Nobody really knows what causes it, but if youve ever had a stringy or tough chicken breast, you may have experienced it. Oil velveting is a common practice Chinese restaurants use as a first cooking step. Add your velveted beef one after the other when the oil is hot. will change the nutritional information in any recipe. Patricia Kelly Yeo is a freelance food and health journalist based in L.A. 2023 Cond Nast. Velveting Meat | Chef Forum While it freezes, the fat and sinew molecules break apart so that when you stir-fry it, its unbelievably soft. In order to do this, simply cut your meat into small pieces or strips. Chemical tenderizer. Mix and work it into the meat before marinating. This method is achieved by pouring some soda into water. The first involves coating the meat in egg white, cornstarch, salt, and rice wine before plunging everything briefly into hot oil and then stir-frying. Youll quickly figure out the best marinating times for your preferred cuts of beef just adjust up and down by 10 minutes at a time. Subscribe to our email list and be sure to follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube! While we do our best to provide nutritional information as a general guideline to our readers, we are not certified nutritionists, and the values provided should be considered estimates. Short-Cut Method for Tenderizing Beef: Add 1/8 teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and 2-3 tablespoons of water to the beef. Add the water and soy sauce (or oyster sauce) to the chicken in a medium bowl, and mix until the chicken is well-coated. Im really impressed and Ill definitely be making it again. Pro tip: Alternatively, you can use red wine vinegar to replace the soy sauce in the mixture. Next, add the noodles and pour the sauce over the noodles. After 2 minutes of finger-tossing, set aside. Yes! Whether you prefer them crispy, sticky, grilled or baked, take stock of these expert tips. Add chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. I found it so bizarre when he marinated the spareribs in a mixture of cream and vanilla but it was soooooooooo good! Beef And Mushroom Stir-Fry - Rasa Malaysia cheap rump, hanger) 20 minutes, Brisket the only cut I dont recommend, havent been 100% happy with outcome. Thank you so much, will use this trick every time ! Recipes you want to make. Although ideas about preparing and consuming beef have evolved, these marinated preparations remain in todays Chinese culinary methods. but they dont all use the same method. * It sounds counterintuitive to tenderise steaks because one would assume if beef is sold labelled as steaks, that indicates theyre good for quick cooking (eg grilling) so it should be good for stir fries. The first step is to add a good amount of baking soda to the beefabout 1 rounded teaspoon per pound (450g). Leave to brown for 3-4 minutes, then put the meat back, adding the rest of the chicken broth. The meat is then lightly cooked on the outside before cooking it all the way through. However, chemical compounds like baking soda can leave some taste in the meat. in Cantonese, means passing through oil. It essentially refers to deep-frying. Here are tips to pulling off your own well-balanced, ever-changing assortment. To complete the velveting process, some cooks recommend dipping the marinated morsels in peanut oil for less than one minute on active fire. My Ground Beef Smells Like Eggs | Can I Still Eat It? I usually use a beef and oyster sauce stir fry recipe. Some recipes, including soups, will only require cooking the beef in water as the final step. For the best results, let the chicken sit for 15 to 20 minutes to marinate. Obviously, not everyone has a 12-inch butchers knife, but you need a long, sharp knife. Its a way of taking a cheap cut and making it seem more expensive. Most cuts of steak benefit from being salted up to an hour in advance of cooking, Marinating. When slicing the flank steak into small pieces, slice against the grain (perpendicular to the long lines of muscle). Save the egg yolk for breakfast tomorrow morning. Were Sarah, Kaitlin, Judy, and Bill a family of four cooks sharing our home-cooked and restaurant-style recipes. A Guide to the Velveting Technique - Kikkoman UK Master this marinating technique, and youll successfully prepare Chinese stir-fry dishes at home. So the beef flavour will only be as good as the cut you use. With just one extra step, Im my own favorite take-out joint. Water-blanching did produce meat with a slight residue. Its called velveting beef. You may also include two to three tablespoons of water. Make the cornstarch slurry. When you freeze it and thaw it back out, you can use it for all types of recipes. 