Is it possible to dilute the broth with water - why is the cook against?
Every housewife misfires from time to time in the kitchen - water boils when cooking meat, boils soup or just the broth turns out to be too concentrated. Can broth be diluted with water? Yes, but you need to be prepared that it affects the taste of the finished dish. In a short time, a new portion of water will not have time to be filled with aromas and useful substances, which means that it will be felt that the product is hated and diluted. If you still decide to do this, do not forget to follow one important rule - boil the liquid for 1 minute to kill the pathogens.
Why is dilution of the broth undesirable?
Many are sure that adding water to the finished soup or broth is unacceptable. Such an action actually looks like barbarism. This is similar to adding a little milk to the ice cream. Indeed, in fact, water when cooking meat is saturated with useful substances, fat, spices and becomes a completely different product - broth.
Adding a portion of pure water will lead to the following consequences for the dish:
- Quick spoilage. If the broth is diluted with raw water, it will deteriorate very quickly. The heat-treated fluid contains billions of microorganisms. Once in a warm nutrient medium, they will begin to multiply intensively. If after adding water the dish is not boiled, then within a day it will turn sour, it will get an unpleasant smell and taste.
- Deterioration in taste. It is about the change in the taste of the broth after dilution with water that they complain most often. It becomes somehow fresh, unsaturated, weak. Although some do not note any changes. Apparently, it all depends on the sensitivity of taste buds, and maybe on the feeling of hunger.
- Decrease in concentration of useful substances. It is known that to preserve the taste and useful elements inside the meat, it is placed in boiling water. To get a tasty broth, on the contrary, the meat is slowly heated so that it gives all the benefits to the water and is well boiled. Diluting the finished dish with water, we get a low content of nutrients in a large amount of liquid.
Meat broths are boiled for a long time, for at least an hour. Therefore, water should always be poured with a large supply (2-3 times more) and the dish should be kept on low heat so that the liquid does not boil too quickly.
What to do with concentrated broth?
There are several ways to adequately get out of the situation. To dilute the broth does not affect its taste, select one of the options:
- Cooking the second broth. The ideal way out of the situation is to get the meat (mushrooms, fish), pour the right portion of water and boil again. You get a broth called the second. It is less fat and is often prescribed for digestive problems.
- Mixing the second and first broth. To make the broth fatter, you can mix it with the first and cook on fire for 1 minute. The result is a product that practically does not differ in taste from the broth, cooked in accordance with all the rules.
- Dilution with water and boiling for 7-15 minutes. If the cooking time allows you to hold the pan on the fire for a little longer, you can safely add water. For 7-15 minutes, the liquids are completely mixed and saturated with meat aroma and taste.
Note that when diluting broth with water, you need to recalculate the added salt and spices. Most likely, you will have to slightly salt the liquid so that it does not turn out fresh.
Diluting the broth with water is not a good idea. However, when there is no other way out, you can do so.So that this does not affect the taste of the dish, boil the liquid and add a little salt and spices. And for the future: when cooking meat, you always need to consider that water in the process boils, and significantly. Therefore, it is more correct to initially add more of it. Then you will not have to dilute a valuable product.