How to Velvet Beef Using Baking Soda
We have a lot of beef recipes in our archives here at The Woks of Life, so we wanted to show anybody how to prepare beef for stir-fry including the footstep-past-step process for velveting beefiness for Chinese cooking. We'll recommend our favorite cuts of beef to use and show yous how to properly cut and marinate beefiness just like it'southward done in Chinese restaurants.
We e'er give important details in all of our recipes, including preparation and cooking, but I thought it was fourth dimension to write a post focused on preparing beef properly for the wok!
What Cut of Beef is All-time for Stir-fry?
Flank steak is by far the most popular cut of meat used by Chinese restaurants in all of their stir-fry dishes. It as well happens to exist the most recommended cut of beef we utilize in our stir-fry recipes.
Flank steak is flavorful, reasonably priced, and readily available. With its intense beefy flavor, all you lot need to do is make sure y'all slice and marinate it properly to make a smashing stir-fry. For $vi.99 to $8.99 a pound, information technology won't suspension the depository financial institution either.
Boneless beefiness chuck steak is a more economical selection for beefiness stir chips. We like using beefiness chuck steak for stewing and braising because of the extra fat that comes with this cut of meat, simply it tin also work nicely for stir-chips.
At $4.99 to $5.99 per pound, chuck steak is also more economic than flank steak. You can buy a large piece, piece it, divide it into portions for several stir-chips, and freeze it!
A footling more than trimming and care is required to fix the beef chuck steak for stir fry. Cutting forth the fat lines and remove the thick membrane to go some neat chunks of beef for slicing. Utilize a adept chef's pocketknife and as always, be careful when working with precipitous knives!
How to Cut Beef For Stir-fry
If using flank steak, trim off any white musculus membranes, and cutting your flank steak along the grain lengthwise into 2 to two one/two inch strips.
Information technology'due south like shooting fish in a barrel to identify the long grains of muscle cobweb in flank steak. When slicing the flank steak into small-scale pieces, piece against the grain (perpendicular to the long lines of musculus).
Make each slice 1/four″ thick––each piece will exist tender and seize with teeth-sized.
Now your beef is ready for marinating!
If using boneless beef chuck, check out our instructions for how to slice information technology below. If not, skip downwards to the side by side section.
Cutting Boneless Beef Chuck for Stir-fry
Cutting meat confronting 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 beefiness parallel to each other. Cutting against the grain ways cut across those strands, so the long strands of muscle can exist fabricated shorter to create small, tender pieces.
It'southward much harder to identify how the grain runs in beefiness chuck than for flank steak. In this photo, you can come across the pattern of meat and fatty where the grain runs vertically.
Since we accept to cut cross-wise to the grain, for this piece, we need to cut the long strip into 2-inch wide chunks outset.
So position each piece to cut them so the long fibers are cut short.
Come across how the knife is positioned where it will cutting the beef against the grain?
At present, cut your beef into 1/iv″ thick slices
You can see the grain and the slice a bit clearer in this photo, only yous can imagine that the soft beef tin can be difficult to handle and piece.
A chef'due south secret to slicing beef quickly is to freeze the meat partially for 30 to lx minutes until it is house. This makes slicing much easier and faster, as the firm beef does not slide under your knife and effectually the cutting board. Partially frozen meat also allows yous to be more than precise in cutting to your desired thickness.
How to Cutting Beef for Lo Mein & Other Noodle Dishes
If using beefiness for noodle dishes or dishes like Beef and Pepper Stir Fry, an extra footstep to slice beef into sparse strips (julienne) is required.
In Chinese stir-fry cooking, the manner ingredients are cut should be consequent with each other. Rectangular slices of beef are used for stir-fries with vegetables like beefiness and broccoli or beef and tofu. Long strands of noodles similar you have in Beef Lo Mein require beef to exist cut into like long thin strips.
Beefiness fried rice requires small chunks of meat to go with the small-scale grains of rice. Make sense?
How Chinese Restaurants Tenderize Beef
It'due south fourth dimension to share some Chinese restaurant secrets on how to tenderize beefiness. Tenderizing your beef is the first footstep of the traditional process of velveting beef practiced by virtually all Chinese chefs.
Chinese eatery chefs take some extra steps in preparing beef for their stir-fry dishes.
