When the weather is cold, many people will prefer some warm and nourishing ingredients in their dietary choices, such as nutrient-rich, and the sea cucumber with soft and Q bombs is very suitable for winter supplementation. As the year draws to a close, the sea cucumber, as a member of the "abalone wing belly", has a sense of presence at the table.
Previously, we have introduced abalone, flower glue, Yaozhu and other dried seafood for everyone, and today we will bring you the sea cucumber known as "ginseng in the sea"!
01
"Sea Cucumber Atlas"
How many varieties have you eaten?
Sea cucumbers, also known as sea rats and sea cucumbers, are echinoderms that live on the seafloor, usually inhabiting the lower water temperatures of the ocean, and usually feed on plankton, seaweed and impurities in filtered sand. Based on its autolysis characteristics of water separation, sea cucumbers mostly appear on the market in the form of dry goods.
Live sea cucumbers, look a bit "indescribable".
Don't look at the sea cucumber as if it is at the bottom of the marine life chain, its history on the earth is earlier than most fish, and it is one of the earliest biological species.
It is such a "living fossil", because of its nutrient-rich edible value, it has become one of the world's eight treasures with ginseng, bird's nest and shark fin soup, and has appeared in the market in form of sea cucumber products. Below we will list some of the more common sea cucumbers on the market, let's take a look!
There are different kinds of dried sea cucumbers on the market.
At present, there are more than 1700 recorded sea cucumber species in the world, of which only about 40 species are edible. Sea cucumbers are widely distributed, and are more famous in China, Japan, Australia, South America, Mexico, and Russia. Sea cucumber varieties are mainly divided into two categories: thorny ginseng in appearance and bald ginseng with bare surface.
Thorn ginseng is mostly temperate varieties, such as Japanese (Kanto, Guanzhong, Kansai) thorn ginseng, Chinese Liao ginseng, Korean thorn ginseng, Russian red ginseng, Canadian Arctic sea cucumber and so on. It is mainly found along the North Pacific coast, north to Sakhalin Island in Russia and Alaska in the United States, and in the south to Kagoshima in Japan, and is also produced along the shallow coasts of Shandong, Hebei, Liaoning and other places in China.
Bald ginseng is mainly tropical varieties, fat meat thick, soft and tender meat, mostly produced in Australia, Indonesia, Tonga Islands, Fiji, Hawaii and other Pacific waters, to Australia's white stone ginseng (pig ginseng) and black stone ginseng quality is relatively superior, in addition to Indonesia's white stone ginseng (pig ginseng) is also recognized.
Ginseng, "Crown of Ginseng"
Hongxing Seafood Restaurant: Dipping sauce Liao ginseng
Cai Lan once said, "Cheap sea cucumbers don't taste anything, like eating a gel that can't be bitten, but the fine sea cucumbers have a fresh seawater smell, and when chewed, they feel fragrant." Chinese cherished, it is reasonable", it is said that the shape of the "wolf's tooth stick" of the ginseng, excellent varieties of ginseng than the general sea cucumber has a unique fragrance, so it is also known as the "crown of ginseng".
Grapefruit skin buckle prickly ginseng.
According to the different sea areas, the quality and price of dried ginseng can also be dozens of times different, to the Kanto ginseng produced in Aomori, Sendai, Hokkaido and other places in Japan, the ginseng produced by it has obvious small spines, the body is black, the thorns are more upright, with a unique fragrance, refreshing teeth.
Bald ginseng, cost-effective, high plasticity
Bald ginseng is more laborious than thorn ginseng in the processing of foaming hair
Bald ginseng is slightly inferior to ginseng in terms of nutrition, aroma and taste, and it is more laborious than ginseng in foaming treatment, so the price is much cheaper than ginseng. But the bald ginseng meat is thick, the hair is large, the taste is smooth, the cooking technique is strongly malleable, and the cost performance is also high, so it is also very popular with chefs and diners, especially the Australian bald ginseng and Indonesian pork ginseng are more sought after.
Bald ginseng meat is thick and smooth
Australian bald ginseng is black, the body is spineless, the shape is round and straight, the flesh is thick and thin, so the processing time required compared to other bald ginseng is shorter, and the hair can be 5 times more. The Indonesian pig ginseng is fat and fat, the meat is soft and smooth, but because the meat is thick and thick, it is not dry enough, it is easy to mold, and the difficulty of foaming is also greater, and the processing process takes 2 to 7 days. And the surface is white gray, which is used to keep the pig ginseng dry, so it smells of lime.
02
4 types of sea workers
Sea cucumbers must be processed immediately after harvesting, and the sea cucumbers are dehydrated and dried to dry sea cucumbers to be preserved for a long time and become the ingredients that appear on our tables. Different drying treatment methods will also affect the taste and edible value of sea cucumbers, so it is also necessary to pay attention to the purchase.
