Making Thin Strips of Beef Tender
We accept a lot of beef recipes in our archives here at The Woks of Life, and so we wanted to prove everyone how to prepare beefiness for stir-fry including the step-by-step procedure for velveting beef for Chinese cooking. We'll recommend our favorite cuts of beef to apply and prove you how to properly cut and marinate beefiness just like information technology'southward done in Chinese restaurants.
We e'er give important details in all of our recipes, including preparation and cooking, merely I idea it was time to write a post focused on preparing beef properly for the wok!
What Cut of Beefiness is Best for Stir-fry?
Flank steak is past far the nigh popular cutting of meat used by Chinese restaurants in all of their stir-fry dishes. It too happens to be the most recommended cut of beefiness we use in our stir-fry recipes.
Flank steak is flavorful, reasonably priced, and readily bachelor. With its intense beefy flavor, all you need to practise is make sure you slice and marinate it properly to make a great stir-fry. For $6.99 to $8.99 a pound, information technology won't suspension the bank either.
Boneless beef chuck steak is a more economic choice for beefiness stir fries. We like using beef chuck steak for stewing and braising considering of the extra fatty that comes with this cut of meat, only it can also work nicely for stir-fries.
At $four.99 to $5.99 per pound, chuck steak is too more economical than flank steak. Yous can purchase a large slice, slice information technology, separate it into portions for several stir-fries, and freeze it!
A little more than trimming and care is required to prepare the beef chuck steak for stir fry. Cut along the fat lines and remove the thick membrane to get some neat chunks of beefiness for slicing. Employ a good chef'southward knife and as e'er, be careful when working with sharp knives!
How to Cutting Beefiness For Stir-fry
If using flank steak, trim off any white muscle membranes, and cut your flank steak along the grain lengthwise into 2 to two 1/2 inch strips.
It's like shooting fish in a barrel to identify the long grains of muscle cobweb in flank steak. When slicing the flank steak into small pieces, slice against the grain (perpendicular to the long lines of muscle).
Make each piece 1/iv″ thick––each piece will exist tender and bite-sized.
Now your beefiness is ready for marinating!
If using boneless beef chuck, check out our instructions for how to slice it below. If non, skip down to the next section.
Cut Boneless Beefiness Chuck for Stir-fry
Cutting meat confronting the grain is very important to yield prissy tender pieces in your stir-fry dishes.
Again, the "grain" refers to the long strands of muscle running through the beefiness parallel to each other. Cut against the grain means cutting across those strands, so the long strands of muscle can be made shorter to create pocket-size, tender pieces.
It's much harder to identify how the grain runs in beef chuck than for flank steak. In this photo, y'all can come across the pattern of meat and fatty where the grain runs vertically.
Since we have to cut cross-wise to the grain, for this piece, we need to cut the long strip into 2-inch wide chunks offset.
And then position each piece to cutting them so the long fibers are cut short.
See how the knife is positioned where it will cutting the beefiness against the grain?
At present, cut your beef into ane/4″ thick slices
You lot tin can see the grain and the slice a bit clearer in this photograph, just you lot tin can imagine that the soft beef can be hard to handle and slice.
A chef'south secret to slicing beefiness quickly is to freeze the meat partially for 30 to threescore minutes until information technology is firm. This makes slicing much easier and faster, as the firm beefiness does non slide under your knife and effectually the cut board. Partially frozen meat also allows y'all to be more than precise in cutting to your desired thickness.
How to Cutting Beefiness for Lo Mein & Other Noodle Dishes
If using beef for noodle dishes or dishes similar Beef and Pepper Stir Fry, an actress pace to slice beefiness into thin strips (julienne) is required.
In Chinese stir-fry cooking, the way ingredients are cut should exist consistent with each other. Rectangular slices of beefiness are used for stir-fries with vegetables similar beef and broccoli or beef and tofu. Long strands of noodles like you have in Beef Lo Mein crave beef to exist cut into similar long thin strips.
Beefiness fried rice requires small chunks of meat to go with the modest grains of rice. Make sense?
How Chinese Restaurants Tenderize Beef
It's time to share some Chinese restaurant secrets on how to tenderize beef. Tenderizing your beefiness is the first step of the traditional procedure of velveting beef practiced by virtually all Chinese chefs.
Chinese eating place chefs take some extra steps in preparing beefiness for their stir-fry dishes.
The first step is to add a good amount of baking soda to the beef––about 1 rounded teaspoon per pound of beef.
Next, add 1/iv cup water (per pound of beef) or until the beefiness is just covered, and massage the beef and then the baking soda and water is uniformly distributed. Set bated for 1-2 hours. This step tenderizes (baking soda) and hydrates (water) the beef.
