Do you need to boil the fish maw? Why do you need to boil the fish maw?

We all know that fish maw is a common nourishing food. It is rich in nutrition, tastes delicious, and has good edible value. Many people cook fish maw at home. Fish maw usually needs to be soaked before eating. So does soaked fish maw need to be boiled? Let's take a closer look!

Does fish maw need to be soaked?

Fish maw is usually soaked in water before eating.

Fish maw is a dry product when you buy it, so it needs to be pre-processed before cooking, and then soaked before cooking. Compared with shark fins, tendons, sea cucumbers, etc., fish maw is relatively simple to soak. After being soaked in advance, fish maw absorbs more water and tastes better.

Why do we need to boil fish maw first?

When fish maw is dried, it has lost water and become dry, and the water content is basically negligible. We soak fish maw, that is, let the fish maw cells absorb water again. Boil in boiling water for 10 minutes. The high temperature can open the pepper cells and facilitate the entry of water. If it is boiled at high temperature for a long time, the surface of the fish maw will quickly absorb water and soften. However, the speed at which the fish maw absorbs water inside is far slower than the speed at which the outside of the fish maw softens. This will cause the outside of the fish maw to become soft, but the inside is still very hard. Under high temperature, the surface of the fish maw is easy to soften and leak out, and the inside of the fish maw is still in a very hard state. If the whole fish maw is saturated with water from the inside to the outside through long-term boiling, some of the colloid will inevitably be lost into the water, which is a loss and a waste. Therefore, we first use hot water to wake up the cells of the fish maw to open it, and then repeatedly change cold water for a long time to soak it, so that the cold water slowly penetrates into the inside of the fish maw to achieve the purpose of soaking.

How to soak fish maw

Get started:

1. Rinse the fish maw with water in advance.

2. Boil water in a pot, add peppercorns after the water boils, cook for about 10 minutes, and turn off the heat.

3. Continue soaking, and when the water becomes warm, pour it out and replace it with cold water.

4. Continue soaking in cold water until the fish maw fully absorbs water and becomes swollen.

Note:

1. The container must be absolutely clean without any oil.

2. It takes a long time for fish maw to soak, so putting it in the refrigerator during soaking can prevent the fish maw from deteriorating.

3. Change the water every 8 hours or so.

How to choose fish maw

Look at the color

Naturally dried fish maw is golden yellow in color, and golden yellow is the best color. Many fish maws are bleached, which makes them whiter in color. Don't choose this kind of fish maw.

See completeness

Good fish maws are made by drying the whole fish bladder in the sun. The bigger the fish maw, the better and the more expensive it is. Some people will splice small fish maws together and sell them as good ones. You should pay special attention when purchasing them.

Look at the thickness

The thicker the fish maw is, the higher the gelatin content is, and the dishes made from it will be more chewy and soft. When choosing, we should try to choose thicker fish maws.

Look at the bloodshot

Natural fish maw comes from the fish bladder, which is an organ of the fish body, so there will be blood vessels distributed in the fish bladder. After drying, you can see a little blood.

Look at the head

The bigger the fish maw is, the rarer it is and the more expensive it is. If your financial situation allows, choose a larger fish maw, as it will be thicker, taste better, and have better effects.

Smell

Fish maw itself comes from fish, which is a product of cleaning and drying, so it smells slightly fishy. Bleached fish maw will have a pungent smell.

That’s all about the selection of fish maw. You can choose the fish maw that suits you according to your economic conditions. If it’s just for beauty, ordinary fish maw is also rich in collagen and can also achieve the purpose of supplementing collagen.