1. Removing the gamey smell from mutton: Put radish blocks and mutton in the pot together; remove the radish blocks after half an hour; it's even better to add a few pieces of dried tangerine peel; add 5 grams of mung beans per kilogram of mutton, boil for 10 minutes, then pour out the water and mung beans together; add half a packet of hawthorn slices; wash two or three walnuts with shells, poke holes in them, and add them; add 10 grams of curry powder per kilogram of mutton; add 200 grams of split sugarcane per kilogram of mutton; bring 1 kilogram of water to a boil, add 1 kilogram of mutton and 50 grams of vinegar, boil, then remove the mutton, and add water and seasonings again.
2. Cooking beef: To make beef stew faster and more tender, add a small pinch of tea (about the amount for one pot, wrapped in gauze) to cook with it. The meat will become tender quickly and taste delicious.
3. When cooking bone soup, add a small spoonful of vinegar. This can dissolve the phosphorus and calcium from the bones into the soup and preserve the vitamins in the soup.
4. When cooking tough and hard meats such as beef and game, or wild poultry, adding a little vinegar can soften them.
5. When cooking meat soup or pork rib soup, put a few pieces of fresh tangerine peel in it. This not only makes the soup more delicious but also reduces the greasy feeling.
6. Cooking cured meat: Boil it with a dozen walnuts that have been drilled with many small holes to eliminate the odor.
7. Stir-frying mung beans in an iron wok for 10 minutes before cooking can make them cook quickly, but be careful not to burn them.
8. When boiling eggs, adding a little vinegar to the water can prevent the shells from cracking. Adding salt beforehand also works.
9. When cooking kelp, adding a few drops of vinegar makes it tender faster; you can also add a few spinach stalks.
10. Before cooking ham, coat the ham skin with some sugar. This will make it easier to cook and the taste will be more delicious.
11. When boiling dumplings, put a large green onion in the water or add a little salt after the water comes to a boil before adding the dumplings. The dumplings will be delicious and not stick together. When making the dough, add one egg per 500 grams of flour. The dumpling wrappers will be firm and not stick together.
12. When boiling dumplings, add a little salt to the pot. The water will not overflow even when it boils.
13. When cooking noodles, add a small tablespoon of cooking oil. This will prevent the noodles from sticking together and stop the noodle soup from foaming and overflowing the pot.
14. When cooking noodles, add a little salt to the pot. The cooked noodles will not become mushy.
15. When making congee or cooking beans, do not add alkali, as it will destroy the nutrients in the rice and beans.
16. Cooking new bamboo shoots in boiling water makes them tender and crisp. To prevent the bamboo shoots from shrinking after cooking, you can add a few slices of fresh mint or salt.
17. After the pork tripe is cooked, cut it into long pieces, place them in a bowl with some fresh stock, and steam for a while longer. The pork tripe will double in thickness.
18. When cooking pork tripe, absolutely do not add salt at the beginning. Add the salt only after it is cooked and ready to be eaten, otherwise the tripe will shrink and become as hard as beef tendon.
19. When stewing meat, add a few pieces of tangerine peel to the pot. This can remove odors and greasiness and enhance the flavor of the soup.
20. Stewing chicken: Wash and cut into pieces, stir-fry in a hot wok until the moisture is cooked out. Pour in an appropriate amount of fragrant vinegar and stir-fry quickly. When the chicken pieces start to sizzle, immediately add hot water (enough to cover the chicken), bring to a boil over high heat for ten minutes, then add seasonings, reduce to low heat and simmer for another 20 minutes. Drizzle with sesame oil before serving. Salt should be added after the stew is ready, when the temperature has dropped to 80-90°C or just before eating. Because chicken contains a high amount of water, salting it early causes the cells to lose moisture, leading to protein coagulation. This makes the chicken shrink and tighten, affecting the dissolution of nutrients into the soup and resulting in meat that is hard and tough with a coarse texture.
21. Stewing old chicken: Add twenty or so soybeans to the pot to stew with it. It will cook faster and taste better. Or, before killing the old chicken, first feed it a tablespoon of vinegar, then kill it and simmer it over low heat; it will become very tender. Or add 3-4 hawthorns to make the chicken tender.
22. Old chickens and ducks should not be boiled over high heat, as the meat will be tough and not tasty. Soak them in cool water with a little vinegar for 2 hours first, then stew over low heat, and the meat will become fragrant, tender, and delicious.
23. When cooking old duck, put a few river snails in the pot to make it tender faster.
24. When roasting a duck, remove the two "scent glands" on both sides of the tail end for a better flavor.
25. When stir-frying tofu, add a little fermented tofu or its juice for a fragrant taste.
26. When braising beef, add a little preserved mustard green to make the meat delicious.
27. Before making braised pork, marinate the meat with a little borax. The cooked pork will be rich but not greasy, and sweet and delicious.
28. When frying food, add a little salt to the pot. This will prevent the oil from splashing.
29. When making the filling for spring rolls, add an appropriate amount of flour to the mixture. This can prevent the vegetable juice from leaking out and burning the bottom of the wok during frying.
30. Before frying potatoes, first boil the sliced potatoes in water for a while. This forms a thin layer of gelatin on the surface of the potato skins. Then, you can deep-fry them.
31. When frying pork chops, make 2-3 cuts on the parts with tendons. This will prevent the pork chops from shrinking.
32. Marinate the chicken for a while, seal it in plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator. Take it out just before frying. The fried chicken will be crispy and delicious.
33. When frying a sunny-side-up egg, pour a little cold water over the egg just as the yolk is about to set. This will make the egg yolk yellow and tender.
