Soy sauce is divided into dark soy sauce and light soy sauce. What does "soy sauce" mean? After so many years of eating, I finally understand

Let me tell you a little story. What is the smell of soy sauce that my wife hates so much?

Various seasonings in the kitchen: salt, pepper, monosodium glutamate, chicken essence, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, mature vinegar, oyster sauce, for me, it is a process from complex to simple, from simple to complex A process of use.

How to understand this statement? Please be patient and let me introduce it to you slowly!

When I first learned to cook in the kitchen, I felt that cooking in the kitchen was very easy. After mastering the simple steps of home-cooked dishes and meals that my family loved to eat, adding seasonings was just an addition. At that time, I was self-righteous and thought that adding more seasonings would never go wrong, and the feedback from my family was relatively positive, as if everyone liked it.

This gave me a wrong perception, and I confidently believed that cooking is too simple. The more seasonings you put in, the more delicious the dishes will be.

< p> For example, when I make fried shredded pork with green pepper, I add more dark soy sauce. The fried shredded pork is almost all black. This kind of dish is delicious in my eyes. For a long time, I thought it was very good, but this cooking method was not very good in the eyes of my wife. This is the first time she said this, the soy sauce smell of the dishes you stir-fry is too strong, and the dishes are not so good. The color is not nice either.

My wife’s words made me reflect. It happened that my mother’s old problem of strep throat recurred during this period. When cooking, I tried to make it lighter, so I went to another extreme. In addition to putting I basically don’t add soy sauce, salt, or other seasonings.

After eating for a while, my wife said with some dissatisfaction: The vegetables you stir-fry have no taste. What you eat every day is soy sauce, which is not delicious at all. If you continue like this, it will still taste bad. Mom is reliable in cooking in the kitchen.

For a long time, my family had not eaten MSG, chicken essence, oyster sauce and other seasonings for dinner. Therefore, after reflection that night, I made some adjustments and all the seasonings were in moderation. , mainly use less, but not none. After eating such dishes, I suddenly felt that my cooking skills may have improved a lot.

Over a long period of time, I have changed in myself when cooking in the kitchen. I have changed from using more to less of various seasonings. My family’s complaints have made me start to think about various seasonings. role.

For example: pepper, oyster sauce, vinegar, salt and other seasonings, in the process of cooking dishes, the role is simple but irreplaceable, only soy sauce, it seems that it can be added to any dish, everyone likes to eat green pepper Dishes such as stir-fried shredded pork, braised pork, sweet and sour pork ribs, braised beef, etc., add some light and dark soy sauce, which will taste good and the color of the dishes will also look good.

Even when soy sauce is not used, people still use soy sauce as a dipping sauce, such as dumplings, xiaolongbao, siu mai, etc. I don’t know if you have ever had this experience. Add a little light soy sauce to fried poached eggs, and the taste of the poached eggs will be different immediately.

The process of thinking is the process of finding answers. If you want to explain soy sauce clearly, you must know what "pumping" means? After eating dark soy sauce and light soy sauce for so many years, I finally know what the difference is. Now, let me tell you what I think?

To understand simply, soy sauce is a traditional Chinese condiment. It is a liquid condiment brewed from soybeans and wheat by adding water and salt. It has a unique sauce aroma, delicious taste, and can stimulate appetite.

Soy sauce evolved from soy sauce. The working people in ancient China invented the brewing method of soy sauce purely by accident. The earliest soy sauce was made from pickled fresh meat, which is similar to the production process of fish sauce. The excellent flavor spread to the people. Ordinary people discovered that the flavor of soybean brewing was similar to that of pickled fresh meat, and the price was very cheap. Gradually, it began to spread and was widely eaten by everyone.

In the early days, soy sauce was spread by Buddhist monks and spread all over the world. The brewing of soy sauce in China was an art and secret in the early days. The brewing method was mastered by individual masters. This technology is often passed down by their descendants from generation to generation. According to legend.

The general timeline for the development of soy sauce is as follows:

1. Seasonings similar to soy sauce appeared during the Qin and Han Dynasties. It seems that the name at that time was: "Doujiang Qing". It was a relatively common condiment at that time.

2. The term soy sauce began to appear in the Song Dynasty. People in the Song Dynasty called various sauces obtained by processing soy sauce and black bean sauce soy sauce. As condiments, they began to become popular in Chinese food.

3. In the Qing Dynasty, soy sauce already played a very important role in the diet.

4. In ancient times, soy sauce had the following names, such as: clear sauce, bean paste clear, sauce, sauce, soy sauce, soy sauce, dripping oil, etc.

On weekdays, when we go to the supermarket to buy soy sauce, what everyone cares most about is the price and brand. Few people care about the classification of soy sauce. Today we will briefly talk about the classification of soy sauce, mainly based on these few Classification in two directions:

1. According to the brewing process, it can be divided into low-salt solid state process, pouring process, high-salt dilute state process, etc.

2. Classify according to international standards, which is the standard number we usually see on the back label of soy sauce bottles, which is GB.

