Chinese cooking wine is made from rice wine and many other spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. Contains less than 15% alcohol and is rich in amino acids. Cooking wine is used to remove or mask the smell and grease of meat, fish and seafood. Cooking wine can also add flavor to food. This is a condiment, not a drink. Cooking wines are produced all over China, but the most famous is shaoxing cooking wine, made from shaoxing rice wine.
In theory, beer, liquor and whiskey can also be used to make cooking wine. However, after a long time of practice and taste, people found that the food cooked with different cooking wine taste is very different. Food flavored with Chinese rice wine tastes best.
Chinese cooking wine is rich in 8 amino acids, such as leucine, isoleucine, methionine, phenylalanine and threonine. Among them, lysine and tryptophan can produce neurotransmitters in the brain, improve sleep quality, and also benefit children’s physical development.
The main function of Chinese cooking wine is to remove the smell and grease of meat, fish and other food. The fishy substance dissolves in hot alcohol, which evaporates.
Cooking wine also contains a variety of amino acids, so that the dishes have a strong flavor.
Before cooking, fish, seafood and other meat can be soaked in cooking wine, promote the dissolution of fish flavor substances, cooking with ethanol evaporation. This is usually used for steaming and cooking.
In the cooking process, the time to add cooking wine depends on the cooking method and ingredients. The substances with fishy smell can be dissolved by the ethanol in cooking wine, which volatilizes together at high temperature. Fried meat, should be added after the meat color; If the dish is stir-fried and then stewed, it should be added before stewing; When cooking soup, first add the broth, then turn the heat; When you fry the shrimp, pour in the cooking wine and remove.
Don’t use too much cooking wine, or the taste of the wine will mask the taste of the food.