Fresh sea cucumbers need to be dried and processed into dried sea cucumbers
The methods of processing sea cucumber are roughly divided into lightly dried sea cucumber, salt dried sea cucumber, sugar dried sea cucumber and freeze-dried sea cucumber, and it is generally preferable to lightly dried sea cucumber.
Light dried sea cucumber is boiled with seawater or thin light salt water, and baked, sun-dried and other dry treatment processing, the salt content is usually about 5% to 10%, and the water hair is also high.
Salt dried sea cucumber is a more traditional treatment method, after boiling, salting treatment, baking sea cucumber after drying, so the surface is often attached to a layer of white salt particles or salt foam, high salt content, nutrient loss.
Dried sugar sea cucumber is that some merchants exchange the salt used in pickling for sugar, so that the appearance of sea cucumber is more rounded after sugar. Since the consumption of dried sugar sea cucumber is harmful to human health, the Food Safety Law also stipulates that dried sea cucumbers sold on the market are not allowed to use other food additives other than table salt.
Freeze-dried sea cucumber is the use of freeze-drying technology to directly dehydrate and dry semi-boiled fresh ginseng, the advantage is that most of the freeze-dried sea cucumber retains the characteristics of fresh sea cucumber, close to the original appearance, although the appearance is average, but the loss of nutrients is low, and the foam is easy, but the taste is soft, not as refreshing as the traditional light dried sea cucumber.
03
Cooking sea cucumber,
Ancient and modern magic tricks
Grilled ancient method, a long history
Legend has it that China began to eat sea cucumbers in the Warring States period, but until the Three Kingdoms period there are documents on how people eat sea cucumbers, in the "Linhai Sea Soil Alien Chronicle" it is written that "soil meat is as large as a child's hips, five inches long, bellyless, thirty full, hot food", "soil meat" is sea cucumber, "hot food" means that people will cook sea cucumber in a hot way.
Crispy ginseng.
Now there are also some restaurants that use the sea cucumber method to treat the sea cucumber, such as the famous restaurant Good Wine Good Cai Studio's signature dish crispy skin ginseng added to the cooking method, using a straight torch simmered in broth to burn the surface of the ginseng until it is crispy, and the outside is soft on the inside.
Sea cucumbers, belly fish and shark fins are listed as the three famous dishes.
In fact, the popularity of sea cucumbers on The table in China began in the Ming Dynasty, and the gourmand Wang Zengqi once wrote that in ancient times, people did not pay much attention to seafood, until the Ming Dynasty, sea cucumbers became a court dish, mainly boiling sea cucumber soup into soup. In the History of the Ming Palace. It is also recorded that Zhu Yuanzhang was good at eating sea cucumbers, and the emperors at that time often listed sea cucumbers, belly fish and shark fin soup as the three famous dishes, called "three things".
Since then, the way sea cucumbers are eaten has also increased. By the Qing Dynasty, it gradually appeared such as mustard mixed sea cucumber, chicken juice mixed with sea cucumber shredded, bad sea cucumber, and roasted sea cucumber with green onion.
Hongxing Seafood Restaurant: Morel mushroom stewed Liao ginseng
In the Qing Dynasty Zhu Yizun's "Food Constitution Hong secret", it is recorded: "Sea cucumber, soaked, cooked, sliced." People pickled vegetables, bamboo shoot slices, lard stir-fry with good use", "or boiled rotten, mustard mixing with magic", "sea cucumber rotten boiled gujia, bad food is also wonderful. In the "Qing Barnyard Banknotes and Diets", it also lists matsutake sea cucumber soup and simmered sea cucumber: "The sea cucumber must be inspected for small and thorny, first go to the sand mud, simmer it three times with broth, and then simmer it red with chicken and meat, making it extremely rotten." "A variety of sea cucumber practices.
It is clear in flavor and simmered until it tastes good
Pour a spoonful of sauce and instantly have a soul!
Although the finest sea cucumbers have a unique fragrance, most of the sea cucumbers themselves have a light taste, mainly simmered in sauce until they taste. When you meet the sea cucumber in the sauce, it not only has a soft and refreshing texture, but also appears to be full of "bone collagen" under the wrapping of the rich sauce, and it is sublimated in taste.
Park Hyatt Shanghai Chinese Restaurant: Three Treasures of Tonic Catfish. Made from Russian red ginseng, jipin abalone, Yangtze River white catfish simmered over low heat for a long time, the crisp red ginseng is extremely flavorful, and the catfish is stewed until it is soft to form a gelatinous taste.
From ancient times to the present, China's chefs have performed their own magic skills to create a variety of magic ways to cook sea cucumbers, using broth and thick sauce to exert the taste and texture of sea cucumbers to the extreme, braised, scallion, abalone juice, sour and spicy, shrimp seeds, cold mix, hundred flowers steamed, crab powder, liver oil, stir-fried and mixed, all kinds of delicious.
Hundred flowers stuffed with ginseng.
