A delicious soup not only whets the appetite but also replenishes the nutrients the body needs. Some soups can also have beauty and anti-aging effects. However, there are some small details to pay attention to when making soup. Just how many little secrets are there? Let's find out together.
1. Choose the right ingredients
This is the key to making a good soup. The ingredients for making soup are usually animal-based, such as chicken, duck, lean pork, pork knuckle, pork bones, ham, cured duck, fish, etc. When purchasing, you should ensure they are flavorful, have little off-flavor, and minimal bloodstains. These foods are rich in protein and nucleotides. The nitrogenous extracts that dissolve in water from poultry are the main source of the soup's umami flavor.
2. Use fresh ingredients
"Fresh" doesn't mean the traditional concept of "eating meat right after slaughter and fish while it's still jumping." The "freshness" we talk about now refers to a period of 3 to 5 hours after the fish, livestock, or poultry is killed. At this time, various enzymes in the meat break down proteins and fats into amino acids and fatty acids that are easily absorbed by the human body, and the flavor is at its best.
3. Choose the right cookware
An aged clay pot is the best for simmering soup. Clay pots are made from ceramic materials like quartz, feldspar, and clay, which are not good at conducting heat, and are fired at high temperatures. They have good breathability and absorbency, as well as characteristics of even heat distribution and slow heat dissipation. When simmering soup, the clay pot evenly and continuously transfers external heat to the ingredients inside. This relatively balanced ambient temperature is conducive to the mutual penetration of water molecules and food. The longer this penetration lasts, the more the flavorful components are dissolved, resulting in a soup that is both savory and mellow, and the food becomes more tender.
4. Control the heat properly
The secret to simmering soup is to bring it to a boil over high heat and then simmer it over low heat. This allows the umami substances from the food, such as protein extracts, to dissolve as much as possible, making the soup savory and delicious. Only by simmering slowly over low heat for a long time can the extracts be more fully dissolved, resulting in a soup that is both clear and rich.
Chicken Soup with Codonopsis and Astragalus
5. Use the right amount of water
Water is both a solvent for the savory ingredients and a medium for heat transfer. The water temperature and the amount used directly affect the flavor of the soup. The amount of water is usually 3 times the weight of the main ingredient. The food should be heated together with cold water, meaning you should not simmer soup with boiling water directly, nor add cold water midway. This allows the nutrients in the food to seep out slowly, ultimately resulting in a clear broth.
6. Pair ingredients appropriately
Many foods have established pairing patterns that create a complementary effect on nutrients, known as the "golden pairings" on the dining table. For example, in seaweed and meat stew, the acidic meat and the alkaline seaweed work together, which is a very popular longevity food in longevity areas of Japan. To keep the soup's flavor pure, it's generally not recommended to simmer different types of animal foods together.
Please note the order of adding seasoning, especially that salt should not be added too early. Salt will draw moisture out of the ingredients and cause the proteins to coagulate, resulting in a less savory soup. A temperature of 60°C to 80°C can easily destroy some vitamins, while stewing keeps the food temperature between 85°C and 100°C for a long time. Therefore, vegetables should be added towards the end of cooking to reduce the loss of vitamin C. Adding moderate amounts of seasonings like MSG, sesame oil, pepper, ginger, scallion, and garlic can give the soup a unique flavor, but be careful not to use too much to avoid overpowering the original taste of the soup.
7. The timing of drinking soup matters
"Drink soup before a meal to stay slim and healthy"; "Drink soup after a meal, and you'll get fatter." There's some truth to this. Drinking soup before a meal is like adding lubricant to your digestive system. Sipping soup during the meal helps to dilute and mix the food, which is beneficial for the stomach's absorption and digestion. At the same time, drinking soup before a meal fills the stomach, reducing the intake of staple foods and avoiding excessive calorie intake. Drinking soup after a meal, on the other hand, can easily lead to excessive nutrient intake.
8. How much water should you add?
This is crucial for making soup. Research has found that when ingredients and water are simmered in different ratios like 1:1, 1:1.5, and 1:2, the color, aroma, and taste of the soup vary greatly. The best result is achieved at a 1:1.5 ratio. Analysis of the soup's nutritional content shows that the amount of ammonia nitrogen (which represents amino acids) is also highest at this ratio, even higher than when less water is used. This is because if there is too little water, the ingredients are not fully submerged, affecting the concentration of nutrients in the soup. As more water is added, the concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the soup is diluted and decreases. However, the calcium and iron content in the soup is highest when the ratio of ingredients to water is 1:1.
9. The longer you stew, the less nutritious it becomes
For a long time, people believed that "the longer you stew soup, the more nutritious it is." In response to this, the Institute of Nutrition and Health Food at the School of Medicine of Tongji University conducted an experimental study. They chose pork knuckle soup, chicken soup, and old duck soup. Through testing, they found: the protein and fat content of the pork knuckle increased significantly after 1 hour of heating and then gradually decreased; the protein and fat content of the chicken gradually increased after 0.5 hours of heating, with protein peaking at 1.5 hours and fat at 0.75 hours; the protein content of the duck remained basically unchanged after 1 hour of heating, and the fat content peaked at 45 minutes. Long stewing did not, as people might expect, increase the nutritional content of these three soups. Especially for the chicken soup and old duck soup, the longer they were stewed, the lower the protein content became.
Prince Ginseng and Cordyceps Flower Soup