Tell you how to cook delicious broth according to restaurant standards
For water dishes such as vermicelli, pho... broth is the main factor that creates the unique flavor of the dish. If the cooking broth is considered an art, the person who cooks the broth is a talented culinary artist. Now, anyone can cook a delicious restaurant-standard broth with their own hands, if you know the secrets that not everyone knows below.
How to choose the right ingredients
To have a delicious pot of broth, first of all, you need to know how to choose the right ingredients. The ingredients to cook the broth are from many different types of bones such as chicken bones, fish bones, beef bones, oxtails, pork bones, etc. But the most common is pork bones. You should choose the part of the bone that is bright red, not pale, and has no bad smell. Tubular bone as big as 2-3 knuckles is medium. If the bone is too big, the broth will smell, and if the bone is small, it is usually the bone of small pigs, which may be infected, so it should be operated on early, so the broth is difficult to meet hygiene criteria. The selection criteria are similar for chicken bones and beef bones. In general, you should choose to buy fresh bones, not frozen bones, of unknown origin.
Prepare ingredients to cook broth properly
With the tips for preparing ingredients below, make sure your pot of broth is both fragrant and clear, keeping the natural sweetness from the bones without mixing odors.
There are 2 types of ingredients that need to be preliminarily processed before cooking the broth, in addition to the bones, spices are indispensable.
As for the bones: this is the main sweet-tasting ingredient of the broth, so it needs to be carefully prepared. After cleaning, you need to continue blanching in boiling water at high temperatures to remove dirt and odors, especially pork bones. When blanching pork bones, add a little salt to help effectively remove dirt from the bones. As for beef bones, don't forget to scrape off any remaining meat on the bones. If using the tail end, heat it up and shave off the hair on the skin.
For aromatic spices: Each broth will have seasonings attached to create flavor. Beef broth must have cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, ginger, fresh onion...; Chicken broth must have onions, ginger, pepper, shiitake, ... When preparing these spices, pay attention to wash and lightly bake onions and ginger. These spices not only make the broth more fragrant but also give the water a nice color and reduce turbidity.
Notes when cooking broth
Cooking temperature
The first time when start to simmer, you put on high heat so that the water boils quickly. Then, reduce the heat gradually and simmer for about 30 minutes, then let the fire low so that the bones can be sweet. Pay attention to skimming continuously to make the water clearer.
Time for spices to create aroma
Knowing how to combine aromatic spices will help the pot of broth have the most delicious taste. Accordingly, bone softening spices such as onions, pineapples, radishes, carrots, etc. should be added from the beginning of cooking. Other flavoring ingredients such as cinnamon, lemongrass, ginger, star anise, etc. should only be added after ⅔ of the cooking time.
Broth cooking time
Each type of broth has a different cooking time. It doesn't take long to cook, the better the broth. On the contrary, cooking the broth for too long will make the water cloudy and sour. Normally, beef bones need to simmer for 6-8 hours (can be left overnight). Pork and chicken bones require less time, at least 2 hours and at most 6 hours.
Tips for dealing with a cloudy broth
If unfortunately, the pot of broth is cloudy, do not worry. Egg whites will help you overcome this situation quickly. Just dissolve the egg whites into the pot of broth, stir well so that the dirt sticks to the eggs, and then take them out. In case the chicken broth is cloudy, you can add chicken bones to the pot and the chicken broth will be much clearer and sweeter.
Hopefully, the above tips have helped readers become more confident when cooking vermicelli, vermicelli, and pho for the whole family. UniMall is pleased to accompany readers to create delicious dishes with quality spice products.
