Nothing tastes better than dumplings, and nothing is more fun than...cooking dumplings

Tomorrow is the winter solstice, and your food blogger Tadpole is online!

Dumplings are a "standard" winter solstice dish for northerners. As the saying goes, nothing tastes better than dumplings, and nothing is more fun than... cooking dumplings. Do you know how to cook dumplings?

Image source: pixabay

Cooking dumplings is a technical job. If you cook them for too long, they will easily fall apart, thus losing their shape and taste. But if you cook the dumplings for too short a time, it will easily lead to the embarrassing situation that the skin is cooked but the filling is not. (Tell me, which mistake do you tend to make?)

How to ensure that the skin and filling are cooked at the same time, so that dumplings are both beautiful and delicious?

Now let Tadpole, who is very good at cooking dumplings, share with you some “tips for cooking dumplings scientifically”.

How to cook dumplings

About water temperature

First of all, when cooking dumplings, the water temperature is very important. The freshly made dumplings should be put into the pot after the water boils, so that the protein in the dumpling skin can be quickly fixed into shape and will not be broken in the high-temperature boiling water.

When cooking dumplings with meat filling, you can add cold water (that is, add a little water) during the cooking process, because meat dumplings take longer to cook. If the water is kept boiling, the dumpling skin is likely to be boiled through when the filling is cooked.

An appropriate amount of cold water will lower the water temperature, which will not only cook the dumplings but also make them chewier.

If it is quick-frozen dumplings, you need to put them in cold water. Quick-frozen dumplings need a certain amount of time to thaw. During the boiling process of cold water, the dumplings will go through an adaptation stage from cold to hot. After the water boils, the thawed dumplings are easier to cook.

Since the dumplings will become hard, brittle and lose their toughness after being frozen, if you use boiling water to cook the dumplings at this time, the dumplings will not have time to soften, and will not be able to withstand the tension of expansion during the heat expansion process, and will easily crack.

Remember to stir properly

The dumplings should be stirred appropriately during the cooking process. The stronger the stirring intensity, the faster the sticky starch layer on the surface of the dumplings will be diluted, and it will be easier for water molecules to penetrate through the surface of the dumpling skin. However, you should be careful not to stir too hard, otherwise it will easily cause the dumpling skin to break.

In addition to temperature, the gelatinization rate of starch (the speed at which starch swells and splits to form a uniform paste solution at high temperature) is also directly related to the protein content in the dumpling wrapper. The higher the protein content, the slower the gelatinization rate of starch, which is the fundamental reason why high-gluten flour is not suitable for making dumpling wrappers.

If you use high-gluten flour to make dumplings, remember to roll the dumpling skin thinner so that it will cook faster.

Add salt appropriately

Many people choose to add some salt when cooking dumplings. Why do they do this?

Firstly, because the density of salt water is greater than that of water, the dumplings are easier to float and less likely to stick to the bottom. They are also less likely to rub against the bottom when they roll at the beginning, so the dumpling skin is less likely to break.

On the other hand, the boiling point of salt water is higher than that of water. The boiling point of saturated salt water is 108 °C. When we cook dumplings in daily life, we don’t need to reach the saturated state. Just add some salt appropriately.

At the same temperature, if the salt water has not yet boiled, the dumplings will roll less and will not break easily. However, if the boiling degree is the same, it means that the temperature of the salt water is higher, the dumplings will cook faster, the rolling time will be shorter, and they will be relatively less likely to break.

It should be noted that excessive consumption of salt increases the risk of high blood pressure. Therefore, whether adding salt to the dumpling filling or to the water used to cook the dumplings, it should be done in moderation. It is best not to drink the water used to cook the dumplings with salt.

Open the lid to cook the skin, close the lid to cook the filling

If you cover the pot right after putting the dumplings in it, the heat in the pot cannot dissipate, causing the temperature inside the pot to remain high. The starch gelatinizes quickly under high temperature conditions, and the inside of the dumpling begins to expand due to the heat before the dumpling skin is cooked and set. The dumplings are prone to cracking, resulting in broken skin, exposed fillings, and sticking together.

Wait until the dumpling skin is cooked before covering the lid. The heat of the dumpling filling is wrapped in the dumpling skin and is not easy to dissipate, so it can be cooked faster. Add a bowl of cold water during the cooking process to help the dumplings cool down, so that the inside and outside are heated evenly and the taste is smoother and chewier.

Choose the right water temperature, stir constantly, add appropriate amount of salt and cold water...it turns out there are so many tricks to having a "perfect" dumpling.

The winter solstice is here. If you cook dumplings scientifically according to the above method, you will definitely get a better taste~

Do you have any good dumpling cooking tips to share?

END

Audit expert: Wang Guoyi, Postdoctoral Fellow in Food Safety

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Heart and Paper