Chicken soup is a nourishing food. Can women drink chicken soup during their menstrual period? How can you make chicken soup taste delicious? Let the editor teach you the 5 secrets to making a good chicken soup.
As a nourishing soup, drinking chicken soup often can enhance the human body's immunity, and it is especially helpful for women with weaker constitutions. Drinking chicken soup during menstruation not only improves blood circulation but also has a certain blood-activating effect, which can help control the amount of menstrual flow. While drinking chicken soup is a good way to regulate menstruation, it is still important to rest during your period, ensure a balanced nutritional intake, and avoid cold food and cold water.
5 Secrets to Making Chicken Soup at Home
1. Use a Live Chicken, Not a Frozen One
It goes without saying that buying a live chicken is mainly to ensure the meat is fresh. However, after buying a fresh chicken, you should first put it in the freezer for about 3 hours before taking it out to thaw and cook. This process is the same as the principle of "aged meat." When an animal is suddenly slaughtered, its body naturally releases various toxins. Moreover, a freshly killed chicken has a temperature suitable for bacterial growth. Freezing it at this stage can kill bacteria and allow the chicken to naturally transition from the "rigor mortis" stage to the "maturation" stage. This results in the best meat quality and a more delicious soup.
2. A Necessary Step: Blanching
Nutritional studies show that any meat should be blanched in boiling water before stewing. This not only removes the raw, gamey smell but also thoroughly cleans the meat, resulting in a clear, not cloudy, and fragrant, odorless soup. This process is called blanching. There are techniques to blanching. If you put the meat in cold water and bring it to a boil, the nutrients will be severely lost. The best method is to add the meat to warm water, then cook for seven to eight minutes, turning the meat pieces occasionally during the process. Of course, you can also add the meat to boiling water and cook for three to five minutes.
3. Start Stewing with Cold Water
After blanching, immediately rinse the meat pieces with cold water before placing them in the pot to stew. This is because stewing is best done with cold water. As the water temperature slowly rises, the ingredients will fully release their nutrients. Ingredients at the same temperature as the water will yield a better flavor.
4. Controlling the Heat is Key to Stewing
The main purpose of stewing is to drink the soup, with the meat being secondary. Therefore, we do not recommend using a pressure cooker, as nutrients require slow, long-term heating to be released, which a pressure cooker cannot provide due to its short cooking time. Therefore, chicken soup should be stewed in a clay pot. Bring it to a boil over high heat for 10 minutes, then reduce to a low simmer. The simmer should be kept at a state where it is almost but not quite boiling. Clay pots retain heat well; if you turn down the heat after it has reached a full boil, the subsequent bubbling will diminish the soup's freshness. During the stewing process, try not to lift the lid, as this can release the steam, causing the soup to lose its original flavor.
5. The Art of Adding Seasonings
When making chicken soup, the order in which you add seasonings is crucial; otherwise, the soup will be much less flavorful. Some people like to put all the seasonings in at the beginning, which is not scientific. When making chicken soup, adding salt too early will cause the protein in the chicken to solidify, significantly reducing the soup's nutritional value and deliciousness, and can result in a bland soup with tough meat.