Cookbook Recipes

• Scald meat and bone ingredients in boiling water first before rinsing them in water to remove any froth and blood. This removes stench and gives a clearer soup.

• When making soup, first bring it to a boil over high heat. Then immediately switch to lower heat and allow it to simmer gently. Maintain small bubbles on the surface of the soup. While too low a heat may inhibit the release of proteins in the ingredients, heating at too high a temperature will cloud the soup and make it murky.

• Add ingredients only when the water has come to a boil and do not add any more cold water in the midst of cooking. This is to ensure that the quality of the soup is not affected and that the ingredients will not stick to the bottom of the pot easily.

• Do not lift the lid unnecessarily to ensure a constant temperature within the pot for a naturally rich and fragrant soup.

• Avoid adding salt too early as salt has a permeable effect that infiltrates food easily, releases moisture and thus speeding up the solidification of protein which will affect the taste of the soup.

• Controlling the amount of water needed is also essential to making good soup. Determinant of the amount of water needed is based on the type of ingredients in use. For ingredients like beans, grains, dried food and medicinal products, more water is needed while for ingredients like vegetables and fruits, that gives out water when stewed, lesser is required. The exact knowledge on the amount needed will easier as you gain more and more experience over time.

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