Source: Foodie Institute
A friend asked me the other day, can I make a brine taste similar to that of a certain black duck? The marinated chicken and duck I made at home always tasted the same as the one bought outside. Yes, home cooking and takeaway are always worse than taste, so what is the difference? Can you try it again?
A black duck's brine is very much its own characteristics, such as the signature brine duck wings to be sweet and spicy balanced, spicy with sweet, sweet with spicy, rich spices but which material is not too prominent, and the meat can bring a little soup, eat not dry.
Brine duck wings | Image from Taobao
In addition to the trade secrets and specific ingredient details that cannot be leaked, I looked for several ingredient lists on the packaging of a certain Black Duck food and found that the top 3 were basically sugar, monosodium glutamate and chicken essence seasonings. Many northern home-made brine products like to use sauce brine, such as sweet noodle sauce, watercress sauce... However, there is no sauce in its ingredients, and the only liquid seasonings that appear are white wine, soy sauce and some oils.
Ingredient list of brine duck neck, brine duck wings, brine chicken wings, and dried brine tofu | Image from Taobao
One of the spicy shrimp balls has a rich ingredient list, not only chicken essence seasoning but also chicken essence sauce, in fact, the main ingredient of chicken essence is monosodium glutamate (sodium glutamate), since it occupies such an important position, immediately order a single bottle of chicken essence sauce. There is also a very conspicuous note of the meat treasure king seasoning with many ingredients, which is a salty food flavor that is not usually used in their own cooking.
Ingredient list for spicy shrimp balls | Image from Taobao
I hurried to a treasure to buy a package of meat treasure king, the moment I opened the express package, I smelled the aroma of the face, it is really a very fragrant, meaty flavor of the essence, the brand recommends adding meat treasure king per kilogram of ingredients the ratio of 0.15-0.25 grams.
The Meat King is in hand! Dry!
01
Replica of brine duck wings
/ Can be used as an example to make a brine dish /
After deciphering the wealth code, you can get started! This recipe can not only marinate duck wings, but also take other ingredients.
▼ Something that needs to be prepared
☛ Ingredients: 250 g of duck wings, 500 g of kelp and lotus flakes.
☛ Seasoning: 30 grams of white sugar, 10 grams of chicken essence sauce, 10 grams of white wine, 2 grams of salt, 10 grams of oyster sauce, 5 grams of cooking wine, a few slices of ginger, light soy sauce casual.
☛ Spices: red pepper to taste, 3 pieces of fragrant leaves, 3 star anise, 3 male cloves, 2 galangal, 2 small sanna, 1 grass fruit, 1 nutmeg, 1 small piece of cinnamon, 3 grams of tangerine peel, 2 grams of peppercorns, 2 grams of sesame pepper, 1 gram of cumin.
▼ Steps
❶ Duck wings are soaked in cold water for 30 minutes, soaked in bloody water and rinsed off.
❷ In a cold underwater pot of soaked duck wings, bring to a boil over medium heat with ginger slices and cooking wine, skim out the foam, fish out the duck wings and rinse.
❸ Peel open the grass and fruit, throw away the seeds inside, and soak them in hot water for 30 minutes along with other spices. This can not only reduce the bitter taste of the brine soup, but also wash the dry ingredients.
Pat the grass fruit and throw away the seeds
Soak the spices together in hot water for 30 minutes
❹ Pour sugar and an equal amount of water into a cold pan. Heat the water over medium heat and turn it to a low heat, stir while boiling the white sugar into an orange-red syrup, then pour in a few large spoonfuls of hot water and cook for a few minutes to make the caramel-colored soup base (because I put too little sugar, so I didn't fry a good sugar color).
❺ Pour 10g vegetable oil into the soup base, pour the duck wings and all the spices together into the pot, rinse the soaked spices and add, the soup base and the duck wings are level, bring to a boil over high heat and cover the pot and reduce the heat to low for 20 minutes.
❻ Place the lotus flakes and kelp in the bottom of the pot, turn over the duck wings, turn off the heat and soak in the marinade for 20 minutes, then cook for 10 minutes on medium heat. Finally, collect the juice on high heat and add a little old soy sauce.
❼ The duck goods out of the pan are put in the refrigerator and refrigerated for several hours, and it is more flavorful to eat cold in the summer.
Eating really feels like it's sold outside, and the more you eat it, the more addictive it feels... However, it is still recommended to use a small amount of chicken essence, and add it several times during the cooking process, if the flavor of the chicken essence wafting out is too high-profile, it will cover the aroma of the ingredients themselves.
02
Spicy shrimp balls
/ A little bit of rollover /
Thinking that I have done my homework on spicy shrimp balls anyway, let's try it by the way! The finished product is delicious, but there is still a gap from my imagination, and there are still two brushes to open a shop to do business.
☛ Ingredients: 250 g of crayfish tail.
☛ Seasoning: 10 grams of white sugar, 5 grams of vinegar, 3 grams of chicken essence sauce, 5 grams of bad brine, 10 grams of chili oil/red oil, 5 grams of pepper oil, 5 grams of pepper oil, 2 grams of salt, 10 grains/0.05 grams of Meat King, a little cooking wine.
☛ Spices: red pepper to taste, 3 male cloves, 2 star anise, 2 grams of tangerine peel silk, 1 grass fruit, 1 nutmeg, 1 piece of fragrant leaf, 2 small pieces of sanna, 1 small piece of cinnamon, 1 g of cumin.
❶ Crayfish tail with a little cooking wine blanched in boiling water and set aside.
❷ Pour vegetable oil, chili oil, pepper oil and pepper oil into the pan and sauté all the spices into the pan to bring out the aroma.
❸ Add the crayfish tail and all the other spices and stir-fry well.
❹ Add 100 g of water and collect the juice over high heat.
I tried it with the mentality of a curious baby, and I felt that I had eaten a bite of spicy crayfish, and the finished product was really photogenic, and I put it in the box and sold it.
However, Mrs. Meat King Titian only added a little, but its taste has already taken over all the spices. For this clumsy replica, it was actually a bit of a turnaround, because I was a little resistant to its unique flavor taste.
However, this method is very suitable for small partners who do not like the hot pot base and various sauces, and directly use red oil and several kinds of cooking oil to fry a very fragrant crayfish. If the crayfish you buy is fresh, you don't need to use chicken essence to freshen it.
(*All images not marked as sources in this article were taken by the author)