You may follow steps 5-8 of the previous recipe to stir-fry your velveted beef. I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Here are some tips to keep in mind. Chemical tenderizer. After marinating, the chicken is tossed into a wok and flash-fried with oil over high heat. There are a few methods, but this is the easiest way: Sprinkle 3/4 tsp baking soda (bi-carbonate soda) on 250g / 8oz sliced economical beef cuts. Add sliced chicken; mix to coat thoroughly. This technique is known as velveting, because meats marinated with cornstarch have a velvety smooth texture on the outside and retain moisture on the inside. Velveting beef begins with the steps we have explained above (involving tenderizing the beef and then marinating it with seasonings, oil and cornstarch). I use the coated meat in soups, stews, or stir-fries, transforming them from mere sustenance into meals with restaurant-level finesse. I hav just tried this for the very first and made some Chinese stir-fry, and it was delicious, it made the chicken taste so lovely and made the chicken so soft. 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.. If you need more than that for your recipe, I suggest you do it in batches for the first attempt, so you dont mess things up. Cook for one minute or until the meat just turns opaque but is not cooked through. Add the meat and stir to coat. Growing up in a Chinese Filipino household meant that the meat I consumed went velveted without me even knowing. 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. Long strands of noodles like you have in Beef Lo Mein require beef to be cut into similar long thin strips. Kaitlin Leung of The Woks of Life, a blog dedicated to Chinese cooking, shares that a standard velveting mixture could include egg white and cornstarch, plus a few tablespoons of water to help coat the meat yes, but also to make the meat extra tender and juicy. I usually use a beef and oyster sauce stir fry recipe. Worlds Easiest Yeast Bread recipe Sandwich Rolls- NO KNEAD, Vegetable Chow Mein (Vegetarian)- 15 Minutes, https://www.pinterest.com/tryChineseGoodies/. There are several ways to tenderizing beef for stir-fries. 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. Add cornstarch -The cornstarch is used to seal the marinade. For those of you who want to reduce fat in your diet or simply want that delicate taste of Cantonese cooking, you can blanch your chicken in boiling water. I like them sliced. If you're unsure for your cut of beef, go for 35 minutes. Worked BEAUTIFULLY The meat ends up juicy and flavorful, a result you dont get with a standard blanching process.. Remove from oil and drain excess oil with paper towels. Build your own stir fry using my All Purpose Chinese Stir Fry Sauce or Peanut Sauce for stir fries! The blanching, or flash-frying, is another step that enforces the barrier; the outside of the meat cooks so quickly that it seals the juiciness of the chicken. 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. How do you make fried chicken skin crispy like Jolibee Chicken Joy? That said, we think searing beef imparts more flavor than the jau yau deep-frying method. Add 1 tbsp of stir-fry sauce mixture and follow with garlic and onions. It also happens to be the most recommended cut of beef we use in our stir-fry recipes. (See Note 1 for different cuts). Place in a bowl. Drain the meat, then use it in your preferred recipe. Velveting: The Chinese cooking technique you need to know about - Food Here are a few recipes that can serve as a starting point for your culinary velveting adventures: Velveting is an easy yet essential technique for Asian stir-fry. Velveting is a critical Chinese cooking technique. After 30 minutes, take the meat out. Cornstarch is the foundation of Chinese cooking and this magical pantry ingredient is commonly used to thicken soups, stews and sauces. You can have it all done from start to finish in about 40 minutes. 626628916 Beef Bourguignon in a white soup bowl on black . Tag me on Instagram at. Subscribe for the latest updates on new recipes, and get started with our family's Top 25 Recipe eBook! My name is Lalaine and welcome to Kawaling Pinoy. Your email address will not be published. Try to slice it thinly so you have a really flat cut like what you need for pastrami. 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. It might seem counterintuitive to marinate before boiling, but the velveting marinade tenderizes the meat, keeps it moist, and adds flavor. To sear, place your wok over high heat. Velveting is the secret! Well recommend our favorite cuts of beef to use and show you how to properly cut and marinate beef just like its done in Chinese restaurants. Pro tip: Alternatively, you can use red wine vinegar to replace the soy sauce in the mixture. How to Use Baking Soda to Tenderize Meat by America's test kitchen In this photo, you can see the pattern of meat and fat where the grain runs vertically. The beef will be really tender and soft, "velvet' like. Rinse beef well with tap water. Super Tender Mongolian Beef Recipe - Little Spice Jar Cut along the fat lines and remove the thick membrane to get some neat chunks of beef for slicing. Randy Lau, the creator of Made With Lau, a Cantonese cooking blog and YouTube channel, shares that 60 percent of his fathers (the chef and culinary expert behind Made With Lau) Chinese recipes skip this step. Discovery, Inc. or its subsidiaries and affiliates. Subscribe to our email list and be sure to follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube! Velvet the beef: Place steak in