Chinese meat - technique

[blodwen181]

Hiya,

Most of the Chinese resteraunts I've gone to always have really, really tender meat and I want to know how it works. No matter how I cut or bash the meat I can't get it the same way. Is it in the particular cut of the meat? Is there lengthly marination involved?

Anyone know?

 

[DaveSoMD]

When you are slicing the meat be sure to slice ACROSS the grain of the meat. That will ensure it is easier to eat and chew.

 

[BigAL]

I think I read here, or somewhere, that they use baking soda on their chicken.IIRC. Check out this guy, YouTube - ltkman's Channel
I've tried some of his recipes, come out great, imho.

I'll bet good money it's not an expensive cut they use, it has to do w/prep. Marinades can help greatly, and as Dave said, cutting cross the grain is very important.

Hope this helped, if not....well it's worth what it cost ya. Oh, and keep the change.

 

[spork]

Here's the "secret" as I was taught. Seems to work for all cuts of meat...

1. marinade in rice wine for at least an hour (add spices if you wish)
2. rinse, add a little bit of fresh rice wine
3. sprinkle all purpose flour and mix with meat for thin pasty coat
4. brown quickly in very hot wok, remove and set aside
5. add meat back into the wok, at the right time, according to the dish

For a crunchy exterior to the meat, popular with some dishes like sweet & sour, coat the meat with a thicker wine+flour protective 'batter' and cook a bit longer.

 

[MSC]

The Chinese use a technique called "velveting" See this link and google for exact recipes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velveting

 

[BreezyCooking]

Yup - "velveting" is a terrific way to get super-tender meat for Chinese dishes. There's "velveting" with oil & "velveting" with water. I've only tried the water method, & it did produce a fabulous end product for a "Sub Gum Chicken" dish I was trying. Just a little more hoopla than I normally do for a stirfry, but worth it once in awhile.

 

[blodwen181]

Thanks everyone! Certainly given me some things to try

 

[TATTRAT]

Also, in addition to vinegar, Pear juice(used in a lot of Korean cooking)really helps to naturally tenderize your cut of meat.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

This is the best site I've seen that gives both a text and little movie showing the velveting technique. This method works with poultry, beef, and pork. I've used it. Check it out. As I don't use alcohol, the soy sauce works for me instead of using rice wine or sherry.

http://www.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN8cOTvgGrE

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Kayelle]

Hmmmmm, there seems to be an error when opening that video. Is it just me?

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

It didn't work for me either. Here is the site address for the YouTube video.

YouTube - How to Velvet Chicken for Stir Fry Dishes

I hope you can cut and paste this and pull it up. The video explains the process quite well. I just opened another browser window and cut and pasted the above address in. It worked. I went right to the video. Couldn't find the text link that originally led me to the video. Sorry.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

It did it to me again. So this time, I'm only pasting the address characters after the

I tried entering the characters after the www. and it still didn't work. Now, remove every dash from between the characters, cut and paste and you should get there. Alternately, go to one of my above posts, right-click on the virtual screen, and select "Watch on YouTube". I tried that and it worked.

y-o-u-t-u-b-e-.-c-o-m-/-w-a-t-c-h-?-v-W=N-8-c-O-T-v-g-G-r-E-&-f-e-at-u-r-e-=-p-l-a-y-e-r-_-e-m-b-e-d-d-e-d"

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[CharlieD]

Site is blocking the pop-ups, you have to allowed them and then it will work, I think.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I used teh technique from the video tonight to make chicken chop suey. There was no baking soda or meat tenderizer used. I followed the recipe and technique exactly as given in the video. I have to tell you that I have never had more tender, velvety chicken anywhere, or at any time. I added powdered ginger to the marinade, plus granulated garlic powder to enhance the chicken flavor. The result was remarkable. I will definitely be using this technique again and again. No acidity from wine came into play, as I used soy sauce. The poaching technique with the egg/cornstarch seal is what did the trick, and cooking until the chicken was barely done through. If this works as well for beef and pork, then I will be amazed indeed.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[BreezyCooking]

Yes - I've only used it on chicken as well (method from a Chinese cookbook), but the results were no less than miraculous. Really reminded me of high-end Chinese restaurant fare.

But as I said before, I don't use the method all the time - just when I want a really delicate result, as in Cantonese-style dishes. I've found it's kind of a waste when used as a prep for Szechuan dishes.