Kitchen Tips: Cut Meat, Boil Eggs And Cook Tofu, And The Novice Becomes A Master Chef In Seconds

If you are like the editor, you rarely have the opportunity to cook, and you are just a "novice in life", then you must read this article carefully.

The things that happen in the kitchen are difficult to talk about, but they are not really difficult. However, as long as you master a few key small tips, you can indeed improve your cooking experience to a great level. From the original rush to being calm and stress-free, it may only be a matter of a moment.

The following are simple, convenient and easy-to-learn tips in the kitchen that have been tested and proven. The results will be immediately visible and noticeable. Store them quickly and try them out the next time you cook. In this way, you can easily and smoothly transform into an expert in life.

Cut of meat: Beef, mutton and pork are very different

Many people cut meat based on feeling, but actually there is a lot of knowledge involved.

cut Beef and mutton When cutting, be sure to cut against the grain of the meat.

To put it simply, the knife is cut vertically at 90 degrees to the long fiber lines on the meat.

After the meat cut like this is cooked, the muscle fibers will become shorter, making it easier to chew and the texture will be more tender.

The operation of cutting pork is exactly the opposite. The requirement is to cut along the texture of the meat.

The reason why the muscle fiber of pork itself is relatively thin is because cutting it along the way can keep it intact during the frying process, and will not spread and break like a plate of minced meat, thus the appearance and taste will be better.

Perfect soft-boiled eggs: timing is key

If you want to cook a soft-boiled egg with just the right texture and a tender and smooth egg white, precise control of time is the most critical thing.

The method is extremely simple: first, boil a pot of water, then slowly add the washed eggs, and then start the timer immediately.

Cook for 6 minutes. Once the time is up, turn off the heat and remove the eggs and put them into cold water to cool down.

The eggs cooked at this point in time have a perfect semi-solidified yolk and a completely solidified egg white. In this case, the taste is optimal.

If the time is short, the egg yolk will be too raw, and if the time is long, it will become a solid egg.

Remove the brine smell from tofu: Blanching is the secret

Occasionally purchased tofu has a relatively strong brine taste. If it is used directly for cooking, the flavor will be affected.

A small trick that can help is to cut the tofu into pieces before cooking, and then soak it in boiling water for about 10 to 15 minutes.

This step can effectively remove the unique brine and beany smell of soy products.

Tofu treated in this way will have a purer taste when used in cooking, a firmer texture, not easily broken, and can better absorb the deliciousness of the soup.

Quickly mince meat fillings: skillful knife skills

Chopping meat fillings by hand is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and can easily spill everywhere.

Try this efficient cutting method. Place a whole piece of pork horizontally on the chopping board, and tilt the knife at an angle of 45 degrees to cut into the inside of the meat. Be careful not to cut the meat. Cut until the thickness of the meat reaches three-quarters.

Then turn the whole piece of meat over and cut at the same 45-degree angle.

After cutting both sides, change the knife to a vertical 90-degree angle to cut off the meat.

When cut in this way, the meat is basically in a minced state after being criss-crossed. After a few more chops, it will be extremely delicate, which is labor-saving and efficient.

The soup is too salty: potatoes come to the rescue

When making soup or cooking, you accidentally add too much salt. As a result, the soup becomes too salty. Can you just add water to dilute it?

It's okay to add water, but the flavor will be lighter.

Here is a better method: choose to take a fresh potato, clean it without removing the skin, cut it in half directly, then put it into the soup that has been added with too much salt, cook it together for a few minutes.

The starchy structure of potatoes shows extremely strong adsorption, which can absorb part of the salt contained in the soup, thereby reducing the saltiness of the soup in a natural way without affecting the umami taste of the original soup itself.

Cook mung beans quickly: stir-frying is the trick

cook mung bean soup I'm most afraid that mung beans won't be cooked for a long time.

If you want mung beans to bloom quickly, you can try "frying" them before putting them in the pot.

Place the dried mung beans in an iron pot and stir-fry over medium-low heat continuously for about 10 minutes. When you see a slight color change on the skin of the mung beans and the bean aroma is emitted, it is ready.

Be careful not to burn it.

Mung beans are stir-fried in a hot pot and their internal structure changes. After adding water to cook, the mung beans will be cooked very easily. In this way, a lot of time and gas can be saved.

Iron pot maintenance: avoid sudden cold and sudden heat

Even if it is an ordinary iron pot or a pot with a non-stick coating, its maintenance is very important.

One key habit: Don’t rinse the scalding hot pot with cold water immediately after you finish stir-frying.

Especially for those with Non-stick coating

When using a pot, the hot pot suddenly encounters cold water. The drastic temperature change causes the coating to shrink unevenly, and the damage and peeling of the coating are accelerated.

The correct way is to let the pot cool down naturally until it is no longer hot, and then wash it with warm water.

Fried eggplants don’t turn black: The magical effect of vinegar

After eggplant is cut, it is easy to oxidize and turn black. After frying, it will appear black in color, which will affect appetite.

A little trick to prevent eggplants from turning black is to pour a small amount of sour agent brewed from grain along the edge of the pot during the frying process.

The acidic surrounding environment created by vinegar can effectively inhibit the oxidation of the phenolic substances in the eggplant. The eggplant fried in this way can maintain a beautiful purple-red color, with a bright and bright color, making people more appetizing.

Cook frozen dumplings without breaking the skin: put warm water in the pot

When cooking frozen dumplings, if you put them directly into boiling water, it will be very easy for the dumpling skin to crack and the fillings to be exposed. This is the case.

The correct way is to put water in the pot, then turn on the fire to heat it. At the same time, prepare a basin of water next to it, then put the frozen dumplings in and soak them slightly.

When the water in the pot boils to about 40°C, that is, when extremely fine bubbles begin to emerge from the bottom of the pot, but the water has not yet boiled, take the dumplings out of the clear water and put them into the pot.

If you use this method of boiling with warm water, the frozen dumplings will have a slow heating state, so the possibility of the dumpling skins being boiled will not easily occur. The appearance of the dumplings cooked in this way will be intact, and at the same time, the taste will be similar to that of newly made dumplings.

These kitchen tips are all practical experiences accumulated during life. They are quite simple to operate and do not require any special tools.

They solve the little troubles and confusions we often encounter when cooking every day.

From handling the ingredients to maintaining the kitchen utensils, every detail must be optimized, so that cooking can gradually become more comfortable and calmer.

When you step into the kitchen next time, you might as well try to use one or two of them, and you will realize that preparing a good meal is not as difficult as you think. The wisdom of life is hidden in these subtle skills.