This Chefs have a secret to making meat incredibly tender: adding this secret ingredient before cooking!

In the middle of a family meat  meal, your mother-in-law says, “These steaks  are as tough as rocks!” You remain calm and diplomatic despite this disaster. This family is obsessed with meat, but there’s still a way to improve the situation.

Discover our 10 foolproof tips for making your meat incredibly tender and flavorful, shared by Samuel Le Boch, a chef in Paris.

Curious to know how meat lovers and professionals manage to make their meat so tender and delicious?

Cooking with meat isn’t just for experts. There are many cooking tips and techniques that will satisfy seasoned meat lovers, providing them with an excellent source of protein and vitamins.

Through a series of questions and answers, we’ll examine the 10 essential methods to prevent your next family meal from turning into a pitched battle, knife between teeth!

 

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Why and how is my meat so tough?
It’s important to go to a butcher, a professional who knows his stuff. Because, in fact, the tenderness of the meat will also depend on the choice of cut, the date of slaughter, the packaging, and the quality of the supply. Forget the eternal “it’s the butcher’s fault, he served me his leftovers!”

You need to be more specific when making your request: “beef for braising, pork for the oven, escalopes for the pan…” These details are important to the professional, who will also give you valuable advice and that bouquet of aromatic plants lying around on his worktop.

How to get tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef?
By rolling your piece of meat in  coarse salt, a few spoonfuls of baking soda, or honey, you’ll give these ingredients time to work on the  meat’s fibers. It will then be more tender after rinsing.

It is also entirely possible to cook meat in a crust with the same ingredients. The principle?

Steam cooking that will tenderize even the toughest meats. Baking soda, salt, and plenty of honey will give your legs of lamb, the meaty parts of beef, a beautiful golden crust after a steaming session, which everyone loves, except for this aunt, who wants to be tougher than the meat! However, keep an eye on the cooking time.

 

This is a method that could be described as a grandmother’s trick, which would make star chefs grumble! And yet, that’s exactly what it is: since the dawn of time, women have found practical tips to satisfy the whole family, often with whatever means were at hand.
They experimented with everything, and today we benefit from these discoveries, which have become traditions. Marinating is one of them. To tenderize tough meat, you need to hydrate it and allow its fibers to relax. It therefore contains acidic and softening elements. The question that arises in this case concerns the marination duration.

The answer is ultimately relative and depends on many factors, including the type of meat and marinade. Three to six hours, and you might be good to go! It’s your turn to experiment and make your own contribution.
Thanks to the acidity… lemon,  vinegar:

 

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The acid element is emphasized here. Of course, you’re not going to look for chemicals, although in molecular cuisine… You need elements that contain non-abrasive, milder acids, which are nevertheless capable of penetrating muscle fibers and relaxing them.

Lemon, red wine vinegar, or cider vinegar will do the trick. Note that tomatoes, pineapple, or papaya are excellent meat tenderizers!
Thanks to lactic ferments: milk, cream, and dairy products.

Lactic ferments contain tenderizing powers, thanks to their famous enzymes which do so much good for the digestive tract, which will overcome the toughest meats.

This foolproof technique involves soaking your raw meat in these nutrients. You should no longer see a single square centimeter of meat, whatever it is. Here again, time is on your side: between 5 and 8 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.

Is this crazy life making you boil? What if you let off steam by “beating” this tough meat?

Yes, sometimes in the kitchen, we tend to want to let off steam… physically! What we’re going to discuss next is aptly called: hammering. We hit the piece of meat to destroy the fibers and thus tenderize it.

There are two methods available to you. With or without a meat mallet.
Without a tool: place your piece of meat in a clean cloth or wrap it vigorously, then place it on your work surface and start pounding it for a few minutes. Observe the effects; you won’t have any unpleasant surprises!
Pre-wrapped pieces of meat and observe the final result.

How to make a pot-au-feu, beef bourguignon or any slow-cooked dish without the meat being dry?

Stewing is itself a method for tenderizing meat. It’s important to let it cook over low heat for a long time and, above all, to pay attention to the water, salt, and tomato levels! It’s often forgotten that tomato sauce, with its acidic action and water content, plays a big role in the success of so-called casserole dishes!

Beforehand, we will have taken care to cut the tomato pieces well and also to slip in a teaspoon or two of baking soda. Shh, it’s a secret!

 

A good slow-cooked dish – Source: spm

How to make  meat that is too tough after cooking tender?

Sometimes you mess up your cooking. Don’t panic! You now have plenty of tips and tricks to help you get through it. You can use marinades, for example, or even milk.

It’s never too late! Here’s how to fix tough beef bourguignon.

It’s never too late to do it right! The wrapping technique should suffice. After removing them from the pot, wrap the pieces of meat, ideally in aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and leave in the refrigerator for fifteen minutes.

This involves stopping the cooking time and rehydrating the meat with its own water loss. To serve hot, place everything in an oven at 80°C. Meat lovers will notice the difference!
And how to tenderize a beef skewer? How to do it?

The method is essentially the same. Except that the barbecue tends to quickly seize the blood and water from grilled meat. By always wrapping it in aluminum foil or plastic wrap, you give it a chance to regain its juices.

If necessary, place them, still wrapped, in a low-power oven. This trick also works with a leg of lamb that’s overcooked on the outside.

Even a pan-fried beef steak?
For beef or pork steaks, you need to intervene urgently with an ingredient you already have in the refrigerator: sparkling water. Soak the steak in it, taking care to collect the juices and juices first for your sauce.

Let it soak, covered, for five minutes and then reheat in the oven. This is more effective than heating in a hot pan. The ice cube technique also works well.

You’re now up to speed on all the tips and techniques you can put into practice right now to satisfy the meat-eaters around you! Before, during, and after cooking, you’ll be a winner on all fronts!