34. When frying eggs, put enough oil in a flat-bottomed pan. When the oil is slightly warm, add the egg. The egg will cook slowly, resulting in a beautiful appearance and it won't stick to the pan.
35. When frying eggs, sprinkle a little flour into the hot oil. The egg will fry to a beautiful yellow color, and the oil will be less likely to splash out of the pan.
36. Scrambling eggs with sheep oil gives them a fragrant taste without any strange smell.
37. When scrambling eggs, adding a small amount of sugar will raise the temperature at which the protein coagulates, thereby slowing down the cooking time. Additionally, sugar has a water-retaining effect, which can make the egg product fluffy and soft.
38. When scrambling eggs, add a few drops of vinegar. The scrambled eggs will be fluffy and fragrant.
39. When stir-frying eggplant, put a little vinegar in the wok. This will prevent the eggplant from turning black.
40. When stir-frying potatoes, add vinegar. This can prevent burning, break down toxins in the potatoes, and make the color and taste more appealing.
41. When stir-frying bean sprouts, add a little butter first, then add salt. This can remove the beany smell.
42. Do not cover the wok when stir-frying spinach.
43. Stir-frying meat slices: Cut the meat into thin slices, add soy sauce, butter, and starch, beat in an egg, and mix well. Stir-fry until the meat is separated. After the meat slices change color, add seasonings and stir-fry for a short while. The meat slices will be delicious and tender.
44. Stir-frying shredded beef: Cut the beef, marinate it with salt, sugar, wine, and cornstarch (or egg), then soak it in raw oil for 30 minutes before stir-frying. It will be fresh and tender.
45. When stir-frying meat dishes, adding salt too early will slow down the cooking process. It's best to add salt when the meat is almost done. Add a few drops of vinegar before serving for a fresh and delicious taste.
46. After cutting the shredded meat, soak it in a baking soda solution for a moment before stir-frying to make it especially fluffy and delicious. For any sweet and sour dish, if you mix it in a 2:1 ratio of sugar to vinegar, you can achieve a perfectly balanced sweet and sour taste.
47. When making sweet and sour fish, sweet and sour cabbage stalks, etc., add the sugar first, then the salt. Otherwise, the "dehydrating" effect of the salt will promote the coagulation of protein in the dish, preventing it from "absorbing" the sugar, resulting in a sweet exterior and a bland interior.
48. When making meat patties and meatballs, add 2 small teaspoons of salt per kilogram of meat filling.
49. When making meatballs, mix them in a ratio of 50 grams of meat to 10 grams of starch. The finished dish will be soft and tender.
50. When making stir-fried soft slices of meat or diced meat with chili, marinate the meat in a ratio of 50 grams of meat to 5 grams of starch. The finished dish will be fresh, tender, and delicious.
51. When making steamed buns, if you knead a small piece of lard into the dough, the steamed buns will not only be white, soft, and fluffy but also fragrant.
52. When making steamed buns, mix in a little shredded tangerine peel to add a fresh fragrance.
53. If too much alkali is added to the dough for steamed buns and they turn yellow, add 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar to the original steaming water and steam for another 10-15 minutes to make them white again.
54. Put a small amount of alum and salt in clear water, soak the raw sweet potato in it for ten minutes, then wash and steam or boil it. This can prevent or alleviate bloating.
55. If milk scorches, add a little salt. It will taste better after it cools down.
56. If a dish with chili is too spicy, or if you are stir-frying chili, add a little vinegar to greatly reduce the spiciness.
57. If you accidentally add vinegar instead of soy sauce while cooking, you can sprinkle a little baking soda to eliminate the vinegar taste.
58. If a dish is too sour, mash a century egg and add it to the dish.
59. If a dish is too spicy, fry it with an egg.
60. If a dish is too spicy, add some vinegar to reduce the spiciness.
61. If a dish is too bitter, add a few drops of white vinegar.
62. If soup is too salty and cannot be diluted with water, you can add a few pieces of tofu or potato, or a few slices of tomato to the soup. You can also wrap a handful of rice or flour in a cloth and put it in the soup.
63. If soup is too greasy, toast a small amount of seaweed over a flame, then sprinkle it into the soup.
64. Deep-fry peanuts until cooked, place them on a plate, while still hot sprinkle a little liquor on them, and after they have cooled a bit, sprinkle a little salt on them. They will remain crispy for several days.
65. Rapeseed oil has a peculiar smell. You can heat the oil, then add an appropriate amount of ginger, garlic, scallion, cloves, and dried tangerine peel and fry them for a moment. The oil will then become fragrant.
66. If you deep-fry peanuts once with rapeseed oil, the strange taste will be gone. The dishes you stir-fry with this oil will be fragrant and delicious, and it can also be used for cold dishes.
67. After frying food, the leftover oil will have some residue and become cloudy. You can cut a white radish into thick, round slices, poke a few holes in them with chopsticks, and put them into the leftover oil to fry. The residue will stick to the radish slices. Remove and discard the residue, then repeat the process by putting the radish slices back into the oil. The cloudy oil will become clear.
68. When stir-frying, you should first heat the wok, then add the cooking oil, and finally add the ingredients.
69. Add cooking wine when the wok reaches its highest temperature. This will easily evaporate the alcohol and remove the gamey smell from the food.
70. Rendering lard: Put a little water or vegetable oil in a rice cooker, then add pork fatback or fatty meat. After turning on the power, it will automatically render the oil without splashing or burning the cracklings, and the resulting lard will be pure.
71. In a pickle jar, adding a dozen Sichuan peppercorns or a little maltose can prevent the growth of white, moldy spots.