a large ziploc bag. Cut the meat. When Daddy Lau (as he is affectionately called) cooks Kung Pao Chicken, for instance, he stir-fries the protein until its 80 to 90 percent cooked, then scoops it out of the wok and sets it aside. Set aside for 5-10 minutes. Step 1: Get mixing In a small bowl, beat the egg white. The thin gelatinous coating seals in the beef juices which keeps it moist and gives it a slippery mouth feel, hence the name velveting! I emailed it to myself and I'm going to print it from there. And then position each piece to cut them so the long fibers are cut short. rice vinegar. If done well, youll achieve that flank steak beef texture found in Chinese restaurants. Specializes in all things traditional Cantonese and American Chinese takeout. Try and get that soda powder all over the thinly-sliced beef by rubbing it in. Velveting Meat: The Best-Kept Chinese Restaurant Secret Velveting Beef For Stir Fry - TheSuperHealthyFood After the chicken is cooked for a minute or two, it is removed from the wok and left to cool while the rest of the ingredients (such as the vegetables and/or sauce) are cooked. For centuries in China, cattle were used exclusively for agricultural purposes. Dish out and set aside. You'll quickly figure out the best marinating times for your preferred cuts of beef - just adjust up and down by 10 minutes at a time. Meat or seafood is marinated and pre-cooked in oil (or sometimes poached in boiling water). How to Velvet Beef or Chicken for Chinese Stir Fry - Dish Ditty Wen agrees and says, I would recommend mixing all the marinade ingredients together very well before adding in your meat. Moo Goo Gai Pan: Mushroom and Chicken Stir Fry, Spicy Chicken Stir-fry (Firebird Chicken), Chicken and Thai Basil Stir-Fry in 15 Minutes. He suggests adding meat one piece at a time, so it doesnt clump once it hits the oil. People go for either egg white or baking soda as they are both alkaline ingredients. We've got all the tools, instructions and advice you need. Hows that for a chefs trick? Before slicing them, I put them into the walk-in freezer until they were partially frozenfirm but not solid. So, their meat was only consumed when the animal was too old to do its job. But it certainly made it taste legit! 5 stars for sure! It gives the chicken that silky texture, with retained moisture and flavor from the marinade. All restaurants (and most home cooks) velvet their chicken before making stir-fries, fried rice, etc. We always give important details in all of our recipes, including preparation and cooking, but I thought it was time to write a post focused on preparing beef properly for the wok! But if you've ever tried to replicate any of your favorite takeout in the kitchen, you've likely noticed that the high heat required for most recipes thoroughly dries out the meat that you're trying to cook. Also, be careful in seasoning cos youre gonna season it before frying, dredge it in seasoned flour and season it while stir frying. Next, add 1/4 cup (60 ml) water (per pound of beef), and massage the beef so the baking soda and water is uniformly distributed. While there are several ways to velvet, a pound of meat needs about two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of oil, says Leung. Beef can be marinated or seasoned before cooking, stir fried or deep fried, and it will be soft and tender, "velvet" like. Step 2: Coat the chicken and let it sit 1 tablespoon cornflour or fine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water Step 1 - Slice the beef against the grain - this helps the velveting process as it gets into the fibres better. Here are a few recipes I use this method: Did you make this? Usually, add cornstarch and beaten egg and whisk with baking soda powder to tenderize the beef. Then, remove from the wok. For example, if you want a hot fried beef sandwich, it would taste great since its already seasoned with garlic and English mustard. Fill a wok or a large pot with water. Cuttingagainstthe grain means cutting across those strands, so the long strands of muscle can be made shorter to create small, tender pieces. Flank steak is by far the most popular cut of meat used by Chinese restaurants in all of their stir-fry dishes. How do you make velvet beef with baking soda? Whisk in the egg white till well combined but not frothy. We individually stir-fry the ingredients because our home stoves generally arent as powerful as those in restaurants. After this period, youll see that the fibers are now softened, and the grains of the meat are now a bit apart and no longer firm. Were Sarah, Kaitlin, Judy, and Bill a family of four cooks sharing our home-cooked and restaurant-style recipes. Add oyster sauce and/or soy sauce to give your beef an extra flavor boost. Then you will allow the beef cuts to rest for about an hour. how to velvet beef | Sheri Silver - living a well-tended life at any age When I was in culinary school, our chef taught us how to velvet pork for salt and pepper pork spareribs. First, slice your chicken into 1 to 2 inch pieces, about inch thick. Pictured below is the marinated beef before cooking. Place the dried meat in a bowl and pour the velveting mixture on top. Velveting Chicken: The Chinese restaurant secret to tenderising chicken Learn how your comment data is processed. Mix the meat with the potato starch, the previously beaten egg, 2 tablespoons of chicken broth, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add chicken and marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. After you mix these ingredients together, set it aside for around 