What is a natural meat tenderizer? (2023)

FAQs

What's a natural meat tenderizer? ›

To better understand this, let's look at the three main methods of tenderizing meat: mechanical, thermal, and enzymatic.

Salt will draw the water out of the meat. The water dissolves the salt and then some gets reabsorbed back into the meat, ala osmosis. What is this? When the salt is absorbed into the meat, it breaks down the protein cells and helps tenderize the meat.

Marinating your meats in apple cider vinegar can work to tenderize them, as long as you don't add too much vinegar and don't marinate them too long (it's very acidic, so prolonged exposure can break down the fibers in the meat and turn it to mush).

In Chinese cooking, proteins like beef, pork or chicken are velveted first before stir-frying them. There are several ways to velvet, but at its most basic level, it involves marinating meat with at least one ingredient that will make it alkaline. This is what tenderizes the meat, especially cheaper, tougher cuts.

Whether hosting a holiday cookout, serving up some stir-fry or tackling game meats, baking soda is the go-to meat tenderizer to help make your steak, chicken or turkey silkier, juicier and yummier.

Marinate: Marinating your steak in acids or enzymes breaks down the fibers and tenderizes the steak. To marinate the meat in an acidic solution, add lemon juice, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, or buttermilk to your marinade and let the steak soak in it for thirty minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the cut.

The answer is yes—to an extent. When collagen and muscle fibers, the connective tissues in meat that make it tough, are tenderized and broken down, it helps the meat retain all of its juices. Acidic ingredients like vinegar, lemon juice, yogurt and wine weaken collagen and protein in meat.

Simmering in a little bit of liquid or broth is a great way to tenderize. Acidity can also be your friend here. A little bit of vinegar and lemon juice in the liquid can help you tenderize the meat. It adds moisture, but it also cooks the meat.

Most fine restaurants age their beef to intensify the flavor and improve the tenderness of the cut. Wet aging is done by vacuum packing the meat and letting it age in its own juices. Wet aging is done by more than 90% of fine steakhouses.

How do Japanese tenderize beef? ›

Sake adds a subtle umami flavor and helps tenderize meat. The flavors in the marinade go with any type of meat, including beef, chicken, pork, and seafood. The flavors in this marinade will give your meat a Japanese steakhouse-inspired flavor.

Place the meat on the bed and completely cover it with kosher or coarse sea salt. You can rub it in or just let it sit for approximately **15 minutes (or up to 45 minutes for thicker cuts). The salt breaks down the muscle fibers and connective tissue to maximize the tenderness and texture of the steak.

In addition to seasoning the steaks, salt helps break down proteins and make the meat more tender. Liberally salt the steaks up to an hour before cooking, then proceed according to your recipe.

It is important to note that when using balsamic vinegar to tenderize your meat you do need to plan ahead. Depending on how tough the meat is, you should leave it soaking in the refrigerator for at least twelve hours and not longer than five days. The longer it marinates, the more tender the beef will become.

As it turns out, Worcestershire sauce already contains many of the components of a good marinade! It has vinegar to tenderize the meat, sugar for sweetness and shine, and savory flavors like onion, garlic, tamarind, and anchovies.

Briefly soaking meat in a solution of baking soda and water raises the pH on the meat's surface, making it more difficult for the proteins to bond excessively, which keeps the meat tender and moist when it's cooked.

This is how to tenderise beef with a Chinese restaurant method called “velveting beef”. Also used for chicken, it's a simple, highly effective technique using baking soda that transforms economical beef so it's incredibly tender in stir fries and stir fried noodles.

Pear juice or puree is traditionally used in Korean meat marinades—the juice not only adds sweetness but also works to tenderize the meat. I've watched Korean friends and mothers use pineapple juice, apple juice, and even soda in lieu of pear juice, but I prefer the pear.

To properly tenderize a steak, lay the steak out on a plate and cover each side with approximately 1 teaspoon of coarse kosher salt or sea salt before cooking. Use your fingers to gently work the salt granules into the surface, breaking down the fibers of the meat.

The first is to submerge meat in cooking oil (sunflower or olive oil) before you start cooking. The oil is absorbed and softens the meat. The second method is to add some vinegar while you're cooking and the vinegar will begin to tenderise the meat.

Which method do chefs use to thermally tenderize meat? ›

Science of Cooking: Braising Makes A Tough Cut Tender | Exploratorium. Long before cooks had ovens, they had braising.

Cola's high acidity and caramel flavor makes a surprisingly good meat tenderizer. Cola typically has a pH of about 2.7—for comparison, lemon juice has a pH of 2—making it acidic enough to break down some proteins without dissolving your meat.

Today, marinades are generally used to bring out the flavor of the meat. An ideal ingredient for this purpose (among many other uses!) is apple cider vinegar. As a powerful bactericide, it helps eliminate any impurities in the meat.

Marinating your BBQ dishes with olive oil can help tenderize meat, as well as make the meat juicy and full of flavor.

Muscles also toughen with age, so a younger animal yields more tender meat. Additionally, overcooking meat, even meat that comes from the more tender muscles, can make it tough. That's because heat causes the proteins in the meat to firm up.

Briefly soaking meat in a solution of baking soda and water raises the pH on the meat's surface, making it more difficult for the proteins to bond excessively, which keeps the meat tender and moist when it's cooked.

Pounding your steak

The most common method for tenderizing your steak is pounding it, and for a very simple reason. Pounding out cuts of steak, or any meat for that matter, breaks down the muscle fibers that constrict when introduced to heat.

Cooking tough cuts of meat with low-temperature heat over a long period of time is a great way to tenderize it. Tough fibers, collagen and connective tissues will break down, leaving you with tender meat. Try using a slow cooker, or braise with broth or other liquids in a covered dish in the oven.

The acetic acid in the vinegar breaks down meat fibers, making them more tender and flavorful.

What does soaking beef in milk do? ›

It's milk.

But the acid in milk is so mild that you can soak beef in it long enough to tenderize it effectively, without damaging the proteins on the surface. The calcium-rich properties of milk react with enzymes in the meat to gently soften the proteins.

Tenderizing with a baking soda solution is faster than using a saltwater brine. Meat only has to sit in a baking soda solution for 15 to 20 minutes, but a brine solution can take at least 30 minutes to start working.