Boiling and Poaching · FFET10506
Zhu (boiling)
Cooking food in boiling water, from rice and noodles to meat.
Cooking ingredients in water or stock until done, covering boiling, poaching, scalding and blanching.
In its narrow sense, zhu means cooking food in boiling water; more broadly, it includes related methods of cooking in liquid, such as covered stewing and simmering. It is used for rice, congee, dumplings, noodles, and tangyuan, and early cookbooks also describe boiling meat and skimming foam.
What
Zhu is a technique for cooking food in boiling water. The term can also be used more broadly to include related methods such as covered stewing and simmering.1
When
An early cookbook records boiling meat and skimming foam, but the supplied material gives no date for that book. Food writings dated 1792 and 1916 also record plain boiling. These dates belong to the books and do not establish when the technique began.2,3,5
Where
Records of Beijing food include boiled whole eggs. The supplied material does not establish where the technique originated.5
How
The basic method is to cook food in boiling water. Recorded meat preparations include boiling pork trotters in plain water and skimming foam after boiling meat.2,4
Why
Boiling calls for attention to heat and to the clarity of the cooking liquid. Older cookbooks discuss both as points of care.3
Impact and influence
Boiling is used for many staple foods, including rice, congee, dumplings, noodles, and tangyuan.1