15 to 30 minutes before blanching in hot oil or boiling water. For the best results, let the chicken sit for 15 to 20 minutes to marinate. If too much egg white is used, the mixture wont be absorbed and seal the meats juices well. Isnt it amazing how velvety and soft the chicken turns out? Ill show you how to velvet beef in both procedures. Looking for more authentic recipes? A chefs secret to slicing beef quickly is to freeze the meat partially for 30 to 60 minutes until firm. Velveting Chicken: Why It's Important & How To Do It 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. The best parts of you delicious recipes your humour and big smile. I feel like I just got a peek at the da Vinci code! How To Make Chinese Restaurant Style Beef and Chicken! - Not Quite Nigella Its easy to identify the long grains of muscle fiber in flank steak. Patricia Kelly Yeo is a freelance food and health journalist based in L.A. 2023 Cond Nast. How to Butterfly a Steak (A Step-by-Step Guide), How Long Can Ground Beef Sit Out? I will also say that adding water to the beef is a personal choice. Now, cut your beef into 1/4 thick slices. Add your velveted beef one after the other when the oil is hot. 2. See? Whether you go with the simplest approach, or more advanced restaurant-grade methods, velveting makes a huge difference, and is an essential step to making any stir-fry dish top notch. Stir for another 30 seconds or until beef is no longer pink. 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 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. Its a way of preparing sauted meat in a way that they become tenderized. The marinade isnt as much about soaking the beef in a lot of liquid or adding a bunch of different flavorings like you may be used to. All it takes is a teaspoon or two of cornstarch per pound of meat. Even 10 minutes will suffice. Bring the water to a boil and add about 1 teaspoon of oil. 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. It allows the velveting sauce youre applying to seep in well. Remember, in both scenarios, you will be cooking the chicken again in your stir-fry, so avoid overcooking it during the pre-cook process! Drain. Pictured below is the stir fry sauce / marinade for Chinese Beef and Broccoli. My Ground Beef Smells Like Eggs | Can I Still Eat It? If you like, you can make use of chemical methods such as baking soda, salt, or dairy products to tenderize meat. Rectangular slices of beef are used for stir-fries with vegetables like beef and broccoli or beef and tofu. Serve immediately. Mix the baking soda and water together. When it starts to smoke lightly, add a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil to coat the surface of the wok. Whisk the cornstarch, soy sauce and vinegar in a small bowl till smooth. 1 tablespoon cornstarch (use 1 1/2 tablespoons when velveting shrimp) 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon peanut oil (use 1 1/2 tablespoons when velveting shrimp) ~ Step 2. This worked beautifully. Nobody really knows what causes it, but if youve ever had a stringy or tough chicken breast, you may have experienced it. Use your hands to stir up the beef during the rinsing process. Ill try the quantities in your recipe as Im cheating with the red/white wine and probably using too much cornflour (?). Add the water and soy sauce (or oyster sauce) to the chicken in a medium bowl, and mix until the chicken is well-coated. But velveting works with any kind of meat, so long as the meat is cut into thin strips or small pieces. Stir to coat the broccoli in Sauce, then let it simmer for 1 minute or . Enjoy! Lets say you have a 400 or 500-gram piece of topside beef, which is a cheaper cut than a steak. soy sauce, and 1 Tbsp. Whether you prefer them crispy, sticky, grilled or baked, take stock of these expert tips. If you decide to try velveting at home, be sure to let us know in the comments! Knowing how to velvet meat has helped cure me of my addiction to Chinese takeout which has definitely eased the load on my budget. Also used for chicken, its a simple, highlyeffective technique using baking soda that transforms economical beef so its incredibly tender in stir friesand stir fried noodles. So, velveting makes cheap cuts tender. To give your velveted meat an. Do you sometimes feel challenged when slicing chicken thinly to make a stir-fry? See how the knife is positioned where it will cut the beef against the grain? Proceed with recipe of choice. After mixing it all in a bowl, you need to lay the beef cuts one by one into a takeaway container. If you cut with the fibers, the beef will be tough because the long fibers havent separated. Notify me via e-mail if anyone answers my comment. You can try mechanical or heat methods. Stir beef for 10 seconds, then add garlic and ginger. that are otherwise quite dry when used in stir fries; chuck and similar cuts of beef used for stews this technique will tenderise the beef perfectly, however, by their very nature, stewing cuts of beef dont have as strong a natural beef flavour as steaks. Heat over "warm" setting until thickened. 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. Regardless of the method you use, youre allowed to use larger pieces of beef, up to 500 grams. Read More. I cleaned and sliced vegetables, peeled shrimp, made egg rolls and yes, I sliced up many chicken breasts! Even when I under or over tenderised, it was still tender and juicy. