Essential homemade soup tips

Are you interested in preparing some homemade chinese soups because you are convinced of the health benefits?

But are you intimidated by the preparation process and some of the ingredients?

You do not have to now. Let me introduce you to some of the most basic soup making methods and homemade soup tips.

Simmering

Simmering is one of my favorite soup making method. Only because it is just so simple.

To simmer means to cook something at or just below boiling point (about 100 degree celsius or 212 degree fahrenheit).

To start a simmer, bring the liquid to a boil first, then adjusts the heat down until the bubbling just stops.

Simmering is a gentler way to cook soup than boiling because vigorous bubbling can toughen the meat and damage vegetables in the soup. It is also a common method used for reducing liquid. The usual time needed to simmer soup averages 1 to 2 hours. It has also been tested that the soups that has been simmered for 1 to 2 hours contain the highest level of nutrients.

Although you can simmer soup over the stovetop using a heavy-base soup pot, it is easier if you use a slow cooker (also known as crockpot).

A slow cooker can automatically adjusts the heat to just below boiling point and free your time and hands because you don't have to constantly check on the soup.

There are more information about the slow cooker at chinese soup pots.

Double-boiling

The Cantonese (people from Hong Kong and provine of Guangzhou) love to double-boil their soups. They believe this will seal the nutrients and flavor of the ingredients in the soup.

To double-boil soup, a special ceramic soup pot known as the double-boiler is needed. A double-boiler has two covers; a small flatter inner cover and a bigger dome-shaped outer cover.

Basically, all the prepared ingredients are placed in the double-boiler together with just enough water or soup stock to cover the ingredients. The 2 covers are then placed securely on the pot. This results in minimum evaporation.

The double-boiler is then placed inside a big pot filled halfway with water. The double-boiler should only be half-submerged in the water. Cover the pot and heat the water in the pot on medium heat or just sufficient heat so that the water does not boil over.

The average cooking time for double boil soup is about 4 hours. Refrain from opening the double-boiler to check on the soup as this will bring down the temperature of the soup and affect the cooking. This method is usually used to make tonic soups.

More pictures of the double-boiler at chinese soup pots.

Steam soup

This is a bit like double-boil except it does not need a double-boiler and the soup is not half-submerged in the water of the bigger pot. The ingredients and the soup is placed in a soup bowl which can be ceramic or enamel. The bowl is then positioned above the boiling water inside the bigger pot. It is the steam from the boiling water that is the heat source used to cook the soup.

How do you position the soup bowl inside the bigger pot? You can use a plate as a base for the soup bowl. Or, you can buy a bowl support.

Quick boiling

Quick boil soup is suitable for seafood and fresh green vegetables that cooks quickly. Simply bring the water to a boil, throw all the ingredients in and boil till they are cooked.

Since it is quick boil, there is insufficient time for the ingredients to "impart" flavour to the soup. Instead of water, make sure that you use soup stocks as the soup base. These can be made earlier and frozen in the fridge. Or you can buy stock cubes, soup cans or packet soup mixes. Клиника уролог. Алтуфьевский. . mugen 3400 Sony Tablet P

Thickened Soup

Another popular version of quick boil soups are the thickened soups like hot and sour soup, and westlake beef soup.

Chinese soups are usually thickened with cornstarch or potato starch. Ingredients in thickened soup are usually diced or shredded quite finely and parboiled. The soup should be seasoned before thickening because it will be more difficult to do so after thickening.

Pour the cornstarch mixture into the soup slowly, stirring to check the consistency. You want to achieve a nice smooth slightly thickened texture, not a sticky gruel or starchy paste. Stop adding the cornstarch mixture when the texture is achieved, add more if your preferred consistency is not met.

TIP!
To make the cornstarch mixture, always add the water to the cornstarch or potato starch flour, not the other way around. The flour is rather light and will float on the surface of the water. It makes it quite hard to mix.

The normal ratio of water to cornstarch is 1:1.5 but I prefer to make thicker cornstarch mixture because it means I need to add less to a pot of soup to thicken things up a bit.

Other Soup Tips

1. Skinny soup

If you feel that your soup is too oily, leave it to cool and stand for a while. The oil will float to the surface where you can scoop them out with a spoon.

If you have more time on hand, another method is to leave the soup in the refrigerator. The oil will coagulate on the surface of the soup. I hope you get a kick out of lifting the fat from the soup (I know I do) cuz they are not going to my waist and thighs. (^_^)

2. Amount of water

A rule of thumb for simmering soup is 3 times the weight of the main soup ingredient. However, some people like soups with stronger flavour while others prefer lighter clearer soups. Adjust the amount according to your preference.

In the event that the soup seems to be drying up, add hot water to the soup to lessen the impact of the change in the cooking temperature.

3. Parboiling

Parboil means to partially cook an ingredient. That is, to subject it to boiling for a short period of time. This method is mostly used with meat ingredients like pork, beef, and poultry. It gets rid of blood and some of the fat on the meat.

You may notice that if you add raw meat or bones to a soup without parboiling it, the soup becomes murky and there are froth and bits floating on the surface which you may have to strain or scoop them up. Save yourself the trouble by parboiling your meat first.

To parboil, place ingredients in a pot together with cold water. Use high heat and boil for about 10 minutes.

4. Marinate meat

When meat like pork or beef are thinly sliced for soup, they should be marinated with some seasoning, and coated with a little cornstarch first. The cornstarch coats the meat slices giving them a smoother texture when cooked. It also prevents moisture from escaping for the meat. Without the cornstarch, the meat slices tend to become dry, tough and fibrous.