Meat stir-fry is a common dish in family meals. However, many housewives often end up with dry and tough meat when stir-frying. This problem is even more common when using thawed meat.
The reason why meat stir-fry becomes dry and tough is because of excessive heat, which makes the meat tough, loses its sweetness, or stirring for too long without being fully thawed…
Therefore, in order to make delicious stir-fried meat, you need to remember the following tips:
When buying meat, choose fresh meat that has good elasticity when pressed. If you take the meat out of the freezer, make sure to fully thaw it before stir-frying. If you stir-fry partially thawed meat, it will become dry and tough. When cooking pork or beef for children and adults, you can gently press the back of the knife into the meat to make it more tender. Note that the meat should be sliced against the grain, not with the grain, to avoid toughness.
Tips for tender stir-fried meat
Use cornstarch or potato starch: When marinating the meat, add a little cooking oil and some cornstarch or potato starch to coat the outside of the meat. The oil and starch help the meat retain its tenderness when stir-frying. You can mix the starch into the sauce, and when stir-frying, evenly pour the sauce over the meat to make it softer.
Use beer: When marinating the meat with spices, add a little beer to the marinade. Beer helps break down the proteins, making the meat fragrant and tender. Beer is an excellent catalyst for tenderizing meat. The enzymes in beer help break down the proteins in the meat.
Use Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola also has a similar effect of making the meat more tender.
Use condensed milk: If you like sweetness, you can add a little condensed milk to the marinade. Condensed milk is also a secret to tenderizing meat commonly used in restaurants. Especially for grilled meat, marinating with condensed milk makes the meat much more tender.
How to stir-fry to make tender meat:
Commonly stir-fried meats are beef and pork, which are thin and easy to cook. Therefore, stir-frying them for too long will make the meat lose its sweetness, become tough, and dry, with the meat fibers clearly visible as the bonding between the fibers has been broken down. Therefore, when stir-frying, pay attention to the heat.
You should heat the pan, add the onions and stir-fry until fragrant, then quickly add the meat and lower the heat. Stir-fry for only 2-3 minutes and then turn off the heat. Continue stirring to let the residual heat cook the meat, without the need for strong heat. The meat will be tender, delicious, and sweet. Then transfer the cooked meat to a plate. If you want to stir-fry with vegetables, add the vegetables to the pan and stir-fry until cooked. Then add the previously stir-fried meat and stir-fry together for a harmonious mix. Especially for beef and pork shoulder meat, they are easy to cook, so you don’t need to cook them for too long. Heat the pan, add the meat, quickly stir-fry, turn off the heat, and continue stirring. This method helps the meat become tender and moist, without becoming tough or dry.
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