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators., Mention @KawalingPinoy and hashtag your photo with #KawalingPinoy, Welcome to Kawaling Pinoy. As an example for how to marinate beef, check out our post on How to Prepare Beef for Stir-fry. However, I wouldnt advise that you use chopped beef for this preparation. Begin by mixing soy sauce, cornstarch or potato starch, and oil with meat. Spoiler not everything can be stored on your bar cart! The pantry possibilities are, in theory, endless: oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or even ponzu for a light citrus twist. vegetable or light sesame oil. Heat the oil in a wok (or a large frying pan). Marinating beef for your stir-fry is an important second step of velveting that should never be skipped. Bring to a boil. For. When the sauce starts bubbling, add broccoli. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Velveting beef for stir fry what a winner of a tip. Try velveting meat and shrimp for noodle favorites such as. Its something I also use in my stroganoff recipes. 2. It has avelvety texture. More Recipes: 1. The first step is to add a good amount of baking soda to the beefabout 1 rounded teaspoon per pound (450g). If using boneless beef chuck, check out our instructions for how to slice it below. Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Sue Li, Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boytsova. Then, the cook adds it to a stir-fry with other ingredients. Seafood like fish, shrimp, and scallops can also be velveted though there are a couple things to keep in mind. However, chemical compounds like baking soda can leave some taste in the meat. Happy cooking! Ideally, you should only velvet beef for 20 to 30 minutes. In a colander, drain chicken. Some do it religiously, but we usually prefer to keep its natural texture and simply season it when needed. These methods are foolproof, so enjoy every preparation, cooking step, and, of course, the tasting. We recommend adding 2-3 tablespoons of water to 12-16 ounces of chicken, but if your chicken is already moist because you rinsed it in water or maybe it was frozen with liquid, you can reduce the amount of added water. Using a meat mallet (or kitchen mallet) to pound steaks helps soften and Salting. Tap here to receive our FREE top 25 recipe book! Young suggests using about two tablespoons of egg white for every one pound of meat, poultry, fish or shellfish. Bring water and oil to a boil in a pot over high heat. It's also done for, stewing beef or other economical beef cuts, Refrigerate for 30 to 40 minutes. TheWoksofLife.com is written and produced for informational purposes only. Its typical to also marinate with ingredients like soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce or white pepper. When you freeze it and thaw it back out, you can use it for all types of recipes. 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. Here are tips to pulling off your own well-balanced, ever-changing assortment. The process of searing or frying meat in oil varies a little for different kinds of meat and the volume of what you are working with, says Leung. High Temperature Eye-of-Round Roast R. Author: Mary Claire Lagroue Published: Dec 16, 2019 Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins . The most common velveting ingredients include egg white, sesame oil or sunflower oil, cornflour, and salt. Leave to brown for 3-4 minutes, then put the meat back, adding the rest of the chicken broth. The result is a silky mouthfeel and a flavor bomb in each bite! I started velveting my meat after years of horribly chewy and tough stir fries and frankly was amazed at the difference it made. After the water is massaged into the chicken, it should be absorbed within 10 minutes with no visible standing liquid. I often use it to break down the fibers of meat and therefore tenderize it. Use for. Ready to perfect your velveting technique, and sink your teeth into magically tender dishes? 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. Tap here to receive our FREE top 25 recipe book! Id like to try adding a pinch of baking soda. The baking soda method is the simplest for every day purposes and just as effectivewhich is why its the method I use. Make sure to remove the white sinewy bits as they will not soften and will make the meat chewy. Lastly, adding the chicken a few minutes before the dish is complete allows the meat to heat up to the same temperature as the rest of the meal without prolonged exposure to more heat (which will create a loss of moisture and a tougher texture). Also, acidic solutions like oyster sauce, vinegar, and lemon are used for tenderizing beef for stir-fry dishes. On rare occasions, you may get a tough chicken breasta condition called woody breast, caused by hardened muscle fibers. It was a hit! Add the water and soy sauce (or oyster sauce) to the chicken in a medium bowl, and mix until the chicken is well-coated. Through the process of velveting, meats retain their moisture and take on a soft and velvety texture that is a signature quality of Chinese cuisine. However, Im fine with that because stir fries always have great sauces! Isnt leaving the meat in oil for 3 minutes going to cook it through? Make sense? We were surprised to find that samples that were . Starbucks Is Putting Olive Oil in Its Drinks Is This the Next Revolution in Coffee? Whisk together until smooth and frothy. The cornstarch and oil gives the beef its velvety smooth texture, protecting the meat during cooking. The most important part of this process and the key to velveting is the marinade: the chicken needs at least half an hour to ensure that every microscopic inch of its surface is coated with the cornstarch slurry.