Vietnamese Cooking Tips
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Vietnamese Blog Blog Trekker: Vietnamese Cooking Tips
Please share your cooking tips with other readers. Thanks!
Thanks You for Visiting Chd
Egg roll (Cha gio) tips
I have learned a technique to get the fried egg roll outer skin crunchier and the filling moist and more flavorful: Freeze the egg rolls before deep-frying them at 350 to 375 degrees F. It worked out great.
The person who taught me this cannot explain why, but according to my thinking: while the outer skin is fried in hot oil, the filling is still frozen so its juice does not sip out and wet the skin. After the skin is completely fried, the filling starts to melt and its juice is trapped and boiled inside the skin wrap; as result: the filling is steamed by its juice & retains all flavor, and the skin remains crunchy.
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These are links to great tips for how to use Herbs and Spices
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_herbs_and_spices
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/kitchentips/herbspice.html
Have fun
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Chinese Stir-Fry Techniques
Chao technique
A traditionally round-bottom iron pan called a wok is heated to a high temperature. A small amount of cooking oil is then poured down the side of the wok (a traditional expression in China regarding this is "hot wok, cold oil"), followed by dry seasonings (including ginger and garlic), then at the first moment the seasonings can be smelled, meats are added and agitated. Once the meat is seared, vegetables along with liquid ingredients (for example often including premixed combinations of some of soy sauce, vinegar, wine, salt, sugar, and cornstarch) are added. The wok then may be covered for a moment so the water in the liquid ingredients can warm up the new ingredients as it steams off. To keep the meat juicy, usually a cook would take the seared meat out before vegetables are added, and put the meat back right before vegetables are done. In some dishes, or if the cooking conditions are inadequate, different components may be stir fried separately before being combined in the final dish (if, for example, the chef desires the taste of the stir fried vegetables and meats to remain distinct).
The food is stirred and tossed out very quickly using wooden or metal cooking utensils. Some chefs will lift the wok to the side to let the flame light the oil or add a dash of wine spirit to give the food extra flavor. Using this method, many dishes can be cooked extremely quickly (within a minute).
Some dishes that require more time are cooked by adding a few dashes of water after the stirring. Then the wok is covered with a lid. As soon as steam starts to come out from under the lid, the dish is ready. In this case, the food is stir fried on high heat for flavor and then steamed to ensure that it is fully cooked.
Bao technique
The wok is heated to a dull red glow. With the wok hot, the oil, seasonings and meats are added in rapid succession with no pause in between. The food is continually tossed, stopping for several seconds only to add other ingredients such as various seasonings, broths or vegetables. When the food is deemed to be cooked it is poured and ladled out of the wok. The wok must then be quickly rinsed to prevent food residues from charring and burning to the wok bottom because of residual heat.
The main ingredients are usually cut to smaller pieces to aid in cooking. As well, a larger amount of cooking oil with a high smoke point, such as lard and/or peanut oil, is often used in bao
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How to store galic
Garlic is stored warm (above 18°C) and dry, to keep it dormant (so that it does not sprout.
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How to stir-fry
· While you can stir-fry in any old skillet, the wok with depth and sloping sides are ideal since the wok's sloping sides are cooler there, so you can move ingredients away from the hot bottom to the sides
· Prepare everything you need before you begin to stir-fry. Cut all your vegetables and meats and prepare your sauce. Stir-frying is fast; you won't really have time to chop the broccoli while the onion is cooking.
· Make sure that your vegetables and meats are all cut approximately the same size - bite size, as a matter of fact. Stir-frying uses high heat, so pieces must be small enough to cook through without burning.
· Heat the pan first, then add oil. When the oil is hot, add aromatics, such as ginger and garlic, and stir-fry for a few seconds, or until you smell them.
· Stir-fry the meat completely first, then add it back in at the end. (This works well for a large assemblage of ingredients, because you ensure the meat cooks fully but not too much.)
· You'll need to stagger ingredients to the stir-fry according to how long they take to cook: For example, you'd add onions first, and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, then add broccoli florets and stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes, then add red bell pepper and stir-fry for 2 more minutes. Start adding your other ingredients, according to their approximate cooking times. When the food is about two-thirds done, add your sauce. If the food will take more than a few minutes more to cook, cover and steam until done. If it will take less time, continue to stir-fry.
· Practice the basic technique of lifting under the food in the wok with a spatula or other flat utensil and moving it to the side.
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Cooking With Garlic
Be careful not to overcook or brown garlic when sautéing in oil. If overcooked, it will become bitter and unpleasant tasting. Minced garlic usually cooks in less than 1 minute. Do not have the cooking oil too hot.
When sautéing onions and garlic in a recipe (such as stir-fry), add the onions first. When the onions are just about done, add the garlic.
Sautéing Garlic - Sautéing is the most common method used for cooking garlic. It will bring out the nutty but savory flavor of the garlic. Garlic can be sautéed in oil or butter but be careful is using butter because is will burn much faster than oil.
Select a pan or skillet with a heavy bottom that will provide for even heating.
Heat the oil or butter over medium heat and then add the garlic.
The garlic should be stirred often to prevent burning.
If cooking with other ingredients that take longer to cook, such as onions, start cooking the other ingredients and allow them to start to cook before adding the garlic.
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Quick Way to Separate Fat from Pho Broth
Typically, the broth is place in the refrigerator over night for the fat to solidify on top of the liquid so it can be scoop out easily. One quick way to do it is to add ice cubes to the broth when it comes close to room temperature; since fat and ice cubes float on top, the fat will condense around the ice, you just scoop the whole thing out.
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