Howto Make Stir Fry Beef Tender
We have a lot of beef recipes in our athenaeum hither at The Woks of Life, and so we wanted to show everyone how to prepare beef for stir-fry including the step-past-footstep process for velveting beef for Chinese cooking. We'll recommend our favorite cuts of beef to utilize and show yous how to properly cut and marinate beef but like it's done in Chinese restaurants.
Nosotros always give important details in all of our recipes, including preparation and cooking, only I thought it was time to write a mail service focused on preparing beef properly for the wok!
What Cutting of Beef is All-time for Stir-fry?
Flank steak is past far the most popular cut of meat used by Chinese restaurants in all of their stir-fry dishes. Information technology also happens to be the virtually recommended cut of beef we use in our stir-fry recipes.
Flank steak is flavorful, reasonably priced, and readily available. With its intense beefy flavor, all you need to practise is brand sure yous slice and marinate information technology properly to brand a great stir-fry. For $6.99 to $eight.99 a pound, information technology won't interruption the banking company either.
Boneless beef chuck steak is a more than economical choice for beef stir fries. We like using beef chuck steak for stewing and braising because of the extra fat that comes with this cutting of meat, just it can likewise work nicely for stir-fries.
At $4.99 to $5.99 per pound, chuck steak is also more economic than flank steak. Yous can buy a big slice, slice information technology, divide it into portions for several stir-fries, and freeze it!
A little more trimming and intendance is required to ready the beefiness chuck steak for stir fry. Cut forth the fat lines and remove the thick membrane to get some neat chunks of beef for slicing. Utilize a skilful chef'southward knife and as always, be careful when working with sharp knives!
How to Cutting Beef For Stir-fry
If using flank steak, trim off any white muscle membranes, and cut your flank steak forth the grain lengthwise into 2 to 2 one/2 inch strips.
It's piece of cake to place the long grains of musculus fiber in flank steak. When slicing the flank steak into small pieces, slice against the grain (perpendicular to the long lines of muscle).
Make each slice 1/4″ thick––each piece will be tender and bite-sized.
Now your beef is gear up for marinating!
If using boneless beef chuck, check out our instructions for how to slice it beneath. If not, skip down to the next department.
Cutting Boneless Beef Chuck for Stir-fry
Cutting meat against the grain is very important to yield nice tender pieces in your stir-fry dishes.
Again, the "grain" refers to the long strands of muscle running through the beef parallel to each other. Cutting against the grain means cutting across those strands, and so the long strands of musculus tin can be made shorter to create small-scale, tender pieces.
It's much harder to identify how the grain runs in beef chuck than for flank steak. In this photo, you tin see the design of meat and fatty where the grain runs vertically.
Since we have to cutting cross-wise to the grain, for this piece, nosotros demand to cut the long strip into 2-inch broad chunks start.
And then position each piece to cut them so the long fibers are cutting curt.
Encounter how the knife is positioned where it will cut the beef against the grain?
At present, cut your beef into 1/4″ thick slices
You can encounter the grain and the slice a scrap clearer in this photo, merely you lot can imagine that the soft beefiness tin can be difficult to handle and piece.
A chef's secret to slicing beef quickly is to freeze the meat partially for 30 to 60 minutes until it is house. This makes slicing much easier and faster, as the business firm beefiness does not slide under your knife and around the cutting board. Partially frozen meat too allows yous to be more precise in cutting to your desired thickness.
How to Cut Beefiness for Lo Mein & Other Noodle Dishes
If using beef for noodle dishes or dishes like Beef and Pepper Stir Fry, an extra step to slice beef into sparse strips (julienne) is required.
In Chinese stir-fry cooking, the way ingredients are cut should exist consistent with each other. Rectangular slices of beef are used for stir-fries with vegetables like beef and broccoli or beefiness and tofu. Long strands of noodles like you have in Beef Lo Mein require beef to be cut into like long thin strips.
Beef fried rice requires modest chunks of meat to become with the modest grains of rice. Make sense?
How Chinese Restaurants Tenderize Beef
It's time to share some Chinese eating place secrets on how to tenderize beef. Tenderizing your beef is the first pace of the traditional process of velveting beefiness practiced by virtually all Chinese chefs.
Chinese restaurant chefs have some extra steps in preparing beef for their stir-fry dishes.
The beginning stride is to add together a good amount of baking soda to the beef––about one rounded teaspoon per pound of beef.
