Elements of Stewing Soup and Etiquette for Drinking Soup
A bowl of hot, steaming fresh soup on the dining table often makes one's mouth water. Especially in winter and spring, soup can not only help warm the body but also stimulate the appetite. For stewing soup, animal ingredients rich in protein are preferred, such as beef, mutton, pork bones, and chicken or duck bones. The method is as follows: first, wash the ingredients, then place them in a pot with enough cold water at once. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a low heat, simmering for 20 minutes. Skim off the foam, add seasonings like ginger and cooking wine. Once the water boils again, maintain a medium boil for 3-4 hours. This allows more protein from the ingredients to dissolve, resulting in a rich, milky-white broth. If the broth solidifies when cooled, it is considered perfectly stewed.
Elements of Stewing Soup
To ensure that drinking soup truly strengthens the body, prevents illness, and aids in recovery, certain scientific principles must be followed in its preparation and consumption; otherwise, the desired effects may not be achieved.
Selecting Ingredients Appropriately
This is the key to making a good broth. Ingredients for soup are typically animal-based, such as chicken, duck, lean pork, pork knuckle, pork bones, ham, salted duck, and fish. When purchasing, ensure they are fresh, have minimal off-flavors, and little blood. These foods are rich in protein and nucleotides. The nitrogenous substances dissolved from poultry meat are the main source of the soup's umami flavor.
Use Fresh Ingredients
Freshness does not mean the traditional concept of "eating meat right after slaughter and fish while still jumping." The modern definition of freshness refers to a period of 3 to 5 hours after the fish, livestock, or poultry has been 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.
Choose the Right Cookware
An aged clay pot is ideal for stewing soup. The clay pot is made from clay containing materials that do not conduct heat well, such as quartz, feldspar, and clay, and is fired at high temperatures. It has good air permeability and absorption properties, and features even heat distribution and slow heat dissipation. When stewing soup, the clay pot transfers heat evenly and persistently to the ingredients inside. This relatively stable ambient temperature facilitates the mutual penetration of water molecules and the food. The longer this penetration process continues, the more flavorful components are dissolved, resulting in a broth that is both savory and mellow, and the food becomes more tender and succulent.
Control the Heat Appropriately
The secret to stewing soup is to bring it to a boil over high heat and then simmer it slowly over low heat. This allows the umami substances from the food, such as protein extracts, to dissolve as much as possible, making the broth savory and delicious. Only by simmering slowly over low heat for a long time can more extracts be dissolved, achieving a broth that is both clear and rich.
Use Water Reasonably
Water is both a solvent for the flavorful ingredients and a medium for heat transfer. The water temperature and quantity directly affect the flavor of the soup. Typically, the amount of water should be three times the weight of the main ingredients. The ingredients should be heated together with cold water; do not use boiling water directly or add cold water midway. This allows the nutrients in the food to seep out slowly, ultimately resulting in a clear broth.
Pair Ingredients Suitably
Many foods have established pairing methods that create a complementary nutritional effect, known as the "golden pairings" on the dining table. For example, in a seaweed and meat stew, the acidic meat and the alkaline seaweed work together. This is a very popular longevity food in the longevity regions of Japan. To maintain a pure flavor, it is generally not recommended to stew multiple types of animal protein together.
Pay attention to the order of adding seasoning, and especially avoid adding salt at the beginning of stewing. Salt will draw moisture out of the ingredients and cause the proteins to coagulate, resulting in a lack of umami flavor. A temperature of 60°C to 80°C can destroy some vitamins, but 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 and served immediately to minimize the loss of vitamin C. Adding appropriate amounts of seasonings like MSG, sesame oil, pepper, ginger, scallions, and garlic can give the soup a unique character, but be careful not to use too much, as this can overpower the original flavor of the broth.
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 is some truth to this. Drinking soup before a meal is like lubricating the digestive tract. Sipping soup during the meal helps to dilute and mix the food, aiding the stomach's absorption and digestion. At the same time, drinking soup before a meal fills the stomach, which can reduce the intake of staple foods and prevent excessive energy consumption. Drinking soup after a meal, however, can easily lead to excessive nutrient intake.
How Much Water Should Be Added?
This is a crucial step in stewing soup. Research has found that different ratios of ingredients to water (e.g., 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2) produce broths with varying colors, aromas, and flavors. The best results are achieved with a 1:1.5 ratio. Nutritional analysis shows that the ammonia nitrogen content (which represents amino acids) in the broth is also highest at this ratio, even higher than when less water is used. This is because too little water means the ingredients are not fully submerged, affecting the concentration of nutrients in the soup. As the amount of water increases, the concentration of ammonia nitrogen is diluted and decreases. However, the calcium and iron content in the soup is highest at a 1:1 ratio of ingredients to water.
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 becomes." To test this, the Institute of Nutrition and Health Food at the School of Medicine, Tongji University conducted an experiment. They chose pork knuckle stew, chicken stew, and old duck stew. 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, reaching a maximum at 1.5 hours for protein and 0.75 hours for fat; the protein content of the duck remained basically unchanged after 1 hour of heating, while its fat content peaked at 45 minutes. Long stewing did not, as expected, increase the nutritional value of these three types of soup. Especially for the chicken and duck stews, the longer they were stewed, the lower their protein content became.
Expert Reminder
Prolonged heating can destroy vitamins in stewed dishes. Heating for 1 to 1.5 hours yields the best nutritional peak for these three types of soup, offering a better balance of energy consumption and nutritional value.
To ensure that drinking soup truly strengthens the body, prevents illness, and aids in recovery, certain scientific principles must be followed in its preparation and consumption; otherwise, the desired effects may not be achieved.