Speaking of "eating", there is a difference between north and south, or simple and delicate, or heroic and unrestrained, each of which has its own unique charm.
As southerners, our love for "sauerkraut beef" is actually no less than that of northerners, or even more than that. So do you know what is so wonderful about the regular customers in the Cantonese recipe of this dish?
01
Sour with beef is an Asian specialty
Sauerkraut with beef, from ancient times to the present, I don't know how many people's stomachs are hungry.
When we talk about sauerkraut, we can't help but think of various dishes of sauerkraut and beef. I have to say that the taste and taste of sauerkraut beef really occupies a large part of the beef eating method.
In fact, the combination of sour taste and beef is particularly popular in China and Asia, but it is relatively rare abroad, especially in Europe and the United States. So it's not so much a cultural difference as it is a difference in taste or even ingredients. So why do Asians prefer beef to be eaten with a sour taste?
In fact, the reason for this can be explained by an old Chinese saying that one side nourishes the other side.
In most parts of Asia, since ancient times, there are more places along the coastline, the climate is hot, the water and soil are relatively humid and hot, so among many crops, spices are naturally the specialties of this water and soil.
In general, the use of spices to flavor the cooking, the taste is mostly spicy, sour, so Asians in terms of taste preferences, naturally spicy, sour- mainly, such as Southeast Asia near the equator, further north to India, to China's southeast coast, and then to Japan and South Korea and other places, the use of spices to achieve spicy and sour flavor of food such as cattle hair. Therefore, the Asian people's spicy and acidic taste is due to a love of spices.
And this hobby, through the spread of spices, also spread to the hinterland of inland Asia, that is, the Central Plains of China. Under the influence of this food style, the Chinese people at the end of the 17th century began to pay attention to spicy and sour. Combined with a series of pickles invented by our ancestors, the development of this food custom immediately became popular in Shenzhou. At this point, the era of "comprehensive acid eating" of Asians can also be said to be coming, but what "acid" is with, according to the data, is still very vague at that time.
It wasn't until the 18th century that we began to look at Southeast Asian cuisine and found that sour ingredients and beef were a perfect match. Since then, the use of sour beef has become popular, especially when we are good at combining our own specialties, which is sauerkraut.
Therefore, this delicious combination that was originally produced from the Central Plains, slowly transplanted to the north, and finally spread to the south spread from north to south, and the "sauerkraut beef" we eat today is only a representative of the changes in these thousands of sour beef.
02
Acidity can improve beef taste
Many people may ask, why is beef so popular with sour taste? Chef Chen Yaofang said: "Sour taste is the most effective way to improve the texture and taste of beef. ”
Chef Chen introduced that the tenderness of beef and the heat and time of cooking beef are closely related, to put it simply: beef is not too hot, directly affecting its taste. This is also the reason why people in Western food especially like 7 points of cooked beef, that is, because 7 points of cooked beef is almost never overheated.
However, beef is cooked in Chinese cuisine in a variety of ways, and in these dishes, it is unlikely that beef will not be overheated.
For example, stew, and even soup, many dishes not only do not guarantee that the beef is not too hot, but even need to be cooked thoroughly. In this case, if beef is used as the main ingredient, then the taste is not only woody and tough, but also the taste is often too strong, and at this time, if you want to improve this not so good taste, adding sour taste is the best choice.
Master Chen analyzed that if it is ordinary meat, or even ordinary red meat such as pork, because the fiber is not too dense, often in the case of long cooking, adding acidic, sour ingredients, the taste will appear more "old", this is because they can also precipitate water, by acid absorption; but beef is not the same, it has more fiber, so the loss of water is not obvious, and the meat quality of beef is particularly easy to be "softened" by acidity. So the meat will become relatively soft (the principle is similar to the principle that beef will be "turned over" after being cooled, when the beef is oxidized by air, that is, acidified).
In addition, the sour taste can neutralize the heavy taste of some beef, in layman's terms, it is "attacking poison with poison" and covering the strong taste with a strong taste. In this way, the beef will not only taste better, but also taste more harmonious.
Therefore, sauerkraut goulash, steamed beef with pickled vegetables, stir-fried beef with sour shoots, etc., are actually the same principle, that is, to make the sour taste to improve the taste of beef.
Graphic | Feng Ruijun
Some of the image sources are | Integrated network
Edit & Layout | So-and-so