What Kind of Beef Do You Use for Stir Fry
We have a lot of beefiness recipes in our archives hither at The Woks of Life, so nosotros wanted to bear witness everyone how to prepare beefiness for stir-fry including the step-by-stride process for velveting beefiness for Chinese cooking. We'll recommend our favorite cuts of beef to use and show yous how to properly cut and marinate beef only similar it's washed in Chinese restaurants.
We always requite important details in all of our recipes, including preparation and cooking, but I idea information technology was fourth dimension to write a postal service focused on preparing beef properly for the wok!
What Cut of Beef is Best for Stir-fry?
Flank steak is by far the most popular cut of meat used by Chinese restaurants in all of their stir-fry dishes. It also happens to be the near recommended cut of beef nosotros employ in our stir-fry recipes.
Flank steak is flavorful, reasonably priced, and readily bachelor. With its intense beefy flavour, all you demand to exercise is brand certain you piece and marinate it properly to make a corking stir-fry. For $6.99 to $8.99 a pound, information technology won't break the depository financial institution either.
Boneless beef chuck steak is a more economical choice for beef stir chips. Nosotros like using beef chuck steak for stewing and braising because of the extra fat that comes with this cutting of meat, but it tin can also piece of work nicely for stir-fries.
At $4.99 to $5.99 per pound, chuck steak is as well more economical than flank steak. Y'all can purchase a large piece, slice information technology, divide it into portions for several stir-fries, and freeze information technology!
A little more than trimming and intendance is required to set the beef chuck steak for stir fry. Cut along the fat lines and remove the thick membrane to become some nifty chunks of beefiness for slicing. Apply a good chef's knife and as always, exist careful when working with sharp knives!
How to Cut Beefiness For Stir-fry
If using flank steak, trim off any white muscle membranes, and cut your flank steak along the grain lengthwise into 2 to 2 1/2 inch strips.
It's piece of cake to identify the long grains of muscle fiber in flank steak. When slicing the flank steak into small pieces, piece against the grain (perpendicular to the long lines of muscle).
Make each slice 1/4″ thick––each piece will be tender and bite-sized.
Now your beef is ready for marinating!
If using boneless beef chuck, check out our instructions for how to piece information technology below. If not, skip downwards to the adjacent section.
Cutting Boneless Beef Chuck for Stir-fry
Cut meat confronting the grain is very important to yield nice tender pieces in your stir-fry dishes.
Again, the "grain" refers to the long strands of musculus running through the beef parallel to each other. Cut against the grain ways cutting beyond those strands, so the long strands of muscle can be made shorter to create pocket-size, tender pieces.
It's much harder to identify how the grain runs in beef chuck than for flank steak. In this photo, you can run across the pattern of meat and fat where the grain runs vertically.
Since nosotros accept to cutting cantankerous-wise to the grain, for this piece, we demand to cut the long strip into ii-inch wide chunks outset.
And then position each piece to cutting them then the long fibers are cut short.
Run into how the knife is positioned where information technology volition cut the beef against the grain?
At present, cut your beefiness into 1/4″ thick slices
You tin see the grain and the slice a bit clearer in this photo, merely you can imagine that the soft beef tin can be difficult to handle and slice.
A chef's undercover to slicing beef quickly is to freeze the meat partially for 30 to 60 minutes until information technology is firm. This makes slicing much easier and faster, every bit the firm beef does not slide under your knife and around the cutting board. Partially frozen meat as well allows y'all to exist more precise in cutting to your desired thickness.
How to Cut Beef for Lo Mein & Other Noodle Dishes
If using beefiness for noodle dishes or dishes like Beef and Pepper Stir Fry, an extra step to slice beefiness into thin strips (julienne) is required.
In Chinese stir-fry cooking, the way ingredients are cut should exist consistent with each other. Rectangular slices of beef are used for stir-fries with vegetables like beefiness and broccoli or beefiness and tofu. Long strands of noodles similar you have in Beef Lo Mein require beefiness to be cut into similar long thin strips.
Beefiness fried rice requires small chunks of meat to go with the small grains of rice. Brand sense?
How Chinese Restaurants Tenderize Beef
It's time to share some Chinese restaurant secrets on how to tenderize beefiness. Tenderizing your beef is the outset footstep of the traditional process of velveting beef practiced by almost all Chinese chefs.
Chinese eating place chefs have some extra steps in preparing beef for their stir-fry dishes.
The beginning footstep is to add together a good amount of blistering soda to the beefiness––nearly 1 rounded teaspoon per pound of beef.
Next, add one/4 loving cup water (per pound of beef) or until the beefiness is just covered, and massage the beef then the baking soda and water is uniformly distributed. Set aside for ane-ii hours. This step tenderizes (baking soda) and hydrates (h2o) the beefiness.
