people can turn the sense of crisis into motivation.
The spiciness of pepper is moderate and not easy to overdo, so it is easy to control.
Under such stimulation, the umami and aroma will be amplified. When the umami aroma comes, the cooking will naturally be delicious.
Like star anise, white pepper, especially white pepper powder, starts to intervene in the cooking stage.
Pepper can remove the fishy smell when marinating meat and add freshness and flavor when cooking. Like other spices, pepper can do all these tasks.
But one thing to note is that white pepper itself has a "fishy" smell, but fortunately the high temperature will take it away.
So when using pepper, remember to put it when the temperature is the highest.
It is also an important point to buy white pepper. Although white pepper is called "white", it is actually yellow-gray. The whiter the pepper, the worse the quality.
This is probably the reverse IQ tax paid by merchants who don’t know how to cook.
Third place: Chili pepper
Chili pepper is rejected by some people because of its fiery personality. Friends who don’t like spicy food are helpless in the face of the burning pain.
I am like this myself, my mantra when going out to eat is "slightly spicy".
What is hidden by the hot temper of chili pepper is its flavor-enhancing quality.
The aroma of chili peppers is stronger than the Sichuan peppercorns I will talk about later. When
opened the store, I was always urged by customers, "Boss, we don't have any chili oil, don't forget to fry it today."
Choose high-quality Chaotian peppers , thick-fleshed and medium-spicy varieties, wash away the dust on the surface with water, and break them into segments with scissors or your hands.
Throw away the chili seeds. Heat oil in a pan, pour a spoonful of it in, and stir quickly to prevent the chili from burning.
Pour another spoonful and stir again. Don't be impatient. Pour the oil on slowly. When you see that the color of all the peppers begins to darken, stop working and let the oil temperature slowly stimulate the aroma of the peppers.
's finished chili oil has a fragrant chili aroma and is slightly red and translucent. Put a piece of chili pepper in your mouth. It's crispy and slightly spicy. You can't stop eating one.
is perfect for mixing with cold dishes, dipping dumplings and noodles.
uses chili pepper, mainly to let friends discover its fragrance. As for the spiciness, I talked about it a lot when I talked about pepper, so I won’t go into details.
The fourth place: Zanthoxylum bungeanum is another local friend. It is native to the foot of the Himalayas, and was later widely planted. It has high yield, high quality, strong fragrance and slight numbness. Build the soul of Sichuan cuisine and help Sichuan cuisine become popular all over the country.
In terms of appearance, Sichuan peppercorns are at the bottom, and the numb bulges are really unsightly. But in terms of taste, Sichuan peppercorns are among the best, because of their numb bulges.
There is the oil sac of Sichuan peppercorns, which is the main source of its flavor. In other words, the more dense the Sichuan peppercorns, the better the quality.
Different from peppers, the main flavor of Sichuan peppercorns is "numbing" similar to "spicy". It is also not a taste, but also a kind of stimulation to the skin, a resonance feeling of about 50Hz.
The advantage is that the numbing smell of sanshool is easier to wipe away. Put the cold oil peppercorns in the pot, slowly heat up over low heat, fry the peppercorns black, and the aroma wafts out, and the numbing smell will disappear.
Because it is easier to obtain the scent of Sichuan peppercorns, the audience for Sichuan peppercorns is larger. Friends who are intolerant to the numbing smell also have a good impression of Sichuan peppercorns.
Leaving the home areas of Sichuan and Chongqing, Sichuan peppercorns have firmly occupied every kitchen in the name of adding flavor.
The Sichuan peppercorn oil mentioned earlier can be used to its full potential in frying, dipping and mixing.
Grinding Sichuan peppercorns into fine powder seems to better serve our taste.
dry pot on low heat, lower the peppercorns and slowly roast them, the aroma will be awakened and the numbing smell will be eliminated.
Use a rolling pin to crush it into powder. Together with salt, it is the salt and pepper that saves fried dishes.
Continue grinding, and use the finely sifted Sichuan peppercorn noodles to prepare the meat filling. It is a great tool for removing foreign substances and increasing flavor.
When Sichuan peppercorns are added directly to the dish, it is best to discard them in the middle or after frying. Otherwise, when you eat, you will accidentally put them in your mouth, and a light bite will be a flavor bomb that will shock your taste buds. .
Fifth place: Cinnamon
Although it is recommended that everyone prepare Cinnamon, to be honest, I don’t like him very much, not because he is bad, but simply because he has no taste. But it is undeniable that Guipi has its own unique hard power.
Compared with the previous ones, except for the spiciness, in terms of real taste, the taste of cinnamon is the strongest.
For those who have difficulty removing the fishy smell from duck and beef, it is much easier to use cinnamon.
has huge energy, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage of cinnamon. If you are not careful, it will take away the main flavor.
If there is a little more cinnamon, it is not beef stew, but cinnamon stew.
Therefore, when using it, you have to be cautious and use it sparingly. For ingredients such as chicken and shrimp that have a small fishy smell and mainly have an umami flavor. If you want to add fragrance, just use star anise. You must use cinnamon. , then be stingy and let go.
Cinnamon has a slightly sweet taste. Use it to make sweet dishes, and use cinnamon to provide the flavor and flavor. The overall taste will not be inconsistent.
In fact, there are some spices that you can prepare, such as cumin and bay leaves. They are versatile ingredients. The original flavor is not that exciting and adds a complex aroma.
In the aroma-enhancing system, spices are the main force, but small ingredients also play an important role. Onions, ginger, garlic, and garnishes of cilantro and onions will all have good effects. We will also discuss them later. Write an article for them.