2. Before slicing them, I put them into the walk-in freezer until they were partially frozenfirm but not solid. In food, as in other parts of life, language is a form of power, and velvetingan elegant skill wielded without much fanfare by home cooks and take-out spots alikedeserves as much recognition as a French roux. CatHead's BBQ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon (.com, .co.uk, .ca etc) and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. Dish out and set aside. Be careful, however. The marinade acts as protective coat which seals moisture and keeps the meat from overcooking, resulting in meat morsels that are silky soft and lusciously tender. Alkaline egg whites tenderize beef for stir fry dishes. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Do you sometimes feel challenged when slicing chicken thinly to make a stir-fry? Hows that for a chefs trick? Then add the fried pork and season with coarse salt and pepper. With a slotted spoon, remove chicken from pot and drain well. But I want to perfect the method. Your email address will not be published. To marinate chicken for stir fries, we use a simple mixture of water, oil, cornstarch, and a flavor agent like soy sauce or oyster sauce. What to Serve with Beef Tenderloin (23 Ultimate Choices). Clingy, glossy sauce! Isnt leaving the meat in oil for 3 minutes going to cook it through? Other tenderising methods include marinating in a cornflour/cornstarch sludge then frying in oil before using in the stir fry, chemical tenderisers and egg white marinates. We have a lot of beef recipes in our archives here at The Woks of Life, so we wanted to show everyone how to prepare beef for stir-fry including the step-by-step process for velveting beef for Chinese cooking. For velveting, desired-sized chunks of meat are coated and marinated for 30 to 45 minutes in a mixture of cornstarch, rice wine, egg whites, salt, sugar, and soy sauce. When preparing your proteins, be sure to pat them dry before velveting, so youre not diluting your slurry ratio, says Ma. How To Tenderise Beef for stir-fries (Velveting Beef) - try Chinese Goodies Proceed with stir fry recipe. 2023 Warner Bros. Velvet the beef: Place steak in a large ziploc bag. The pieces of meat are soaked for about 30 minutes or left in the refrigerator for 30 to 35 minutes. This makes slicing much easier and faster, as the firm beef does not slide under your knife and around the cutting board. Ill try the quantities in your recipe as Im cheating with the red/white wine and probably using too much cornflour (?). TheWoksofLife.com is written and produced for informational purposes only. Pictured below is the stir fry sauce / marinade for Chinese Beef and Broccoli. Also, stir fries have the benefit of glossy sauces coating the beef so thats another reason why we do not need to marinate it for long. Velveting might be harder to pull off in a home kitchen. In a 1-cup measuring container, using a fork, whisk together all of the ingredients as listed. Yes. Keep these in mind for a successful, and so worth it, batch of biang-biang noodles. 2 teaspoons cornstarch 2 teaspoons vegetable oil Instructions First, slice your chicken into 1 to 2 inch pieces, about inch thick. On rare occasions, you may get a tough chicken breasta condition called woody breast, caused by hardened muscle fibers. Learn how to velvet chicken for stir-fry to get tender, juicy pieces of chicken just like the restaurants! I learned that its the same technique they use in making Chinese flank steak beef and other recipes that involve meat. Factors such as brands purchased, natural variations in fresh ingredients, etc. Here is a brief overview of how to velvet beef with cornstarch or cornflour. Tell me how it goes! Adding water also helps the soy sauce or oyster sauce to further tenderize, penetrate and add an extra layer of flavor to the chicken. The traditional method for velveting beef is to pass the meat through hot oil (essentially deep frying) which is literally referred to as zu yu () in Mandarin or jau yau in Cantonese. The secret is tenderising the meat. He then cooks the other ingredients, and then when everythings just about fully cooked, adds the chicken back in to finish it off and combine with the other ingredients. After marinating, the chicken is tossed into a wok and flash-fried with oil over high heat. Thanks for the tips, Give it a try, Raymund, the extra step will make a big difference in your stir-fries . This will also do a fine job tenderizing! Cook over high heat while stirring until the sauce thickens. Mix everything well, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to one hour to allow time for the cornstarch to transform into a thin gelatinous layer. 