How to soak bird's nest with cold water

Bird's nest is a pure natural food with excellent tonic effect, especially suitable for patients and people with poor physical constitution. Bird's nest has extremely high nutritional value. It is rich in protein, amino acids and other substances. It is a healthy and nourishing food. Bird’s nest tastes very good, but it should be noted that during the previous processing, the bird’s nest needs to be soaked. So, how do you soak bird’s nest in cold water?

How to soak bird's nest

1. Evaporation

First soak the bird's nest in 50℃ water, and when the water cools down, change to 70℃ water and soak it. Take it out after it expands, protect it and do not break it. Rinse it twice in different water, blanch it in 80℃ water, wash and put it in a bowl, steam it on low heat until it is loose and soft.

2. Soaking

Soaking is currently the most common method for making bird's nests, which can be divided into cold water soaking and hot water soaking.

Cold water (or warm water): The water temperature is generally around 40℃, normal temperature in summer and warm water in winter. Soak the bird's nest in cold water for two hours, pick out the feathers and impurities, then put it into a boiling water pot, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. If it is not yet soft, change to boiling water and simmer for another 30 minutes. Because there is a simmering process in the cooking process, it cannot be fully fermented to prevent over-simmering and erosion, and lose its strip shape and soft taste. Take it out when it is suitable for use and soak it in cold water for later use.

Hot water swelling (recommended for emergency use only): Soak the dried bird's nest in hot water. By heating it, the penetration rate of water molecules is increased, which makes the dried bird's nest expand fully, so as to achieve the effect that is difficult to achieve with normal temperature water. This method will have a certain destructive effect on the nutritional components of bird's nests. It is not recommended unless there is a special need.

3. Alkali hair (old hair method, not recommended)

Soak the bird's nest in warm water, rinse it two or three times with clean water (be careful to keep the shape neat), and then soak it in cold water; pour out the water before use, mix the bird's nest with alkaline flour, usually 1.5 grams of alkaline flour is used for 50 grams of bird's nest (if the bird's nest is older, 2.5 grams can be used), add boiling water to lift it; when the bird's nest swells, pour out half of the alkaline water, and then lift it with boiling water three or four times, until it expands to 3 times the original size, feels soft and astringent when rubbed, and breaks when pinched; then rinse to remove the alkaline flour, soak it in cold water for later use. Just absorb the moisture with a dry cloth before cooking.

4. Evaporation

First, soak the bird's nest in 50℃ water until the water cools down and reaches the level of half-cooked or lightly cooked. Then soak it in 70℃ water until it swells. Take it out, rinse it twice with new water, blanch it in 80℃ water, wash it clean, put it in a bowl, and steam it over low heat until it is loose and soft.

Method/Steps:

1. Take a bird's nest and soak it in pure water for 1 hour. Tear the bird's nest into strips, change the water and soak it for about 3-4 hours. The soaking time depends on the thickness of the bird's nest and the degree of soaking. Generally speaking, sparse nests need to be soaked for 2 hours, and dense nests need to be soaked for 3-4 hours, until the bird's nest filaments become loose.

How to soak and cook bird's nest

How to soak and cook bird's nest

2. Put the bird's nest into a colander, shake it in water to filter out the fine hairs, and pick out the tiny impurities in the bird's nest. This is to make the bird's nest taste better when stewed.

How to soak and cook bird's nest

3. Scoop out the cleaned bird's nest with a colander, drain and prepare for stewing. Use a strainer to drain the bird's nest. You can prepare some stewing ingredients, such as lotus seeds, wolfberries, and rock sugar and stew them together for better results.

How to soak and cook bird's nest

4. Put the drained bird's nest into a stewing pot filled with boiling water. Wash and add the prepared ingredients. If you add rock sugar right before taking the pot off the heat, some of the bird's nest and rock sugar will melt into water when stewing.

How to soak and cook bird's nest

5. Put the stewing pot into the water and stew it over low heat (boil the water in the pot over high heat, then use low heat after the water boils). The MSF and EGF in bird's nests can promote human cell regeneration, help recover from illness and replenish vitality, but these two nutrients can only remain active at around 80°C, so they are not suitable for stewing or boiling directly. It is best to simmer them over low heat.