Next, add 1/4 cup water (per pound of beef) or until the beef is merely covered, and massage the beef so the baking soda and water is uniformly distributed. Set aside for 1-2 hours. This pace tenderizes (baking soda) and hydrates (h2o) the beef.
Next, the beefiness must be rinsed thoroughly nether running h2o to rid it of whatsoever excess baking soda, or y'all will taste it in the dish.
Use your hands to stir up the beef during the rinsing process.
Once the water runs clear, bleed the beef thoroughly in a colander and transfer it to a bowl for the marinating procedure (details in next department).
Shortcut to Tenderize Beef at Abode
If the process used by Chinese restaurants to tenderize beef described to a higher place sounds a bit involved and a hassle, you can even so tenderize beef using an at-home shortcut. Blistering soda is a powerful ingredient for tenderizing beef, but if likewise much is added, it can add an off-taste to the beefiness which is why beef is rinsed off after adding larger amounts of baking soda to the beefiness.
The solution is to add a smaller amount of baking and increase the marinating time. Calculation i/8 teaspoon to 1/iv teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and ane to two tablespoons of water to the beef and mixing and working it into the beef earlier marinating will besides do a fine job tenderizing! Increase the marinating fourth dimension for your beef at to the lowest degree fifteen minutes. I will besides say that calculation h2o to the beefiness is a personal choice. I experience there are merits to having a moist hydrated beef or a drier beefiness for stir fry dishes.
How to Marinate Beef for Stir-fry
Marinating beef for your stir-fry is an important 2nd step of velveting that should never be skipped. The marinade isn't as much nearly soaking the beef in a lot of liquid or adding a bunch of unlike flavorings like you may be used to.
It's most giving the beef an extra juicy texture. Have y'all always tried to make a stir-fry at domicile, but the meat comes out dry out and not at all like what you've been served in Asian restaurants? Master this marinating technique, and you'll successfully fix Chinese stir-fry dishes at domicile.
After the beefiness has been tenderized:
i. Add oyster sauce and/or soy sauce to requite your beefiness an actress flavor heave. Add about 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beef.
2. Add cornstarch and oil to give the meat a velvety texture. Add about 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beef. The cornstarch and oil gives the beefiness its velvety smooth texture sealing in juices and protecting the meat during the searing or cooking. Adding Shaoxing wine (2 teaspoons per pound) also adds flavor only is totally optional for those of you who are strict near alcohol consumption.
3. Mix everything together and prepare it bated to marinate for 15-30 minutes while you're preparing your other ingredients.
What is Chinese Velveting?
Velveting is a process used in traditional Chinese cooking to prepare 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 dissimilar cooking methods.
Through the procedure of velveting, meats retain their moisture and have 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 accept explained above (involving tenderizing the beef and then marinating it with seasonings, oil and cornstarch).
The tenderizing step makes whatsoever beefiness soft and moist, while marinating the beef gives it more umami flavor and that velvety coating you experience when eating at Chinese restaurants. Pictured below is the marinated beefiness before cooking.
The terminal 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 beefiness is to pass the meat through hot oil (substantially deep frying) which is literally referred to as zǒu yóu (走油) in Standard mandarin or "jau yau" in Cantonese.
In near cases, we prefer to sear the meat in a hot wok, since having a wok full of oil at habitation is simply not applied. That said, we think searing beef imparts more than flavor than the jau yau deep frying method.
Some recipes, including soups, will but require cooking the beef in h2o as the final footstep.
And that's it! Allow united states of america know in the comments if you have any questions!
Prep: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total: ane hour 30 minutes
- i pound beef flank steak or chuck steak (450g, sliced confronting the grain)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- water (i/iv cup per pound)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing Vino (Optional)
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Add together blistering soda and h2o to the sliced beef and massage with hands until most of the liquid is absorbed. Let stand 1-2 hours.
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Rinse the beef thoroughly under running water until the water runs articulate. Drain.
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Add oil, oyster sauce/soy sauce, Shaoxing wine (optional), and cornstarch to the beef. Set aside to marinate for 15-thirty minutes, then your beef is ready to use.
Short-Cut method for Tenderizing beef
Add 1/viii teaspoon to one/4 teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and one to 2 tablespoons of h2o to the beef and mixing and working it into the beef before marinating will also practice a fine job tenderizing!
Follow footstep 3 and increase the marinating time for your beefiness at least 15 minutes.
Source: https://thewoksoflife.com/prepare-beef-for-stir-fry/
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