5 stars for sure! Velveting beef involves slicing it into very thin pieces and adding them to a mixture made up of cornstarch or baking soda. Build your own stir fry using my All Purpose Chinese Stir Fry Sauce or Peanut Sauce for stir fries! And then position each piece to cut them so the long fibers are cut short. There are several methods available, I've introduced the cornstarch/par-boil method in my ' How to Velvet Chicken ' post. Its about giving the beef an extra juicy texture. All rights reserved. Velveting is the foundation of Chinese cooking, says Tim Ma, chef and founder of Lucky Danger, an American Chinese takeout spot with locations in Arlington, VA, and Washington, D.C. It doesnt only tenderize tough, chewy parts of proteins, but it also creates a surface area to absorb thick sauces.. So, velveting makes cheap cuts tender. Then pat off all the excess water and get it set for your stir-fries. I've used chicken as my primary example because I prefer to cook with chicken: the velveting technique works wonders with chicken breasts. Using a meat mallet (or kitchen mallet) to pound steaks helps soften and Salting. I am certainly going to try this on my next round of spareribs! 1. The chicken is then added to the wok at the end for a short saut with the prepared sauce before being served. Oishii, The Brand Behind the Omakase Strawberry, Introduces New Koyo Berry Breed, 5 Best Non-Alcoholic Gins, According to a Spirits Expert, Everything You Need To Cook Like Emily Mariko, 25 Get Well Soon Gifts That Show How Much You Care, 6 Best Whiskeys, According to a Spirits Expert, These Cord Organizers Save Your Kitchen From Clutter, Enter Daily for Your Chance to Win $10,000. 3.Drain and blot dry. Place the dried meat in a bowl and pour the velveting mixture on top. In most cases, we prefer to sear the meat in a hot wok, since having a wok full of oil at home is simply not practical. Beef can be marinated or seasoned before cooking, stir fried or deep fried, and it will be soft and tender, "velvet" like. It allows the velveting sauce youre applying to seep in well. Add the chicken in one layer, and allow to sear for 20 seconds. I am proud to say that your genealogy has been the sole tutorial for my Asian-inspired culinary adventures for years; probably since you began. awsomely easy and got raves from the family! Velveting Meat: The Best-Kept Chinese Restaurant Secret Tenderising affects thetexture not the flavour of the beef. This is unnecessary. For this method, bring the water to a boil on high heat, add one tablespoon of peanut or vegetable oil, reduce the heat to low and when the water is barely simmering, carefully add the meat and gently stir so the pieces dont clump together. Top 45 How To Tenderize Overcooked Beef Recipes Heres the general rule of thumb Ive come up with based on all the beef Ive tried: Chuck beef, gravy beef, oyster beef and other traditional stewing beef 30 minutes, Economical steak cuts (eg. Velveting beef: How to tenderise beef for stir-fries - news Easy, Mouthwatering Roast Beef 5. The result is a silky mouthfeel and a flavor bomb in each bite! Starbucks Is Putting Olive Oil in Its Drinks Is This the Next Revolution in Coffee? Its time to share some Chinese restaurant secrets on how to tenderize beef. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); For the first time I velveteen chicken first and blanched vegetables,than made it all come together with slurry of oyster sauce,soy sauce white pepper salt and apiece of sugar and little cornflour.It was absolutely delicious. Whisk together one egg white, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Hello Lalaine, In a cold wok, add chopped garlic and a small amount of oil. Simply boil enough water to cover the amount of meat you are velveting, then add the meat and cook until it becomes opaque. If the process used by Chinese restaurants to tenderize beef described above sounds a bit like a hassle, you can still tenderize beef using a shortcut. (If you can't find Shaoxing wine in a local Asian market, dry sherry or a rice wine like sake make decent substitutes.). Alcohol is one of my favorite ways to add complex, savory flavor to a dish. All rights reserved. Its typical to also marinate with ingredients like soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce or white pepper. Shake off excess water, then use paper towels to blot away excess water (doesn't need to be 100% dry). Next, remove the