Asian-style meat tenderising

[stakka82]

Hey

Went to my favourite asian joint on the weekend and had the sichuan pork. Totally awesome, and so tender. Meat dishes at asian restaurants are always like that... when I do stirfries at home I can't come near replicating it.

What's the deal? Do they add kiwi fruit to the raw meat first? Boil the meat first? Someone here's gotta have the inside info!

 

[djar007]

Green pawpaw rubbed on steaks is good for tough meat. Wife swears that egg yolk tenderises meat. Any tough meat and she brushes with egg yolk.

Edit: I meant egg white. Sorry.

 

[technobabble66]

I believe it's just sodium bicarbonate, though there's some other enzymes like papain that'd do it also. Not 100% sure, and happy to be corrected.
Check sod bicarb in wikipeadia.
Nifty trick but you lose some nutrients.

 

[Mardoo]

It also has a whole lot to do with how they cut the meat, as well as the flash cooking of a genuinely hot wok. (You may of course already know these things.)

I got a Rambo "wok burner" as part of the deal of us moving to a house with an electric stove (who was I to know it would work so well for brewing :blink: ). It made a massive difference to the tenderness of the meat in my stirfries. The meat is literally in the wok for no more than a minute, often 45 seconds. You want to make sure the meat doesn't end up cooking in its own juices or in the sauce. That toughens the fibers quicksmart, unless you're doing a long-cooked stew of course. Stirfry the meat first, take it out, then do the veggies, put the sauce in to heat and then stir the meat through and get it off the burner and onto the table ASAP.

You also need to cut the meat perpendicular to (across) the grain and slice it thin, so the actual length of the muscle fiber you're biting into is no more than the width of the slice. Allowing the meat to slightly freeze can help, but I never do this and have little trouble getting it thin enough. If your cut of meat has grain going a number of different ways then break it down into chunks that only have the grain going in one direction. THEN slice it across the grain for the stir fry.

Also, fully freezing meat can help break down fibers, and freezing it twice even more. Again, I don't bother to do this and am pretty happy with how tender my meat is . If you do the double freeze be sure to thaw it in the fridge before re-freezing, not on the counter or in water.

I guarantee you that the vast majority of Asian restaurants are not using premium grades or cuts of meat. It has a whole lot to do with the cooking and the cutting.

Finally, another tenderizing method is to marinate the meat in milk for 24 hours. An Argentinian friend of mine turned me onto this. Seems to work pretty well but i reserve it for barbequing. Kiwi is awesome, but as I say above, not really necessary for meat in stir fries.

 

[sp0rk]

Most asian meat i've done is soaked in cooking sherry and a little vinegar
My mum always said this helped to tenderize the meat (and it seems to)

 

[Danwood]

I've heard of this method for chicken, not sure about using other meats.


"Velveting chicken is a Chinese cooking technique used in stir-frying. The chicken breast is coated in a mixture of egg white and cornstarch (rice wine or dry sherry and salt are frequently added), marinated for up to 30 minutes, and then cooked very briefly in hot oil until the color turns to white."

 

[Mardoo]

Oh yeah, and regarding my post, it's the cutting that's most important. You don't need to have a wok burner. It just helps. That and the not cooking in the sauce/liquid bit, which you can do on any stove.

And all these tenderizing methods folks have mentioned add something.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

another trick I've seen done is to deep fry the meat separately then toss it through the veg just before serving. (same as what Mardoo was saying except using a deep fryer instead of wok for the meat)

 

[stakka82]

Awesome replies guys.

I just went out and bought papaya extract. The chick at the asian supermarket knew exactly what I was talking about so that's a good thing.

I will also try the cutting across the grain, thin slices, and cooking the meat separately in a very hot wok methods.

Will report back, super stoked to have so many new things to try.

 

[Airgead]

A bunch of asian recipes also twice cook the meat - give it a long slow cook, often by boiling it in stock until really tender, then let it cool, slice and add to the stir fry at the last minute to heat through. If you look at the cooks in an asian noodle place they are almost never adding raw meat to the wok. Its veges, sauce, pre-cooked meat.

I always fund that the papaya stuff leaves the meat with a weird texture. Actually with no texture at all.

 

[Dave70]

Good tips.
I always suspected my electric wok was weaksauce.
I've also heard many good chiefs talk about bringing your protein up to room temperature instead of pulling it straight from the fridge, for obvious reasons.

The cutting across the grain, not along it point is, I suspect, why my last batch of jerky came out like a bunch of savory bite sized leather straps.
Yep. Chew - ie..

 

[Mardoo]

(Insert Chewbacca sound here)

 

[timmi9191]

I opened this anticipating a discussion similar to the story line of a video I watched last night.. The Asian girls in that movie have a whole different take on tenderising meat. Both methods have their place I guess

 

[Bribie G]

Sodium bicarbonate:

Here's me (beachbum) on my Curry forum.

I don't know if, as with AHB, non members can see the photos or not.

 

[stakka82]

So you dissolved the bicarb in milk first and bathed the meat in the milk?

 

[Bribie G]

Yes, off a recipe I found on the web somewhere. It's a bit like bathing liver in milk, seems to take out any bitterness.

 

[stakka82]

Interesting, might have to try that one too, I assume you rinsed the meat off well afterwards?

 

[Bribie G]

Definitely. Then marinate it in the usual suspects for a few hours before stir frying. Reminds me I'll need to pick up half a kilo of MSG when I'm in Newcastle next, nearly run out

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Has anyone asked an asian.....

 

[Rod]

I buy my pork neck from Bushes meat

it is called infused pork

they tell be it is done with a bicarb water solution and is a similar process to corn beef

there is no noticeable taste difference

I cut my pork into 200 to 250 gram portions

cook like a beef steak

or slice thinly across the grain for stir fry

works for me