Boiled meat is familiar in the life of the Vietnamese people. With just a piece of fresh pork boiled until cooked, dipped in salt, lemon juice, or fish sauce, you can create a simple and delicious meal without the need for complicated cooking.
Boiling meat is not too difficult. Usually, you just need to put the meat in a pot, fill it with water, and boil it until the meat is cooked. However, to eliminate the unpleasant smell of pork and have a beautiful white color after cooking, you need to follow certain tips.
Choosing good pork
When buying pork, you should choose pieces of meat with bright colors, usually light pink or light red, with white fat that is slightly transparent. Avoid buying pieces of meat with strange colors, pale colors, or too dark colors. If you touch the meat with your hands and feel a slightly sticky surface, you should avoid buying it. In addition, if you press your finger on the meat and see a dent that can return to its original state quickly, it is fresh meat.
Fresh meat will have the characteristic aroma of raw meat, but this smell is not unpleasant. Do not buy meat with a strong foul or pungent smell. To choose good pork, you should choose pieces of meat with separate meat and fat textures but sticking together tightly.
Pre-processing the meat
To have delicious boiled meat, first, you need to clean the remaining hair on the skin by rubbing salt all over the meat or rinsing the meat with diluted salt water to remove dirt and eliminate unpleasant odors.
To eliminate the unpleasant smell of the meat, you can blanch the meat with boiling water before boiling it. To do this, put the meat in a pot, pour enough water, add crushed spring onions and ginger to the pot, and boil for about 2-3 minutes. Then, take out the meat and rinse it clean to prepare for boiling.
Note that if you put the meat in the freezer, you must thaw it completely before boiling to ensure that the meat is evenly cooked and delicious.
Tips for cooking white and beautiful meat
To make the boiled meat tasty and attractive, before boiling, you need to clean the hair on the meat’s skin by rubbing salt or rinsing with diluted salt water to remove dirt and unpleasant odors.
Then, put the meat in a pot of boiling water and pour water to cover the meat. Add crushed dried shallots, spring onions, a few slices of ginger, and a little salt to make the meat aromatic and flavorful.
To make the boiled meat white and fragrant, you can use vinegar or lemon juice. You can add vinegar or lemon juice to the pot while boiling the meat or add it during the blanching process.
To ensure the meat is evenly cooked and tender, you should start with high heat for boiling the water, then reduce the heat to simmer the meat evenly and make it more tender. Remember that if the meat is frozen, you need to thaw it completely before boiling.
Tips for preventing dry boiled meat
To prevent the boiled meat from being dry, you need to pay attention to the cooking time and check it before turning off the heat. For a medium-sized piece of meat, the cooking time is about 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness. Check if the meat is cooked by inserting a skewer into the meat vertically. If you see pink-colored liquid coming out, the meat is not cooked yet. Cook for another 5 minutes and check again.
After the meat is cooked, to prevent it from drying out and losing its color, you should immediately remove the meat and soak it in a bowl of ice water for 2-3 minutes. This method helps the meat become firm and easier to slice. If you want the meat to be fragrant and white, you can add crushed dried shallots, spring onions, ginger, and a little salt to the pot while boiling the meat or add 1 teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to the pot. Note that you should use high heat when putting the meat in the pot, then reduce the heat when the water boils to ensure that the meat is evenly cooked and tender.