The showtime footstep is to add together a practiced corporeality of baking soda to the beef––most 1 rounded teaspoon per pound of beefiness.
Adjacent, add ane/4 cup water (per pound of beef) or until the beef is only covered, and massage the beef and then the baking soda and water is uniformly distributed. Ready aside for 1-two hours. This step tenderizes (blistering soda) and hydrates (water) the beef.
Next, the beef must be rinsed thoroughly under running water to rid it of whatsoever excess baking soda, or you volition taste it in the dish.
Use your hands to stir up the beef during the rinsing process.
Once the water runs clear, bleed the beefiness thoroughly in a colander and transfer it to a bowl for the marinating process (details in next section).
Shortcut to Tenderize Beefiness at Home
If the procedure used by Chinese restaurants to tenderize beef described above sounds a flake involved and a hassle, you tin can yet tenderize beef using an at-home shortcut. Baking soda is a powerful ingredient for tenderizing beef, but if too much is added, it tin 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 fourth dimension. Calculation i/8 teaspoon to i/4 teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the beef and mixing and working information technology into the beef before marinating volition too practice a fine job tenderizing! Increase the marinating time for your beef at least 15 minutes. I will also say that adding h2o to the beef is a personal selection. I experience in that location are merits to having a moist hydrated beefiness or a drier beef for stir fry dishes.
How to Marinate Beef for Stir-fry
Marinating beef for your stir-fry is an of import 2nd step of velveting that should never be skipped. The marinade isn't equally much about soaking the beefiness in a lot of liquid or calculation a agglomeration of dissimilar flavorings like you may exist used to.
It's well-nigh giving the beef an extra juicy texture. Accept you always tried to make a stir-fry at home, but the meat comes out dry and not at all similar what you've been served in Asian restaurants? Master this marinating technique, and you'll successfully prepare Chinese stir-fry dishes at home.
Later the beef has been tenderized:
1. Add oyster sauce and/or soy sauce to give your beefiness an extra flavor boost. Add nigh 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beefiness.
2. Add cornstarch and oil to give the meat a velvety texture. Add well-nigh 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beefiness. The cornstarch and oil gives the beef its velvety smooth texture sealing in juices and protecting the meat during the searing or cooking. Adding Shaoxing vino (2 teaspoons per pound) also adds flavour but is totally optional for those of you who are strict about booze consumption.
3. Mix everything together and set it bated to marinate for fifteen-30 minutes while y'all'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 different cooking methods.
Through the process of velveting, meats retain their wet and take on a soft and velvety texture that is a signature quality of Chinese cuisine. The velveting of beef is probably nigh common, since beefiness 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 and then marinating information technology with seasonings, oil and cornstarch).
The tenderizing step makes any beef soft and moist, while marinating the beef gives it more umami season and that velvety coating you feel when eating at Chinese restaurants. Pictured below is the marinated beef before cooking.
The concluding footstep of velveting is cooking, which really depends upon the dish you are cooking and the result you're looking for.
The traditional method for velveting beefiness is to laissez passer the meat through hot oil (essentially deep frying) which is literally referred to every bit zǒu yóu (走油) in 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 dwelling is simply not practical. That said, we call up searing beef imparts more flavour than the jau yau deep frying method.
Some recipes, including soups, will only require cooking the beef in water as the final step.
And that's it! Allow us know in the comments if you have any questions!
Prep: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total: one 60 minutes xxx minutes
- 1 pound beefiness flank steak or chuck steak (450g, sliced against the grain)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- h2o (1/4 cup per pound)
- ii teaspoons vegetable oil
- ii teaspoons oyster sauce or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing Wine (Optional)
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Add baking soda and water to the sliced beef and massage with hands until most of the liquid is absorbed. Allow stand 1-two hours.
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Rinse the beef thoroughly nether running h2o until the water runs clear. Drain.
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Add oil, oyster sauce/soy sauce, Shaoxing wine (optional), and cornstarch to the beefiness. Set aside to marinate for fifteen-thirty minutes, and and so your beef is gear up to use.
Brusk-Cut method for Tenderizing beefiness
Add together 1/eight teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the beefiness and mixing and working it into the beef earlier marinating will also do a fine job tenderizing!
Follow step three and increase the marinating time for your beef at least fifteen minutes.
Source: https://thewoksoflife.com/prepare-beef-for-stir-fry/
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