How to choose good beef?
To make sure the stir-fried beef is not tough, you need to choose a good piece of meat. For stir-fries, the best choice is beef tenderloin because it is sweet, tender, and has a good color. It is best to buy tenderloin. The meat must be fresh, avoid pieces of a dark red color. If you choose a piece with fat, prefer a piece of meat with yellow and firm fat, not soft fat as it will be tough.
Choose the right type of beef for delicious stir-fries.
To be more careful, check if the meat is still fresh by lightly pressing your finger on it. If it doesn’t stick to your finger and doesn’t have any unusual smell, it means the meat is still fresh.
Thinly slice the beef
To eliminate the smell of the meat, after buying it, you should rinse it with saltwater and crushed ginger, then dry it with a paper towel before slicing. You need to slice it thinly, the thicker you slice, the tougher it will be.
After slicing, you can use the back of the knife to tenderize the meat to make it more tender. For really good-quality meat, this step is not necessary.
Marinate with cooking oil
For fresh meat, you only need to marinate it with a little seasoning powder, soy sauce, and a few crushed garlic cloves, ground black pepper. Add a tablespoon of cooking oil, mix well and let it marinate for about 30 minutes, the meat will be tender and delicious. Do not marinate with too much fish sauce or salt as it will make the meat watery, dry and tough when stir-fried.
Hot pan, quick stir-fry
Remember that for stir-fried beef, you don’t add oil to the pan and don’t add the meat until the pan is hot; meaning you won’t be stir-frying the beef with hot oil as usual, but instead, you will use the oil that has been marinated in the meat beforehand.
Professional chefs explain that if you put raw beef into hot oil, this contact will cause a sudden temperature change, causing the beef to shrink. This is the main reason why stir-fried beef becomes tough and sticks to the pan.
When stir-frying, turn the heat to high but do not let the pan get too hot, as the beef will be cooked too well and will no longer be tender. Stir quickly, when the meat is just cooked, turn off the heat, because if you stir-fry for too long, the meat will become tougher. If stir-frying with vegetables, stir-fry the beef separately, when the vegetables are cooked, then pour the beef in, stir well, and then turn off the heat.