meat from the wok using a slotted spoon and reserve it in a dish. Add the meat and stir to coat. The tenderizing step makes any beef soft and moist, while marinating the beef gives it more umami flavor and that velvety coating you experience when eating at Chinese restaurants. However, Im fine with that because stir fries always have great sauces! Recipes Beef 272 Show detail Preview View more Refrigerate 20 minutes for slices, 30 minutes for bite size pieces. Water-blanching is recommended for home cooks as Young, quoted from her cookbook Stir-Frying to the Skys Edge, says it is less complicated, reduces the amount of oil necessary for stir-frying and results in dishes that taste less fatty. You can buy a large piece, slice it, divide it into portions for several stir-fries, and freeze it! Basically, you need to freeze it evenly and take it out the following day, week, or up to four months. How to Velvet Meat - Kawaling Pinoy Add sliced chicken; mix to coat thoroughly. We recommend searing the chicken in a hot wok, as opposed to deep-frying. The thin gelatinous coating seals in the beef juices which keeps it moist and gives it a slippery mouth feel, hence the name velveting! Increase the heat to high and fry until crispy and lightly golden brown. The equivalent Chinese phrase, zu yu () in Mandarin or jau yau in Cantonese, means passing through oil. It essentially refers to deep-frying. Yes, tough meat cuts used for stir-fries, braising, and smoking react excellently to velveting. Factors such as brands purchased, natural variations in fresh ingredients, etc. See how the knife is positioned where it will cut the beef against the grain? It also protects the chicken from the hot wok, yielding juicy chicken. How do you make velvet beef with baking soda? How to Prepare Beef for Stir-fry - The Woks of Life Even 10 minutes will suffice. Reduce heat to medium low and immediately add chicken, stirring to disperse. How to Velvet Beef in Soy Sauce (Beef Stir-Fry Recipe) Preparation time: 20 minutes Maceration time: minimum 30 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes Ingredients For 4 Persons 400g beef tenderloin or brisket 400g yellow onions 3.5oz chicken broth 1 egg 1 chive 4 tbsp sunflower oil or sesame oil 2 tbsp Chinese wine (or Shao Hsing) 2 tbsp potato starch Pictured below is the marinated beef before cooking. While we do our best to provide nutritional information as a general guideline to our readers, we are not certified nutritionists, and the values provided should be considered estimates. This means its not as tender. It could be a tenderloin cut or any cheap cut. Or, you could just put it in a freezer bag. I will also say that adding water to the beef is a personal choice. Step 2: Coat the chicken and let it sit English Roast Beef 4. Its something I also use in my stroganoff recipes. Rinse and dry the coriander. Here youll find hundreds of delicious Filipino and Asian recipes. You can have it all done from start to finish in about 40 minutes. Absolutely love that velveting tip, I used rump steak to make your chow mein and it was fantastic. Andit stays tendereven if you overcook the beef! Specializes in all things traditional Cantonese and American Chinese takeout. Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @kawalingpinoy on Facebook and Instagram! If peanut oil is unavailable, award-winning cookbook author Grace Young suggests using oil with higher smoke points like grapeseed, avocado, rice bran, safflower or vegetable oil. If you want to preserve summer's bounty of fruits and vegetables, here's where to start. How to Velvet Beef or Chicken for Chinese Stir Fry - Dish Ditty kokopuffs Set aside for 1-2 hours. Jump-start your career with our Premium A-to-Z Microsoft Excel Training Bundle from the new Gadget Hacks Shop and get lifetime access to more than 40 hours of Basic to Advanced instruction on functions, formula, tools, and more. TheWoksofLife.com is written and produced for informational purposes only. The chicken breast in this photo was partially frozen for easy slicing. Refrigerate for 30 - 60 minutes. Set aside for 5-10 minutes. Various online calculators also provide different results, depending on their sources. It was a hit! Velveting: The Chinese cooking technique you need to know about - Food Marinating beef for your stir-fry is an important second step of velveting that should never be skipped. Have you ever wondered how Chinese restaurants get their chicken to be so tender and moist-looking? Follow step 3 and increase the marinating time for your beef at least 15 minutes. When I was in culinary school, our chef taught us how