How to Slice Beef for Stir Fry
We have a lot of beefiness recipes in our archives here at The Woks of Life, and so nosotros wanted to show everyone how to set up beef for stir-fry including the step-by-step process for velveting beef for Chinese cooking. Nosotros'll recommend our favorite cuts of beefiness to use and show you how to properly cut and marinate beef just like it's done in Chinese restaurants.
We always give important details in all of our recipes, including grooming and cooking, but I thought information technology was time to write a postal service focused on preparing beefiness properly for the wok!
What Cut of Beefiness is All-time for Stir-fry?
Flank steak is past far the most popular cut of meat used by Chinese restaurants in all of their stir-fry dishes. Information technology as well happens to be the most recommended cut of beef we use in our stir-fry recipes.
Flank steak is flavorful, reasonably priced, and readily bachelor. With its intense beefy flavor, all you demand to practice is make sure y'all piece and marinate it properly to brand a great stir-fry. For $six.99 to $8.99 a pound, it won't break the depository financial institution either.
Boneless beef chuck steak is a more economical choice for beef stir fries. We like using beef chuck steak for stewing and braising because of the actress fat that comes with this cutting of meat, simply it can also work nicely for stir-fries.
At $4.99 to $5.99 per pound, chuck steak is likewise more economical than flank steak. You tin buy a big slice, slice it, divide it into portions for several stir-fries, and freeze information technology!
A picayune more trimming and care is required to prepare the beefiness chuck steak for stir fry. Cut along the fat lines and remove the thick membrane to get some keen chunks of beefiness for slicing. Use a skillful chef's knife and as always, be conscientious when working with sharp knives!
How to Cutting Beefiness For Stir-fry
If using flank steak, trim off whatever white muscle membranes, and cut your flank steak forth the grain lengthwise into 2 to ii 1/ii inch strips.
It's easy to place the long grains of muscle fiber in flank steak. When slicing the flank steak into small pieces, slice confronting the grain (perpendicular to the long lines of musculus).
Make each piece 1/4″ thick––each piece will be tender and bite-sized.
Now your beef is fix for marinating!
If using boneless beef chuck, check out our instructions for how to slice it below. If not, skip down to the next department.
Cutting Boneless Beef Chuck for Stir-fry
Cutting meat against the grain is very of import to yield nice tender pieces in your stir-fry dishes.
Over again, the "grain" refers to the long strands of musculus running through the beef parallel to each other. Cutting against the grain means cutting across those strands, then the long strands of muscle can be made shorter to create small, tender pieces.
It's much harder to identify how the grain runs in beef chuck than for flank steak. In this photograph, you lot can see the pattern of meat and fatty where the grain runs vertically.
Since we have to cutting cantankerous-wise to the grain, for this piece, we need to cut the long strip into 2-inch broad chunks first.
And so position each piece to cut them and then the long fibers are cut short.
See how the pocketknife is positioned where it will cut the beef against the grain?
Now, cutting your beef into 1/four″ thick slices
You can see the grain and the slice a scrap clearer in this photo, just you tin can imagine that the soft beef can be difficult to handle and slice.
A chef's surreptitious to slicing beef quickly is to freeze the meat partially for 30 to 60 minutes until it is firm. This makes slicing much easier and faster, as the house beef does not slide under your pocketknife and around the cut board. Partially frozen meat also allows y'all to be more precise in cutting to your desired thickness.
How to Cut Beef for Lo Mein & Other Noodle Dishes
If using beef for noodle dishes or dishes like Beef and Pepper Stir Fry, an extra step to piece beef 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 similar beefiness and broccoli or beef and tofu. Long strands of noodles like you lot have in Beef Lo Mein require beef to exist cutting into similar long thin strips.
Beef fried rice requires small chunks of meat to go with the small grains of rice. Make sense?
How Chinese Restaurants Tenderize Beefiness
It'due south time to share some Chinese restaurant secrets on how to tenderize beef. Tenderizing your beef is the first footstep of the traditional process of velveting beef practiced past virtually all Chinese chefs.
