Endless aftertaste, lingering fragrance on lips and teeth! Which spices in the kitchen have this effect?

It can be said with certainty that no spice has the effect of leaving an endless aftertaste and leaving a fragrance on the lips and teeth.

Most of the spices we usually refer to now are the dried products of spice plants. They can be the roots, buds, branches, bark, leaves, fruits, etc. of the plant. They can not only add color, fragrance, remove fishy smell, and preserve food, but also have a pungent taste and can form a special flavor. Most of the spices used in our country are also traditional Chinese herbal medicines, and are often called spices, marinades, aniseeds, etc. among the people. Why do none of the spices have the effect of leaving an endless aftertaste and leaving a fragrance on the lips and teeth?

The reason is simple. Let’s take brine as an example. Let’s first summarize the functions of spices in brine, which are nothing more than three: 1. Giving aroma and taste to ingredients, 2. Removing fishy and odors from ingredients, and 3. Improving appetite.

Each spice has its own characteristics and has its own role in the brine. For example, star anise mainly adds flavor, and can also remove fishy smell and supplement it. A small amount of Sichuan peppercorns can remove the fishy smell, while a large amount can increase the numbing taste. Nutmeg adds umami flavor. Angelica dahurica is mainly used to remove fishy smell, especially suitable for poultry meat, and it also has a flavor-enhancing effect. Peppermint and licorice can not only give sweetness and aroma to dishes, but also have the effect of mediating the taste and can be used to balance or neutralize the medicinal smell of various spices.

However, in the process of seasoning brine, spices can rarely work alone, because a certain spice does not have all the functions in one. Most of them need to be based on the characteristics of the ingredients, taste requirements, and Use them in combination with their own characteristics. In layman's terms, it means that spices must be compatible. Only with proper combination can they achieve the function of being used in brine, and can have endless aftertaste and lingering fragrance on the lips and teeth. How can spices have the effect of leaving endless aftertaste and leaving fragrance on the lips and teeth?

As mentioned above, most of the spices are commonly used traditional Chinese herbal medicines. The spice formulas (including classic prescriptions) composed of them are boiled in water at best, and the higher the concentration is the Chinese herbal medicine water. Not only is it not The fragrance also has a bitter taste, so the spice recipe must have matching ingredients. The pre-processed ingredients are put into a certain proportion of cooking water, seasoned and heated to make the ingredients taste mature. This is the cooking technique "stewed". After the stew is repeated many times, the stew absorbs the fresh aroma of the ingredients and becomes more and more fragrant. With the help of the fragrance of the stew, the ingredients become endless aftertaste, leaving a fragrance on the lips and teeth. Therefore, if spices want to have endless aftertaste and leave a fragrance on the lips and teeth, they must focus on two key points: the combination of spices and ingredients, and the combination of the spices themselves.

●The combination of spices and ingredients

Spices not only have unique characteristics, but so do the ingredients. For example, the pork ingredients we often use have a certain aroma and a certain fishy smell (such as pig heads and pig trotters, etc.). The chicken ingredients are very umami and have a slightly lighter aroma. The beef and mutton ingredients are characterized by a fishy smell. big. According to the temperament of pork, the ingredients for braised pork are generally cinnamon and star anise (to further enhance the aroma), nutmeg is added to enhance the flavor, and then paired with galangal (to remove fishy smell) amomum villosum, grass fruit, cloves, licorice, etc. Chicken ingredients can be mixed with galangal, cinnamon, and angelica to remove the fishy smell, and then paired with tangerine peel, grass fruit, and bone-free fragrant camomile, and finally add bone-fragrant cloves. Beef and mutton ingredients are first removed from the mutton and then flavored, with angelica dahurica, white cardamom, pepper, fennel, grass fruit, kaempferol, amomum villosum, etc. added.

●The combination of the spices themselves

Before we braise the ingredients, we usually determine the general spice framework, such as the commonly used central axis framework method, which is composed of cinnamon bark, angelica angelica, grass fruit, and cloves. All kinds of spices serve as the overall framework, and the front, middle and back fragrances echo each other. In order to further enrich the aroma, achieve a balance of medicinal properties and highlight the flavor and color, other spices can be added on this basis. Let’s share a Sichuan-style five-spice brine recipe for your reference.

50 grams of Angelica dahurica, 40 grams of star anise, 20 grams of galangal, 20 grams of grass fruit, 15 grams of bay leaves, 20 grams of nutmeg, 15 grams of dried ginger, 20 grams of cardamom, 40 grams of cinnamon, 15 grams of amomum villosum, 20 grams of white cardamom, 10 grams of cumin, 5 grams of cloves, 15 grams of tangerine peel, 10 grams of pepper, and 10 grams of pepper.

In addition to the two key points of the above-mentioned spices, the marinating time, heat, and pre-processing of ingredients are inextricably related to the endless aftertaste of the ingredients and the fragrance on the lips and teeth. Of course, this article is mainly about spices, so Just focus on the key points. As for other relationships, we have time to talk about them later.

——The above are all the answers to this Q&A. I hope it can be of reference to my friends. If you have any shortcomings in this article, you are welcome to leave a message in the comment area to correct me.