Salt, soy sauce, vinegar, monosodium glutamate, sugar, the use principle of five basic seasonings, is worth collecting.

If we want to do things well, we should not only "know why" but also "know why", that is to say, we should not only know how to do it, but also know the principle. Only in this way can we achieve mastery through a comprehensive study. Similarly, cooking is the same. It is not difficult to learn to cook a dish well. It is difficult to know the cooking principle.

Learn cooking skills, in addition to ingredients, knife work, temperature, techniques, there is also a seasoning. Its importance is self-evident. Learn to barbecue ingredients with fire, and then learn to cook various foods with various seasonings. This is the beginning of human civilization. Without the participation of seasonings, you can't make all kinds of delicious food naturally.

There are too many kinds of seasonings on the market now, but as the traditional seasonings of Chinese food, the most basic ones are those. Knowing how to use these kinds of seasonings and their principles will definitely help you improve your cooking. This is the basic skill of cooking. The use principles of salt, soy sauce, vinegar, monosodium glutamate and sugar are worth collecting.

This article is rather long. I hope everyone will read it patiently, and there may be surprises in the end.

First of all, salt

Salt is the most important condiment. Why do many people disapprove of salt? In fact, they subconsciously think this thing is too cheap. Perhaps many people don't know that in ancient times, a pack of salt for one or two dollars was only available to royalty. Rare things are precious. If salt is still so scarce now, it is estimated that many people will realize how important salt is.

Salt is known as the "king of all tastes". You can try and stir-fry anything. Any other seasoning can be without salt, as long as it is without salt. Try this dish when it is ready to eat. Yes, it's absolutely hard to swallow. Why does it feel tasteless? However, you don't need any other seasoning, as long as you put salt, the taste is not much worse. See, this is the importance of salt.

There is a saying in the kitchen that a good cook has a handful of salt. If the amount of salt is mastered and used correctly, this dish can be cooked perfectly. Why do many old chefs, no matter how good their cooking is, always get used to tasting the food before cooking? In fact, the most important thing is to taste salty and light, which is enough to prove the chef's respect for salty and light, rather than the cooking is not refined or mysterious.

You must be careful when cooking with salt. If you add less salt, you can make it up. It is too much and salty. This dish is also inedible. Therefore, it is best to add salt twice, the first time a little less, and then taste it later to see how bad the salty taste is, and it is not enough. It is the most basic and important operation. You must not underestimate it.

In addition, talk about the time to put salt. Stir-fried or stewed meat dishes, just put a little salt at first, mainly to give the ingredients a bottom taste. If the salt is put early, the water in the meat will seep out instantly, so the meat will be tight and the taste will be dull. Therefore, the later the salt is put, the better, before cooking.

It says that putting salt early will make the meat wood. The most important thing is that many people don't know that if you put salt early, the umami substances in the meat will solidify when stewing, and the umami will lose more than half, which is the main reason why the salt can't be put in advance.

So when stewing meat and making soup, you don't have to worry about whether the ingredients are pork and mutton or seafood such as chicken, duck and fish. Never put salt in advance. Stewed mutton with clear water in Inner Mongolia is to sprinkle some salt before cooking. In fact, it is not afraid of meat and firewood. What I am most afraid of is that if the salt is put in early, the mutton will have no taste. Everyone must know this work.

Similarly, when frying vegetables, salt can dilute the water in vegetables in a short time, which makes the ingredients collapse, deform and soften, which not only looks bad, but also loses the unique crispy taste of vegetables. In short, the principle of using salt is: salt must be moderate, but never excessive; Be sure to put less in the early stage, otherwise it will easily make the ingredients lose their umami flavor. To sum up, it is "less is better than more, and later is better than before".

Second, soy sauce.

Soy sauce can be said to be the most magical condiment invented by our ancestors. It uses the most magical fermentation technology in nature. The characteristics of soy sauce are: 1, and the sauce is mellow; 2, it can exude an extremely rich umami flavor, which is summed up in two words, "fresh fragrance".

Let's talk about flavor first, because it is fermented from soybeans, and soy sauce has its own bean flavor, which is often called sauce flavor. Any fermentation seasoning, except soy sauce, there are soy sauce in the north, bean paste in the south and so on. , and the vinegar to be introduced below. As long as it is the ingredients made by fermentation process, it must be carried out in a high temperature environment if it wants to stimulate its own fragrance. Remember, high temperature.

Therefore, when using soy sauce, you must add soy sauce when putting onions, ginger and garlic at the beginning, or spray it along the wall of the pot while it is hot. This is one of the key points of using soy sauce.

Someone asked, when watching chefs cook, they always add pots halfway. You know, the cooking stove in the restaurant is full of firepower, which is why the food in the restaurant is delicious, but the firepower at home is not good, so it is best to spray soy sauce into the oil at the beginning, or spray it along the wall of the pot when it is very hot, so as to achieve the effect. Fermentation seasoning is all this operation, this should be remembered.

