possible to keep Mala Hot Soup (麻辣火鍋) for a year?

[zozzen]

Recently i tried the Mala soup in a restaurant (秦媽). it was extremely wonderful and i took away the soup with me so that i can enjoy having mala taste whenever i want.

The soup has been kept for a week and it shows no signs of being rotten. I'm wondering, based on the very thick layer of oil on top of the soup that keeps bacteria away, if it's possible to keep the soup for at least a year?

In case someone who didn't try, Mala soup is a spicy soup for hot pot with a very thick layer of chili butter and vegetable oil.

[yonglin]

Firstly, the soup stock (under the oil) will contain oxygen for growth of bacteria. If there is no oxygen, I would be concerned about botulism, since Clostridium botulinum grows perfectly fine without oxygen. On the other hand, you can apparently kill toxins by boiling foods for 20 minutes. Why would you want to store it for a year if it's so good anyway? Also, the oil will probably go rancid in the meantime.

[zozzen]

microbiologically insightful! i guess you explained why the soup has been kept without being rotten for two weeks. I boiled it almost every day.

I'm just a little bit exaggerating on the time i want to keep. preserving it for 6 months is great enough to save my addictive soul on mala hot pot when i'm not in china.

[teaforme]

Boiling it does kill off germs. You have to let it come to a good, rolling boil for about 10 minutes for it to work, though. And if you store the soup in the fridge, you'd have to boil it ever few days (2 or 3 days) to keep it safe. Restaurants do something similar to keep their soup stocks and bases fresh.

The other option is to freeze the soup (boil it first, cool it to a safe temperature, put it in a freeze-safe container). If you plan to be gone for extended periods of time, this may be a better option. Freezing should keep your soup indefinitely, but to keep the soup 'fresh' you need to bring it out and boil it once every two or three months.

[moderntime]

Yes, it's probably better to freeze the stock rather than keep boiling it every day for a year.

It is also quite easy to make your own (http://www.meishij.net/chufang/diy/huoguo/18636.html) or even just buy the 麻辣火鍋 packets that are sold in all the supermarkets. All you have to do is add water or chicken stock. My personal favorite is the Little Sheep 小肥羊 brand.

[self-taught-mba]

Just leave it in the sun -- it's like a natural heat lamp for food.

2nd the packet idea.

[zozzen]

Thanks moderntime, freezing it is a good idea, as long as the refrig is available.... I'm just not sure about it, but i'd definitely not going to try self-taught-mba's preservation method. I think there's a risk for contamination

It is also quite easy to make your own (http://www.meishij.net/chufang/diy/huoguo/18636.html) or even just buy the 麻辣火鍋 packets that are sold in all the supermarkets. All you have to do is add water or chicken stock. My personal favorite is the Little Sheep 小肥羊 brand.

yeah, teaforme, i've also tried 小肥羊's soup pack (not traditional oily mala) and among all soup pack, it's the best at resembling the taste in restaurants. But i prefer traditional mala soup with a thick layer of oil. I haven't figured out why the 'traditional mala' soup pack I made at home is always not as good as the soup directly delivered from the restaurant. Something must be missing.

[muyongshi]

You know that you can buy the 火锅底料 right? Why not just do that?

Oh and a hint.... cook it outside in a crock pot or rice cooker, it works great but the main reason is that if you do it inside, you will never, and i mean never get that smell out!

[zozzen]

You know that you can buy the 火锅底料 right? Why not just do that?

Oh and a hint.... cook it outside in a crock pot or rice cooker, it works great but the main reason is that if you do it inside, you will never, and i mean never get that smell out!

i guess the ingredients in the soup pack is different from the one i got in a restaurant?

[xiaocai]

You can try to autoclave it for about 15 minutes after pressurisation and then freeze it in an air-tight container after it has cooled down with the lid closed during cooling. Not very sure if it going to work for 火锅底料 though...