9 Tips for Cooking Soup to Make Delicious and Healthy

Soup meat should be soaked in cold water before blanching

Buy the meat, cut it into a suitable size, put it in a basin, put it in the sink and rinse it with running water. In addition to removing blood, it also has the functions of removing fishy smell, removing impurities, and making the meat soft. After rinsing, it should be soaked for about 1 Hour. Then scald it in boiling water for a short time, which can remove the residual blood and odor, and also remove some fat and prevent the soup from being too greasy.

Soup herbs need to be rinsed

The production of Chinese herbal medicines is often dried, exposed to the sun and stored, which may be covered with some dust and impurities. Before use, it is best to rinse with cold water a little, but do not rinse for too long, so as not to lose the water-soluble components in the medicinal materials. In addition, don't buy too many Chinese herbal medicines at one time, so as not to run out, they will become moldy and smelly after a long time.

Learn how to add water

This is the key to making soup. The study found that when the raw materials and water were made in different ratios of 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2, etc., the color, aroma and taste of the soup were very different. The best result was 1:1.5. The nutrient composition of the soup was measured, and the content of ammonia nitrogen (which can represent amino acids) in the soup was also the highest at this time, even higher than when there was less water. This is because the amount of water added is too small, and the raw materials cannot be completely submerged, which affects the concentration of nutrients in the soup. As the amount of water added increases, the concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the soup will decrease after being diluted. However, the content of calcium and iron in the soup is the highest when the ratio of raw materials to water is 1:1.

Slowly simmer, but not too long

Although it takes a long time to cook soup with slow fire, it is not the longer the better. Most soups should be boiled for 1 to 2 hours, and meat should be boiled for 2 to 3 hours for the best fresh flavor. If you use leafy vegetables as the mainstay, it is even more advisable not to cook for too long.

The size of the heat is the key

Usually, it is simmered with a high fire and a certain high temperature. Especially when meat ingredients with bone marrow are used, the blood and foam should be forced out with a high fire first, so as to prevent the soup from becoming cloudy. After boiling, it needs to be adjusted to a small fire close to the heart of the stove and boiled slowly. Remember not to change the fire power suddenly, which will easily make the ingredients stick to the pot and destroy the deliciousness of the soup.

Seasoning and delicious

If you like to drink the original taste refreshingly, you can add no seasoning. If you want to season it, it is recommended to add some salt to taste before serving. Adding salt too early will release the moisture contained in the meat and accelerate the coagulation of the protein, affecting the umami of the soup. If you like a stronger taste, you can also add chicken essence or mushroom essence. If you cook fish, you can add ginger slices or rice wine to remove the fishy smell.

match to suit

Many foods have a fixed pattern of matching, so that nutrients play a complementary role, that is, the golden match on the table. Such as kelp stew soup, acidic food meat and alkaline food kelp have a combined effect, which is a very popular longevity food in Japan's longevity areas. In order to make the soup taste pure, it is generally not necessary to simmer a variety of animal foods together.

Pay attention to the order in which the seasoning ingredients are put in, and pay special attention not to put salt first when boiling the soup. Because the salt will discharge the water in the raw material, the protein will coagulate, and the umami will be insufficient. Usually, the temperature of 60 ℃ ~ 80 ℃ is easy to cause some vitamins to be destroyed, and the soup keeps the temperature of the food at 85 ℃ ~ 100 ℃ for a long time. Therefore, adding vegetables to the soup should be eaten at any time to reduce the damage of vitamin C. In the soup, put a proper amount of seasonings such as monosodium glutamate, sesame oil, pepper, ginger, onion, garlic, etc. to make it unique, but pay attention to the amount not too much, so as not to affect the original taste of the soup.

The time to drink soup is important

"Drinking soup before meals will make you slim and healthy"; "Drinking soup after meals will make you fatter", which has a certain truth. Before eating, drink soup first, which is equivalent to adding lubricant to the stomach and intestines. Drinking some soup from time to time will help the food to be diluted and stirred, which is beneficial to the absorption and digestion of food by the stomach and intestines. At the same time, drink soup before eating to fill the stomach, which can reduce the intake of staple food and avoid excessive intake of energy. And drinking soup after a meal can easily lead to excess nutrition.

The longer the soup is cooked, the less nutritious it becomes

For a long time, people believed that "the longer the soup is cooked, the more nutritious the soup is". In this regard, the Institute of Nutrition and Health Food, Tongji University School of Medicine conducted an experimental study. They chose the hoof pot, grass chicken pot, and old duck pot. Through testing, they found that the protein and fat content of the hoof increased significantly after heating for 1 hour, and then gradually decreased; the protein and fat content of grass chicken gradually increased after 0.5 hours of heating. The protein content of duck meat is basically unchanged after heating for 1 hour, and the fat content rises to the highest value after heating for 45 minutes. Cooking soup for a long time did not increase the nutrients in all three soups as one might expect. Especially the grass chicken pot and the old duck pot, the longer the soup is, the lower the protein content.

Expert reminder

Long-term heating will destroy the vitamins in pot dishes; heating for 1 to 1.5 hours can obtain the ideal nutritional peaks of the three kinds of soups, and the ratio of energy consumption and nutritional value is better at this time.

In order to make soup really play a role in strengthening the body, preventing and curing diseases, there are certain scientific principles to be followed in the preparation and drinking of soup, otherwise deviations may occur.