Next, the beef must be rinsed thoroughly under running h2o to rid information technology of any backlog baking soda, or yous volition taste it in the dish.
Utilize your hands to stir up the beef during the rinsing process.
Once the water runs clear, drain the beef thoroughly in a colander and transfer information technology to a basin for the marinating process (details in next section).
Shortcut to Tenderize Beef at Habitation
If the process used by Chinese restaurants to tenderize beef described in a higher place sounds a bit involved and a hassle, you can still tenderize beef using an at-home shortcut. Baking soda is a powerful ingredient for tenderizing beef, simply if too much is added, information technology can add an off-taste to the beef which is why beef is rinsed off after adding larger amounts of baking soda to the beef.
The solution is to add together a smaller amount of baking and increase the marinating time. Adding 1/eight teaspoon to 1/four teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of blistering soda and 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the beefiness and mixing and working information technology into the beef earlier marinating will as well practise a fine job tenderizing! Increase the marinating time for your beefiness at least 15 minutes. I will also say that calculation water to the beefiness is a personal option. I feel there are merits to having a moist hydrated beef or a drier beef for stir fry dishes.
How to Marinate Beef for Stir-fry
Marinating beefiness for your stir-fry is an important 2d step of velveting that should never be skipped. The marinade isn't as much about soaking the beef in a lot of liquid or adding a bunch of different flavorings like you may be used to.
It's about giving the beef an actress juicy texture. Have you always tried to brand a stir-fry at home, only the meat comes out dry and not at all like what you've been served in Asian restaurants? Master this marinating technique, and you'll successfully prepare Chinese stir-fry dishes at dwelling house.
After the beef has been tenderized:
1. Add together oyster sauce and/or soy sauce to requite your beef an extra flavor heave. Add nigh 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beef.
2. Add cornstarch and oil to give the meat a velvety texture. Add near ii teaspoons of each per pound of beef. The cornstarch and oil gives the beef its velvety smoothen texture sealing in juices and protecting the meat during the searing or cooking. Adding Shaoxing vino (2 teaspoons per pound) also adds flavor but is totally optional for those of you who are strict about alcohol consumption.
three. Mix everything together and set information technology aside to marinate for 15-30 minutes while you're preparing your other ingredients.
What is Chinese Velveting?
Velveting is a procedure used in traditional Chinese cooking to set meats for stir-frying. Chinese velveting techniques vary, depending upon the cut and type of meat used for the dish, and also involve tenderizing, marinating and different cooking methods.
Through the process of velveting, meats retain their moisture and take on a soft and velvety texture that is a signature quality of Chinese cuisine. The velveting of beefiness is probably most common, since beef benefits more than other meats from this cooking technique.
How to Velvet Beef for Stir Fry
Velveting beef begins with the steps we take explained above (involving tenderizing the beef and then marinating it with seasonings, oil and cornstarch).
The tenderizing step makes whatever beef soft and moist, while marinating the beef gives it more than umami flavor and that velvety coating you experience when eating at Chinese restaurants. Pictured beneath is the marinated beefiness before cooking.
The last step of velveting is cooking, which really depends upon the dish you are cooking and the outcome you're looking for.
The traditional method for velveting beef is to laissez passer the meat through hot oil (substantially deep frying) which is literally referred to every bit zǒu yóu (走油) in Standard mandarin or "jau yau" in Cantonese.
In most cases, we prefer to sear the meat in a hot wok, since having a wok full of oil at home is simply non practical. That said, we think searing beefiness imparts more flavour than the jau yau deep frying method.
Some recipes, including soups, volition merely require cooking the beef in water equally the final step.
And that'due south it! Let us know in the comments if you have any questions!
Prep: 1 60 minutes 30 minutes
Total: 1 hour 30 minutes
- one pound beef flank steak or chuck steak (450g, sliced against the grain)
- one teaspoon baking soda
- water (i/4 cup per pound)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- ii teaspoons oyster sauce or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing Wine (Optional)
-
Add baking soda and water to the sliced beef and massage with hands until most of the liquid is absorbed. Let stand up 1-2 hours.
-
Rinse the beef thoroughly nether running water until the h2o runs clear. Drain.
-
Add together oil, oyster sauce/soy sauce, Shaoxing vino (optional), and cornstarch to the beef. Set up bated to marinate for xv-xxx minutes, and then your beefiness is prepare to use.
Short-Cut method for Tenderizing beef
Add 1/viii teaspoon to one/four teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the beef and mixing and working it into the beef before marinating volition as well do a fine job tenderizing!
Follow step 3 and increment the marinating time for your beefiness at least xv minutes.
Source: https://thewoksoflife.com/prepare-beef-for-stir-fry/
0 Response to "Making Thin Strips of Beef Tender"
Post a Comment