3. Divide according to the grade of soy sauce. This is mainly to check the content of amino acid nitrogen in soy sauce, because the higher the content, the better the problem, because the umami taste and nutritional value of soy sauce depend on the content of amino acid nitrogen. The higher the content, the better the grade of soy sauce. High, according to the standard GB18186 for brewing soy sauce, if the content of amino acid nitrogen is greater than 0.8 grams per 100 ml, it is a special-grade soy sauce, a first-grade soy sauce is about 0.7 grams, and a second-grade soy sauce is about 0.55 grams.

4. Divide according to color. According to color, it can be divided into light soy sauce and dark soy sauce.

Light soy sauce: relatively light in color, reddish brown, and relatively light in taste. It is used for general cooking, mostly cold dishes or general stir-fries. Light soy sauce is a type of soy sauce.

Dark soy sauce: Dark soy sauce is added with caramel color. It is very dark, brown and shiny. It has a rich taste and is used for simple purposes. It is used to color meat ingredients and braise dishes. More. The production of dark soy sauce is based on light soy sauce, adding caramel color and rich soy sauce made through a special process.

Let’s talk about something you don’t know. In daily life, soy sauce can easily become moldy if it is not stored properly. Especially in summer, it must be stored in a cool and low-temperature place. If If you find that the mouth of the soy sauce bottle or the soy sauce is moldy, don't eat it. You can't eat moldy soy sauce. The mouth of the soy sauce bottle is the most susceptible to mold. Once you find it, throw it away. Don't take any chances.

When buying soy sauce in the supermarket, we must learn to read the label on the soy sauce bottle and understand the purpose of the soy sauce. For example, soy sauce for table meals and soy sauce for cooking have different hygiene indicators. The colony index will also be different, so if it is soy sauce used for cooking, it is best not to use it directly for making cold dishes.

If you want to understand the meaning of "pumping", you have to talk about the five largest soy sauce manufacturers in our country, three of which are in the Pearl River Delta region. Therefore, the use of the word "pumping" , may be inextricably related to the spoken language and names of Cantonese people, because there are many soy sauce companies in Guangdong, so the classification of soy sauce will naturally have a greater impact.

Literally understood, "puking" means to draw out the soy sauce from the vat. Because the extraction time is different, the first extraction is called light soy sauce, and subsequent extractions are called light soy sauce. Old smoked.

After the light soy sauce is extracted, the remaining soy sauce still needs to continue to ferment in the vat. After a period of time, the soy sauce in the vat will change, and the composition and color will change. It will be extracted later. At that time, it was called Lao Tsai.

After briefly understanding light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, we still need to summarize it. Through summary and comparison, everyone can understand the difference between them more clearly?

The time is different: Dark soy sauce can be said to be the grown version of light soy sauce. The fermentation and drying time are longer than that of light soy sauce. Comparing from the perspective of time, dark soy sauce is naturally longer than light soy sauce. Long drying time.

Different nutritional components: Due to the different extraction time points, the nutritional components of light soy sauce and dark soy sauce are definitely different due to the fermentation and drying time.

Different colors: After the light soy sauce is extracted, the dark soy sauce will be fermented and dried in the sauce vat for a long time. During the time period, the light soy sauce will naturally be lighter in color than the dark soy sauce. Caramel is also added to dark soy sauce during the drying process, which naturally makes the color darker.

The taste is different: After the light soy sauce is extracted, other raw materials will be added to the sauce tank for fermentation. When the dark soy sauce is extracted, the salt content of the dark soy sauce will naturally be higher and the taste will be saltier. The brewing time of dark soy sauce is longer, the taste of soy sauce is naturally stronger, and the aroma of soy sauce will be more intense.

To summarize: light soy sauce tastes fresher and lighter in color than dark soy sauce. Dark soy sauce tastes saltier and darker than light soy sauce, and the sauce flavor will be richer.

In daily life, we only need to remember the biggest difference between light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Light soy sauce is used to season dishes, while dark soy sauce is used to color ingredients. of.

1. Dark soy sauce can give dishes a very nice color. For example: when making braised pork, braised pork ribs, braised lamb, and braised beef at home, in addition to frying the sugar color, we also add sugar to the meat ingredients. Dark soy sauce is most commonly used for coloring. Dishes should have both color and aroma. Dark soy sauce is to provide a good-looking color to the dishes and make diners like the dishes more.

2. While dark soy sauce adds color, it will also provide some saltiness to the dishes. Therefore, after adding dark soy sauce, the amount of salt used should be reduced as appropriate.

3. The taste of light soy sauce is definitely much better than that of dark soy sauce, and it can be used to season dishes. For example, we buy light soy sauce that can be used with meals. When making cold dishes, Light soy sauce can play a more critical role.

4. Light soy sauce can make the dishes taste fresh and sweet.

At the end of writing, I still want to say a few words. To understand it literally, "pump" means to draw out the soy sauce from the tank, because the drawing time is different. The first draw , is called light soy sauce, and the subsequent extraction is called dark soy sauce.

Analysis from daily use is actually a process of making perfect. There is no fixed pattern. Everyone’s eating habits are different. When we cook dishes, we will gradually develop It has become a fixed eating habit, so the use of light soy sauce and dark soy sauce is not static.