what's wrong with my eggrolls?

Question

I use ground beef or turkey (instead of pork), cabbage, carrots, saifun noodles, soy sauce, and other seasonings in my eggrolls. After I fry them, the flavor goes away. They taste bland. My friend that showed me how to make eggrolls uses spring roll wrappers and I use eggroll wrappers (the ones that bubble up). Does it have to do with the wrapper?

My friend uses ground beef too by the way. She is Thai.

Answer 1

I think the wrapper has a lot to do with it. I would use the spring roll wrappers as they are lighter. The egg roll wrappers are thick so that most of the taste is of the wrapper.

Saute everything before you wrap it, and taste it so that you can add more seasoning if needed.

Answer 2

The eggroll wrappers should be fine. Not sure what saifun noodles are, but... the seasoiniings may need to be altered kicked up. W/o seeing the recipe, perhaps ginger or scallions, might boost the flavor. I suspect turkey will need a little more seasonings/help. Another thought, perhaps too much cabbage and/or noodles. Use bok choy, perhaps. Another dimension of flavor - add chopped peanuts. Could be the oil, too. Try sesame oil. Hope that helps. Good luck. :-)

From one egg roll lover to another, here's a different take:


Italian Egg Rolls

2 c. cooked angel hair pasta
1 c. diced Cooked Mild Italian Sausage
1 c. shredded spinach
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. capers
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbsp. chopped olives
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp. roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1 tbsp. corn starch
Egg roll wrappers (as needed)
Vegetable oil (as needed for frying)

Have pasta prepared, well-rinsed and cooled. Chop pasta into approximately 1" pieces.

Mix remaining ingredients minus wrappers. Mix well to fully incorporate ingredients. Follow instructions on back of wrapper package for making egg rolls. Add enough oil to pot or wok to cover egg rolls.

Heat oil to 350ºF. Add egg rolls two or three at a time and fry until golden brown. Remove, let drain and serve with a marinara sauce.

Answer 3

I suspect the problem is in the use of the ground beef or turkey, rather than the pork. Pork tends to have a more distinct flavor than ground beef and especially ground turkey. It may also be that the pork and the spices you use compliment each other far better than they do the ground beef or turkey. Both beef and turkey can be pretty bland without a little extra seasoning to give them some zing.

If you're going to use the beef or turkey option, you might want to experiment with using more of the seasonings than you do with pork. Start out cautiously: season part of a batch with a quarter or a third again as much spice as you would normally use. Fry that batch, test them, and then adjust the seasoning amount accordingly. Keep trying until you get a product that has the taste you want with the meat you prefer.

Good luck. . .I hope you get the flavor you want! :-)

Answer 4

I love to cook egg rolls. I have found the best ones were when I use oyster sauce. I know it sounds nasty, but actually it is a very sweet flavorful sauce. I read about it on a website for authentic egg rolls. I picked up a bottle at Wal-Mart and prestok, the egg rolls were fantastic. Just this week I even made some using just cabbage mushrooms, bean sprouts, soy sauce and oyster sauce. I even tried baking some after spraying with oil and greasing the cookie sheet. I LOVED them! Try this website http://www.chinesefooddiy.com/appetizer_spring_roll.htm

it has a recipe using the spring roll wrapper.

Answer 5

Spring rolls are different. I think the frying egg roll wrapper is heavier and the oil gives a stronger taste. When I had this problem, I just doubled the spices so that the flavor came through. I bet yours are delicious.

Answer 6

The cabbage and carrots contain a lot of water content. When the heat reaches a certain temperature, the water is released and that is what is making them bland. You need to use more seasoning or a more flavorful sauce to dip them in. You could also salt the cabbage and carrots and place them on a bed of paper towels. Then press out the water prior to adding them to your filling mixture.

Answer 7

The wrapper that bubbles up is not used for spingrolls. The springroll wrappers work best because after you deep-fry the springrolls, the shell is crunchy.

Answer 8

It's not the wrapper, you need to season your meat with either salt or whatever flavor you like. Make sure you add garlic too.

Answer 9

Egg roll wrappers are quite a bit thicker then spring roll wraps...just use more seasoning.

Answer 10

Nothing to do with the wrapper. Anything fried in oil eventually loses its taste. ANYTHING!