A bowl of soup before a meal can not only stimulate the appetite but also whet the appetite and provide nourishment. Of course, there are techniques to making soup. If you don't know how to make it properly, the soup will not only taste stale but will also lose much of its nutrition. Let's look at these common misconceptions about making soup and see if you're making any of them.
Is the longer the soup simmers, the better?
In some regions, there is a custom of making "old-fire soup," believing that the longer it simmers, the more "cooked" it is and the better its nutritional value. Therefore, "old-fire soup" is often simmered for several hours.
After long hours of simmering, many nutrients are destroyed. The longer it simmers, the more severe the protein denaturation, and the more vitamins are broken down. Old-fire soup contains only trace amounts of protein solutes, sugar, and minerals; it can only be said to be slightly more nutritious than plain boiled water. The simmering time for old-fire soup should not be too long, generally within 2 hours is appropriate. For some ingredients, the simmering time needs to be even shorter. For example, fish soup: the fish meat is relatively tender, so it should not be simmered for too long. Once the soup turns white, it's done. Continuing to simmer will not only destroy the nutrients but also make the fish meat old and tough, resulting in poor taste.
Some people like to add nourishing medicinal herbs like ginseng to their soup. Because ginseng contains ginsenosides, which break down after prolonged cooking, losing their health benefits, the optimal simmering time in this case is 40 minutes. Lastly, if you are adding vegetables to the soup, you must add them at the end and eat them immediately to minimize vitamin loss.
What are the common misconceptions in making soup?
Randomly adding "ingredients"
Many people hope to nourish their bodies by drinking soup and therefore add various Chinese medicinal herbs. However, different medicinal herbs have different properties. Before making soup, you must understand the nature of each herb, such as whether it is cold, hot, warm, or cool. For example, American ginseng is slightly cool, while ginseng, angelica, and dangshen are warm. Goji berries are neutral. Additionally, you should choose medicinal herbs based on your physical condition. For instance, people with excessive internal cold should choose warm medicinal herbs like angelica or dangshen, but people with a "heat" constitution might experience "internal heat" from consuming them. Therefore, if you want to add Chinese medicinal herbs to your soup, it's best to do so according to your own constitution.
Adding too little water
Water is key to making soup; it is not only the medium for heat transfer but also the solvent for the food. The first mistake people often make is not adding enough water, which leads to having to add more water midway, affecting the soup's flavor. Generally, the amount of water added should be at least three times the weight of the ingredients. If you absolutely need to add water midway, it's best to use hot water, not cold water, to minimize the impact on the soup's flavor.
Adding salt too early
Salt is one of the most important seasonings in soup. Some believe that adding salt early allows it to fully "blend" into the ingredients and soup, improving the taste, but this is a misconception. Adding salt too early will cause the proteins in the meat to coagulate, making them less soluble, and it will also make the soup color darker and the consistency less rich. Adding salt later will not affect the soup's flavor; on the contrary, it can keep the meat tender and fresh. Therefore, it's best to add salt just before the soup is done.
Boiling the soup too vigorously
When making soup, you should first bring it to a boil over high heat, then reduce it to a simmer. High heat will cause the meat to lose moisture too quickly, resulting in a poor texture. The ideal way to control the heat is to keep the soup at a gentle simmer.
Using too many seasonings
"Adding more seasonings to enhance the flavor" is another major misconception in soup making. Too many or too varied seasonings can clash and overpower the soup's original umami, affecting the natural taste of the meat. Generally, one type of meat is best paired with 2 to 4 seasonings. For example, when making chicken soup, you only need ginger, bay leaves, and Sichuan peppercorns.
Simmering for too long
Some people are always afraid that the soup won't absorb enough flavor if it's simmered for too short a time. In fact, for meat soups, the optimal time is half an hour to one hour; this ensures both good texture and nutrition. Simmering for too long will increase the purine content in the soup, thereby increasing the risk of gout, while the nutrients in the food will slowly be lost. If you are making bone broth or pig's trotter soup, the time can be slightly extended, but it should not exceed 3 hours.
What should you pay attention to when making soup?
Using supplementary ingredients
Common supplementary ingredients for soup include giant queen of the night, dried pickled mustard greens, dried shrimp, peanuts, goji berries, American ginseng, grass root fungus, tremella fungus, black fungus, red dates, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, nutmeg, cardamom, dried tangerine peel, dried squid, and perilla leaves, among many others. The pairing and the timing of adding them to the pot are important.
Understanding the nature of the main ingredient
Generally, soup is based on a meat ingredient. For example, black chicken, yellow chicken, fish, spare ribs, backbones, pig's feet, lamb, beef marrow, oxtail, dog neck, sheep spine, etc. Each has a different nature—some are "heating," some are "sour," some are "hot," and some are "warm." Their preparation methods before being added to the pot, the heat required, and the minimum cooking time all differ.
Proper pot loading
Generally, the ratio of water to soup ingredients should be around 1:3 to 1:4. Add salt and a pinch of baking soda (only for acidic ingredients) at the same time. Bring to a vigorous boil to skim off the foam, then simmer over low heat until the soup has reduced to about half or three-quarters of its original volume.
Pairing with side dishes
When eating soup, it's rare to have it as a meal by itself; you usually have other dishes as well. However, some pairings can clash and affect the soup's properties. For example, when eating lamb soup, it's not advisable to also eat chives; when eating pig's trotter soup, it's not advisable to eat century eggs or crab, etc.
Understanding the properties of medicinal ingredients
For example, to make chicken soup for strengthening the stomach and aiding digestion, add nutmeg, amomum seeds, bay leaves, and angelica. For nourishing the kidneys and strengthening yang, add dogwood fruit, red peony root, alisma, Chinese yam, prepared rehmannia root, and poria. For nourishing yin for women, add red dates, astragalus root, angelica, and goji berries, and so on.
Serving method
Depending on the nature of the soup, sometimes you drink the broth first, then eat the ingredients; sometimes you eat the broth and ingredients together; sometimes you eat the ingredients first, then the broth; and sometimes you just drink the broth and discard the ingredients. Following the correct method maximizes its effectiveness, while the opposite can affect the outcome.
When making soup, attention must be paid to the order of adding seasonings. Moreover, the optimal ratio for adding water to soup is generally 1:1.5. This is because if too little water is added, the ingredients cannot be fully submerged, affecting the concentration of nutrients in the soup. As the amount of water increases, the concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the soup will be diluted and decrease. Experts remind that prolonged heating can destroy vitamins in soups; heating for 1 to 1.5 hours can achieve the peak nutritional value for three types of soup, at which point the energy consumption and nutritional value ratio is optimal.