Besides, umami, umami of soy sauce needs no stimulation. You can also taste the obvious umami flavor by sipping soy sauce with an empty mouth, but unlike the fragrance, this umami flavor is most afraid of high temperature. As soon as the temperature is high, the umami substance will change, and this umami will be gone. Therefore, soy sauce should be put when the dish is about to go out of the pot, for fear of high temperature. Of course, you can put it at any time when stewing meat and cooking soup. That temperature is no problem. So put the soy sauce twice.

Third, vinegar.

Soy sauce has two flavors, namely "fresh flavor" and vinegar has two flavors, namely "vinegar flavor" and "acetic acid flavor". As mentioned above, vinegar is also a fermented condiment, and its own flavor also needs high temperature to stimulate. At the same time, in order to make the fragrance and sour taste come out, it is also put twice. The use method and principle are the same as soy sauce, so I won't say much here.

One thing to be reminded is that there are many kinds of vinegar, but we should pay attention to the kind of mature vinegar with strong acidity. Although it tastes good, it should be used with caution when cooking, because the color of mature vinegar is too dark, which tends to blacken the color of dishes. People who have high requirements on the appearance of dishes had better use rice vinegar. Think about it. Stir-fried shredded potatoes, originally very bright in color, turned black with old vinegar. Does it look uncomfortable? Let the food look good, don't use old vinegar, use rice vinegar.

Fourth, monosodium glutamate

In fact, there are not many places where monosodium glutamate can be said. Let's talk about the more controversial ones first, and everyone should know a little. The invention of monosodium glutamate is not too long. It was originally extracted from kelp. After technical improvement, it is now extracted from wheat. Because it is extracted, many people feel unhealthy.

Although it is artificially refined, the raw materials are still food. As long as it is not overused, it is not what some people say about how bad it is for the human body. After all, in addition to soy sauce, the seasoning used to enhance the umami flavor is monosodium glutamate. Many people don't know that many seasonings, including oyster sauce, extremely umami, steamed fish soy sauce and so on, all contain monosodium glutamate, so how can we enhance umami without monosodium glutamate? It doesn't hurt to use less.

As for usage, we should pay attention to two points: 1, monosodium glutamate has a delicate flavor, but it is not suitable for high temperature. It is not that harmful substances will be produced after high temperature, but that it will gelatinize at high temperature and lose its delicate flavor. So when cooking, be in front of the pot; 2. MSG can be put in stews and soups, but it exists in starch state. Putting monosodium glutamate in advance will make the soup turbid. So the final conclusion is that no matter what dishes, monosodium glutamate should be put at the end.

Five, sugar

Putting sugar at the end definitely shows how important it is. Everyone must watch carefully. First of all, sugar has certain refreshing effect. Many people know that it is a supplement to soy sauce and monosodium glutamate in umami flavor. However, refreshing is only the auxiliary function of sugar. The key is that sugar is the most important, in fact, it can play a role in coordinating other flavors.

First of all, for a single ingredient, if the taste is too prominent, sugar can appropriately reduce the taste. For example, star anise is often used in cooking, but it tastes too strong and medicinal. Adding some sugar can appropriately reduce the taste of the medicine; For another example, when stewing meat, if the meat is too heavy, it can be neutralized with sugar; For another example, the sour taste in the dish is too strong, so sugar can be used to reduce it.

And so on, there are many such examples. As long as it is a certain ingredient, its own taste is too prominent, which affects the overall taste of the dish. At this time, sugar can be used to dissolve and neutralize. Look, the effect of sugar is amazing. Sometimes you accidentally put too much salt in cooking. What if it is difficult to remedy? Just add more sugar, and the salty taste will drop immediately. Think about it, isn't it interesting?

What I said above is the neutralization of sugar to a single taste. The emphasis is on the word "neutralization". If the taste is too strong, you need to use sugar to neutralize this "stiff taste"; In addition, sugar can also play a role in harmonizing the overall taste. This role is also described in two words, that is, "He". Here you can give an example to compare, which is very vivid.

Just like a group of people meet, everyone has their own personality, and neither of them admits defeat. It is uncertain when the battle will begin. Well, a good-tempered man came at this time, and he came to stop the fight. Here, sugar is the one who came to stop the fight. After the fight, he stopped fighting, and then he became harmonious. That's what sugar does. Different tastes are prone to conflict, so sugar is used to "reconcile" and the overall taste feels natural.

Speaking of which, can you see the importance of sugar? The taste of Chinese food is very consistent with the personality characteristics of China people, that is, the golden mean. Chinese food pays attention to compound tastes, and the taste should be balanced, and one taste should not be too prominent. Therefore, it is necessary to use sugar to "reconcile" and to understand it carefully. A good cook can't live without sugar.

The last thing to say.

The use of these five basic seasonings and the corresponding cooking principles mentioned above will definitely be of great help to the usual cooking. As I said at the beginning, to learn cooking, you must learn the principles thoroughly. If the principle is clear, you can draw inferences and practice more, and your cooking skills will increase greatly. It's not difficult.