Side by side, the beef must be rinsed thoroughly nether running water to rid it of any excess baking soda, or yous will gustatory modality information technology in the dish.
Use your easily to stir upward the beefiness during the rinsing procedure.
Once the water runs clear, drain the beef thoroughly in a colander and transfer it to a bowl for the marinating process (details in adjacent department).
Shortcut to Tenderize Beef at Home
If the process used past Chinese restaurants to tenderize beef described higher up sounds a scrap involved and a hassle, you can still tenderize beef using an at-home shortcut. Baking soda is a powerful ingredient for tenderizing beef, but if too much is added, it can add together an off-taste to the beef which is why beefiness is rinsed off after adding larger amounts of baking soda to the beef.
The solution is to add a smaller amount of baking and increase the marinating time. Adding i/viii teaspoon to i/4 teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of blistering soda and ane to 2 tablespoons of water to the beef and mixing and working information technology into the beef before marinating will also do a fine job tenderizing! Increase the marinating time for your beefiness at least 15 minutes. I volition also say that adding water to the beef is a personal choice. I experience there are merits to having a moist hydrated beef or a drier beef for stir fry dishes.
How to Marinate Beef for Stir-fry
Marinating beef for your stir-fry is an of import 2nd step of velveting that should never be skipped. The marinade isn't equally much about soaking the beef in a lot of liquid or calculation a bunch of different flavorings like you may be used to.
Information technology's about giving the beefiness an actress juicy texture. Have you ever tried to make a stir-fry at dwelling, but the meat comes out dry out and not at all like what you lot've been served in Asian restaurants? Master this marinating technique, and yous'll successfully prepare Chinese stir-fry dishes at home.
Subsequently the beef has been tenderized:
one. Add oyster sauce and/or soy sauce to give your beef an extra flavor heave. Add together near 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beef.
2. Add cornstarch and oil to requite the meat a velvety texture. Add together about 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beefiness. The cornstarch and oil gives the beefiness its velvety smooth texture sealing in juices and protecting the meat during the searing or cooking. Adding Shaoxing wine (2 teaspoons per pound) as well adds flavor but is totally optional for those of you who are strict about alcohol consumption.
iii. Mix everything together and prepare information technology aside to marinate for fifteen-30 minutes while you're preparing your other ingredients.
What is Chinese Velveting?
Velveting is a process used in traditional Chinese cooking to gear up meats for stir-frying. Chinese velveting techniques vary, depending upon the cutting and blazon of meat used for the dish, and likewise involve tenderizing, marinating and different cooking methods.
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. The velveting of beefiness is probably nigh mutual, since beef benefits more than than other meats from this cooking technique.
How to Velvet Beefiness for Stir Fry
Velveting beefiness begins with the steps nosotros take explained above (involving tenderizing the beefiness and so marinating it with seasonings, oil and cornstarch).
The tenderizing footstep makes any beef soft and moist, while marinating the beef gives it more umami flavor and that velvety blanket y'all feel when eating at Chinese restaurants. Pictured below is the marinated beef before cooking.
The last step of velveting is cooking, which really depends upon the dish you are cooking and the outcome you're looking for.
The traditional method for velveting beef is to laissez passer the meat through hot oil (substantially deep frying) which is literally referred to equally zǒu yóu (走油) in Standard mandarin or "jau yau" in Cantonese.
In about cases, we prefer to sear the meat in a hot wok, since having a wok full of oil at dwelling is just non practical. That said, we think searing beefiness imparts more than flavor than the jau yau deep frying method.
Some recipes, including soups, will only require cooking the beef in water as the last step.
And that'southward it! Let us know in the comments if you have any questions!
Prep: i hour 30 minutes
Full: 1 hour thirty minutes
- one pound beef flank steak or chuck steak (450g, sliced against the grain)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- h2o (1/4 cup per pound)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing Wine (Optional)
-
Add blistering soda and water to the sliced beef and massage with hands until well-nigh of the liquid is captivated. Let stand 1-2 hours.
-
Rinse the beefiness thoroughly nether running water until the water runs articulate. Drain.
-
Add oil, oyster sauce/soy sauce, Shaoxing wine (optional), and cornstarch to the beef. Set up aside to marinate for 15-30 minutes, and and then your beef is set up to use.
Short-Cut method for Tenderizing beef
Add together ane/viii teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and ane to two tablespoons of water to the beef and mixing and working it into the beefiness earlier marinating volition also do a fine job tenderizing!
Follow step iii and increase the marinating time for your beef at least fifteen minutes.
Source: https://thewoksoflife.com/prepare-beef-for-stir-fry/
0 Response to "What Kind of Beef Do You Use for Stir Fry"
Post a Comment