How To Tenderize ANY Meat!

Hi , everyone .

Welcome to recipes .

As you all know , naturally tender cuts of meat tend to be more expensive serving meat on a budget can be a challenge .

Today , I'm going to talk about how to tenderize meat before cooking , which including cutting , pounding and marinating .

After watching this video , I'm sure you will cook perfectly tender meat every single time you have probably read in recipes and heard again and again that the meat should be sliced against the grain .

What exactly is the grain ?

It refers to the direction that the muscle fibers are aligned in this piece of beef .

You can see that the fibers run from the top to the bottom .

Let me cut it into a smaller piece .

Then we can slice it against the grains .

In this way , you shorten the fibers which makes it easier to chew in the opposite side .

If you cut it with the grains , you can see the fibers are very long and it is quite tough .

A meat tenderizer helps to break down the dense tough muscle fibers and the proteins that bind them together .

You just pound the meat until it gets a little fluffy .

This technique is good for making pork chop , steak and breaded chicken .

Today we'll talk about three different marinade that tenderize the meat .

The first one is baking soda , cutting and pounding affects the grain in a physical way .

Baking soda breaks down the meat fiber in a chemical way .

I know it sounds weird .

In fact , I have been using baking soda in many of my videos and it does an amazing job .

It alkalized the meat protein makes them hard to bound together , which keeps the meat tender while cooking .

If it's a large piece of meat that you tend to grow or cier Sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda on the surface , rub it nicely , do it on both sides .

Let it sit in the fridge for 3 to 5 hours , rinse the meat several times to remove all the baking soda .

If you don't rinse the baking soda off the meat will have a weird taste .

I don't use this method often because I don't eat steak that much and it is quite time consuming to do this anyway .

Wipe the water with a paper towel , then you can cook the meat however you want .

If you want to marinate some smaller meat pieces , just add some baking soda directly into the meat with other seasonings , let it sit for at least 20 minutes before cooking .

One important note is that over adding baking soda brings a weird bitter taste .

I would suggest no more than half teaspoon of baking soda per pound of meat .

If you use baking soda in the marinade , it is better not to use anything sour like vinegar , lime juice because the baking soda will react with the acid and lose the effect .

I have used the baking soda in many of my recipes such as chicken , stir fried noodles , sweet and sour pork and pepper stick .

Next marinade is called velvety .

It's a technique in Chinese cuisine for preserving the moisture of the meat .

While cooking it is Chinese restaurants secret they use it to create that juicy , velvety texture of meat .

We usually precoat the meat with a mixture of egg , white corn , starch , some Chinese cooking wine and other seasonings for at least 30 minutes before cooking .

Then the meat can be stir fried , which I have done it in my chicken and broccoli recipe .

You can deep fry it , which I showed in my Mongolian beef recipe or you can poach meat .

My spicy poached beef recipe is a perfect example .

What the velvety mixture does is that it protects the meat fibers preventing them from seizing up , which leads to a juicy tender meat .

This technique gives the meat a starchy outside layer which is perfect for recipes that have lots of sauce because then the meat can catch more flavor .

Some fruits also have the ability to tenderize the meat .

It needs to be freshly ground puree or juice .

Long life commercial fruit product does not work using fruit puree or juice as a meat tenderizer adds some freshness and fruity taste to the dish , which is what a lot of people love about here is how I do it , marinate the meat with whatever seasonings and spices you like .

Then adding some freshly squeezed orange juice , mix it for 5 to 8 minutes , refrigerate until you're ready to cook .

If you use papaya or pineapple puree , just rub it on both sides of the meat , leave it at room temperature .

Unlike the acid in the pineapple juice papaya uses an enzyme called propane to tenderize the meat , which works better at room temperature or even a little bit above the room temperature .

Ok ?

Those are all the tips that I have for 10 rising meat .

I'm sure there are many other ways .

If you know anything that I didn't mention , leave me a comment down below the video so we can all learn .

I hope this video inspired you .

And if it did thumbs up , please don't forget to take a look off my channel .

I'm sure you will find out how to make your favorite Chinese food .

New meals come out every Wednesday and I'll see you next time .

Bye .