Lu cuisine: grilled sea cucumber with green onion
Grilled sea cucumber with green onions is a well-known signature dish in Lu cuisine, and has been the main dish of many Famous Lu cuisine restaurants in Beijing since the Qing Dynasty.
It is especially famous for the roasted sea cucumber with green onions at Beijing Fortress Restaurant, which adopts the method of blending sea cucumber with strong color, thick juice and strong flavor, and cooks the sea cucumber with green onions to achieve full color and flavor. The sauce with shallot oil and broth is bright red in color, and the green onion is strong and attractive, and the taste is salty and delicious.
Shanghainese cuisine: shrimp seed sea cucumber
Old Shanghai Hotel: Shrimp seed large black ginseng
Shrimp seed sea cucumber originated from one of the most distinctive dishes in Shanghai during the Republic of China period, shrimp seed large black ginseng.
This dish is more well-known for the production of shanghai old restaurant, the method is to immerse the bald ginseng in the oil pot and fry, burn to 40% heat, with braised pork brine as the seasoning, with river shrimp seeds, rice wine, sugar, broth and other high heat boiling, simmering through the low heat, and finally collect the juice, through the fire roasting, frying, soup dipping and other processes concocted sea cucumber glue glutinous smooth, oily taste is strong, soft and non-sticky, shrimp seed umami taste outstanding.
Cantonese cuisine: sea cucumber with abalone sauce
"Abalone juice" is a sauce commonly used in Cantonese cuisine, most traditional Cantonese restaurants basically have their own secret "abalone juice", which is used to cook various ingredients, such as sea cucumber, flower gum, goose paw and so on.
Many people think that "abalone juice" refers to the sauce left over from boiling dried abalone, but in fact, "abalone juice" is a sauce made by boiling dried abalone, ham, pork, pork skin, old chicken, chicken feet, ginger, dried shallots, oyster sauce, flower carving wine, dark soy sauce and a small amount of rock sugar. Put the soaked sea cucumber in the "abalone juice" and simmer until the delicious delicacy is the abalone sea cucumber!
04
Pick/foam tips
Finally, I bring you a tip for choosing a sea cucumber: a good sea cucumber should be complete, the ginseng thorns are flawless, the body is cleaned up, and there is no sediment. Natural sea cucumbers are mostly gray-black or black-brown, with a faint umami taste of sea cucumbers, and there is no excess odor.
In particular, ginseng is preferably fine and fat, thick with thorns, long needles and neatly arranged, dry and odorless. Ginseng is one of the important criteria for judging the quality of ginseng. Good ginseng, its thorns are firm and hard, and 6 lines of thorns are preferred.
When soaking sea cucumbers, first of all, wash the salt on the surface of the sea cucumber and the young sand in the abdominal cavity, soak in water for 1 day, change the water 2 times, cook a pot of water the next day, if the ginseng can be put in hot water to soak until the water is cool; bald ginseng needs to be boiled for about 20 minutes and then soaked until the water is cool, and then change the water to soak and refrigerate for 1 day, during which time to change the water 2 times, when the sea cucumber is soft, cut the sea cucumber and clean it.
Note that the containers and water used during the foaming process cannot be stained with oil and salt, because the oil can cause the sea cucumber to rot, and the salt makes the sea cucumber difficult to penetrate
Where to eat sea cucumbers
"Grilled sea cucumber with green onions"
Fortress Garden Hotel
No. 83, Zhushikou West Street, Beijing
010-63158788
"Shrimp seed large black ginseng"
Shanghai Old Hotel
242 Fuyou Road, Shanghai
021-63111777
"Oyster Emperor Sea Cucumber Buckle Jade Palm"
Lee Garden
L3-17&18, 3rd Floor, Shanghai INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL Center, No. 8 Century Avenue, Shanghai
021-51061688
"Three Treasures of Tonic Catfish"
Park Hyatt Shanghai Chinese Restaurant
87th Floor, Shanghai World Financial Center, 100 Century Avenue, Shanghai
021-68881234
"Morel mushroom stewed liao ginseng"
Star Club
4th Floor, K11 Art Shopping Center, No. 300 Middle Huaihai Road, Shanghai
021-53869666
"Hundred Flowers Stuffed Ginseng"
Wynn Palace
Ground floor of Wynn Palace, Avenida Da Avenida, Cotai City, Macau
853-88893663
Dried sea cucumber
trepang
Source A spinosanit animal that lives on the seabed, baked until fully dry and processed, can be stored for a long time.
Origin China, Japan, Australia, South America, Mexico, Russia and other places.
Features Rich gum, smooth and sticky mouth, low fat content.
Classic cooking method Roasted sea cucumber with green onion, shrimp seed sea cucumber, abalone sauce sea cucumber.
Edit | Vivian
Image from the web
Resources
"Carefully selected goods from north to south"
"The Way of Connoisseurship: The Complete Book of Bird's Nest with Bao Ginseng's Wings and Belly"