to velvet pork for salt and pepper pork spareribs. Chinese restaurants tenderise economical cuts of beef so they are tender and juicy in stir fries. The beef will be really tender and soft, velvet like. One Pot Beef Stroganoff Soup - Little Sunny Kitchen If you dont add egg, its generally important to add a little bit of water to make the mixture liquid and properly coat the meat, says Kathy Chen, head chef at Wenwen, a cozy Taiwanese eatery in Brooklyn. However, I wouldnt advise that you use chopped beef for this preparation. Place chicken in a bowl and sprinkle baking soda all over the surface. When using cornstarch with other ingredients, stir it well until its fully dissolved, and no clumps are visible. Why is it that no matter what you order from an American Chinese restaurant, from egg drop soup to fiery kung pao chicken, the texture is out of this world? Cover and marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Drizzle 2-3 tbsp of oil and stir fry the beef minced until no longer pink. Usually it is easier to do two steps - brine/tenderize then velvet. Then, remove from the wok. Is velveting also useful for using chicken in a soup, or only for stir frying? Once coated in cornstarch, slices of pork became incredibly tender when dunked into a steaming hot misua with sliced patola and vermicelli. This skips the rinsing step, and will also do a fine job tenderizing! Then, the freezing process tears them apart. Next, you need to coat the meat in baking soda and freeze it. Want to master Microsoft Excel and take your work-from-home job prospects to the next level? Rose from modest beginnings as a Burger King sandwich assembler to Holiday Inn busboy and line cook, to cooking at the family's Chinese restaurant, while also learning the finer points of Cantonese cooking from his immigrant parents. I'm Kristy a chef and connoisseur of all things BBQ! We were surprised to find that samples that were . Then you will allow the beef cuts to rest for about an hour. Velveting starts with making a slurry: For 1 pound thinly sliced meat or alternative protein (it can be anything really: chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, tofu, or even mushrooms), combine 1 Tbsp. Delicate fish can benefit from a little extra oil to make sure the tender pieces of fish arent too dry, risking breakage in the wok.. Submit your question or comment below. Once they are firm, they are very easy to slice into uniform, perfect slices. Velveting is a Chinese cooking technique that takes your thin pieces of raw meat and coats them in a cornstarch marinade. Thank you so much for sharing. This is to filter out the coagulated protein, enhance the quality of the soup and achieve purity of the broth. Drain. To ensure the beef remains tender and juicy after cooking, stir-fry the marinated beef over high heat until 70% cooked. Bring the water to a boil and add about 1 teaspoon of oil. When it turns opaque, cook for an additional 10 seconds (the chicken will be cooked 80% through). With its intense beefy flavor, all you need to do is make sure you slice and marinate it properly to make a great stir-fry. The best parts of you delicious recipes your humour and big smile. Bring to a boil. Butdont limit yourself to just Chinese recipes! Happy cooking! Velveting meat is used for making tender beef in Chinese stir-fry recipes. One of my favorite things about American Chinese food is how easy it is to eat: the pieces are bite-sized, the flavors are addictive, and the meat is always tender and easy to chew. Slice the meat thinly against the grain, and add it to a large bowl. Tenderizing: Velveting Beef - YouTube These methods are foolproof, so enjoy every preparation, cooking step, and, of course, the tasting. While there are several ways to velvet, a pound of meat needs about two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of oil, says Leung. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Chinese Beef and Broccoli - RecipeTin Eats - A Food Blog Serving Up Leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes (you can even leave to macerate overnight in the refrigerator). Let us know in the comments if you have any questions! To complete the velveting process, youd technically need to dunk the marinated protein in hot oil or water, which, according to chef Lucas Sin of Junzi Kitchen, activates the layer of starch and gives the meat its characteristic slippery texture. Add oyster sauce and/or soy sauce to give your beef an extra flavor boost. These are the best cuts of beef to tenderise: economical steaks* any type, like good value rump, porterhouse, sirloin, round bottom etc.