Usually when we cook at home, whether it is vegetarian or meat dishes, we always fail to make it taste like a restaurant. In fact, it is not because we are not good at cooking, but because we don’t know that there is something special about adding seasonings. It does not mean that the seasonings are placed in the dishes. inside, you can 100% restore the flavor of the seasoning.
Many people add seasonings when cooking at home. They have a bad habit of adding whatever seasonings come to mind, and adding whatever seasonings they see, without caring about the "feeling of seasonings." Therefore, if you want to cook delicious food, you must The important thing is to understand the order in which the seasonings are added.
So today I will talk to you about the importance of seasoning in cooking. Keep in mind the 6-word formula "Put 3 first and 4 later."
When cooking, there are three kinds of seasonings to put in
The first one: vinegar
In fact, vinegar is rarely used in most dishes at home, unless you are jealous, or you are making some sweet and sour dishes. That's when I thought of adding vinegar.
But what many people don’t know is that vinegar can be used not only in sweet and sour dishes, because vinegar has many functions in cooking.
Function 1: Remove odor
Edible vinegar is volatile, so when we cook meat ingredients, we can also add vinegar, and we must add it first. We can stir-fry meat ingredients, or add vinegar before adding water. In this way, the vinegar will evaporate a lot of sour smell when exposed to high temperatures. When the vinegar evaporates, it will also bring out the fishy smell and odor of the meat ingredients.
Therefore, vinegar is a good seasoning to remove odors in cooking. This is the same as the reason why we use high-strength white wine at home.
Function 2: Flavoring
Vinegar does not necessarily increase the sourness, but can also add flavor to the dishes. Therefore, the key point is to use the temperature in the pot as much as possible when cooking dishes to allow the vinegar to evaporate away the sourness to the greatest extent, so What remains in the dish is the aroma of vinegar.
So in this case, it is best to add vinegar when the temperature in the pot is high. To give the simplest example, we usually cook noodles, simply put oil and chopped green onion in the pot, and then pour it from the side of the pot. Add a small amount of edible vinegar, and the sourness of the vinegar will basically evaporate. Then we add water, and the pure vinegar aroma will be obtained in the soup in the pot.
Function 3: Soften the meat fiber
For example, when stewing meat, when we season the soup, the earlier the vinegar is added, the better, because the meat fiber will be softened under acidic conditions, so the meat will be stewed. It's easier to get soft.
In addition, vinegar can reduce the loss of vitamin C in vegetables, promote the dissolution of calcium, phosphorus, iron and other mineral components, and improve the nutritional value of dishes and the utilization rate of human body absorption, so it is best to put vinegar first.
The second type: dark soy sauce
Many people can’t tell the difference between dark soy sauce, soy sauce, and light soy sauce. They think they are the same seasoning. In fact, this is not the case. There is still a big difference between the three. To put it simply: old soy sauce. Smoking is mainly used for coloring, soy sauce adds salty flavor, and light soy sauce adds fresh flavor. Soy sauce is between dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. It is not as good as light soy sauce in terms of umami, and not as good as dark soy sauce in terms of coloring effect. In terms of appearance, the three types of
have different color depths. This is mainly due to the different amounts of caramel color they contain. Light soy sauce is the lightest, soy sauce is medium, and dark soy sauce is the darkest.
In terms of state, light soy sauce has the lowest viscosity, soy sauce has moderate viscosity, and dark soy sauce has the highest viscosity.
So if you are coloring meat at home, then the dark soy sauce must be put in first, because the dark soy sauce is born for coloring. The earlier you put it in, the better the coloring effect of the ingredients.
The third type: sugar
The role of sugar in cooking can be simply summarized into two points: one is to adjust the sweetness, and the other is to increase the umami taste.
So why put the sugar first? The reason is that the taste of sugar can easily neutralize the taste of other seasonings.
One of the most commonly used methods is: if there is too much salt in the dish, you can add some sugar to reduce the saltiness of the dish. In the same way, adding too much vinegar can also reduce the sour taste of vinegar.
Therefore, due to the role of sugar, we need to regard sugar as "the foundation when building a house." As long as the foundation of the house is laid, the superstructure will be fixed. How many floors can be added on this foundation? There are standards.
Seasonings such as salt and vinegar are equivalent to floors on the foundation.
This can prevent us from adding too much salt or too much vinegar.
When cooking, add 4 kinds of ingredients
Seasoning 1: Edible salt
When cooking, the main function of adding edible salt is to adjust the saltiness of the dishes, but one thing that many people don’t know is that salt is added too early. It will cause the concentration of the soup in the dish to become higher. According to the principle of osmotic pressure , the water in the low-concentration liquid will flow to the high-concentration liquid.
So this will cause the water in the meat to flow into the soup when we stew meat, and the meat will become old and woody due to the loss of water. This is also a reason why many people stew and fry meat, and the taste is not tender enough. important reason.
The same is true for stir-fried vegetables. If salt is added too early, the vegetables will lose too much water, become wilted in appearance, become darker in color, and taste older.
Therefore, when cooking, it is best to add salt last, just before the dishes are out of the pot, and then stir-fry evenly.
Seasoning 2: MSG
MSG is mainly used to add freshness to dishes. The source of its umami substances is mainly sodium glutamate , and sodium glutamate will change into sodium pyroglutamate when exposed to high temperatures. , and sodium pyroglutamate not only fails to provide umami taste, but eating too much is not beneficial.
Therefore, it is best to put the MSG last. Turn off the heat and put it into the dishes before serving.
Seasoning 3: Light soy sauce
As we mentioned above, light soy sauce is mainly to increase the fresh flavor of dishes. The source of fresh flavor in light soy sauce is actually MSG and sodium glutamate.
So it is best to put it at the end, so that the light soy sauce can play its role.
And light soy sauce is generally used more in cold dishes, and there is also a kind of soy sauce in the supermarket: steamed fish soy sauce
Steamed fish soy sauce is plainly speaking, it is a light soy sauce with a very fresh
taste, which is very different from the ones on the market. The taste of light soy sauce is similar, so the usage is also relatively similar.
Seasoning Four: Chicken Powder, Oyster Sauce, and Chicken Essence
are also three kinds of seasonings used to enhance freshness. Different from MSG, MSG can only provide umami flavor, while chicken essence, chicken powder, and oyster sauce can not only provide In addition to the umami flavor, it can also give dishes a unique aroma.
can make the aroma of dishes richer and more layered. The aromas provided by chicken powder, chicken essence, and oyster sauce are volatile, especially under high temperature conditions. They are easy to evaporate, or will be destroyed by long-term cooking. The ingredients of these seasonings.
And it contains sodium glutamate in terms of umami flavor, so this type of seasoning should also be put in later to avoid cooking at high temperatures for a long time.
In addition, many people on the Internet say that dishes with oyster sauce do not need to add MSG, chicken essence and other seasonings. In fact, this statement is not correct, because although they are all freshness-enhancing seasonings, different seasonings have different freshness-enhancing abilities, and like chicken essence , chicken powder and other seasonings also have different flavors and aromas, so they can better enrich the taste of dishes.
If you don’t believe it, you can ask those who have made catering and snacks, who doesn’t rely on the combination of various fresh seasonings to create a good taste.
Not to mention the ordinary household freshness-enhancing seasonings, even the high-power freshness-enhancing MSG, 3a powder, Meat King, Umami King and other additives are mixed and matched together.
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