Chinese restaurant chefs take some actress steps in preparing beef for their stir-fry dishes.
The kickoff step is to add a skilful corporeality of baking soda to the beef––about i rounded teaspoon per pound of beef.
Next, add one/iv cup water (per pound of beef) or until the beef is but covered, and massage the beef so the baking soda and h2o is uniformly distributed. Set up aside for 1-2 hours. This stride tenderizes (blistering soda) and hydrates (water) the beef.
Adjacent, the beef must be rinsed thoroughly under running water to rid it of whatsoever excess baking soda, or you will taste it in the dish.
Use your easily to stir up the beefiness during the rinsing process.
In one case the water runs clear, bleed the beef thoroughly in a colander and transfer information technology to a bowl for the marinating procedure (details in next department).
Shortcut to Tenderize Beef at Habitation
If the process used by Chinese restaurants to tenderize beef described above sounds a bit involved and a hassle, you tin 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 an off-taste to the beef which is why beef is rinsed off afterwards adding larger amounts of baking soda to the beef.
The solution is to add a smaller amount of blistering and increase the marinating fourth dimension. Adding 1/8 teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the beef and mixing and working it into the beef before marinating volition besides practise a fine job tenderizing! Increase the marinating time for your beef at least 15 minutes. I will also say that calculation water to the beefiness is a personal choice. I feel 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 as much about soaking the beef in a lot of liquid or adding a bunch of different flavorings similar yous may be used to.
Information technology'due south virtually giving the beefiness an extra juicy texture. Take yous ever tried to make a stir-fry at home, but the meat comes out dry out and not at all similar what you've been served in Asian restaurants? Master this marinating technique, and y'all'll successfully set Chinese stir-fry dishes at abode.
After the beef has been tenderized:
1. Add oyster sauce and/or soy sauce to give your beef an extra flavor boost. Add together about 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beef.
2. Add cornstarch and oil to give the meat a velvety texture. Add about 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beef. The cornstarch and oil gives the beef its velvety polish texture sealing in juices and protecting the meat during the searing or cooking. Calculation Shaoxing wine (2 teaspoons per pound) besides adds season but is totally optional for those of you who are strict about alcohol consumption.
3. Mix everything together and set it aside to marinate for 15-30 minutes while you're preparing your other ingredients.
What is Chinese Velveting?
Velveting is a process used in traditional Chinese cooking to prepare meats for stir-frying. Chinese velveting techniques vary, depending upon the cut and type of meat used for the dish, and also involve tenderizing, marinating and unlike cooking methods.
Through the process of velveting, meats retain their wet and accept on a soft and velvety texture that is a signature quality of Chinese cuisine. The velveting of beefiness is probably most common, since beef benefits more other meats from this cooking technique.
How to Velvet Beef for Stir Fry
Velveting beefiness begins with the steps we take explained above (involving tenderizing the beef and then marinating information technology with seasonings, oil and cornstarch).
The tenderizing step makes any beef soft and moist, while marinating the beef gives it more than umami flavor and that velvety coating y'all feel when eating at Chinese restaurants. Pictured below is the marinated beef before cooking.
The last pace of velveting is cooking, which actually depends upon the dish you are cooking and the outcome yous're looking for.
The traditional method for velveting beef is to pass the meat through hot oil (essentially deep frying) which is literally referred to equally zǒu yóu (走油) in Mandarin or "jau yau" in Cantonese.
In most cases, we prefer to sear the meat in a hot wok, since having a wok total of oil at abode is simply not practical. That said, we think searing beefiness imparts more flavor than the jau yau deep frying method.
Some recipes, including soups, will just require cooking the beef in water every bit the final footstep.
And that's it! Let us know in the comments if y'all have any questions!
Prep: one hour xxx minutes
Full: ane hour 30 minutes
- i pound beef flank steak or chuck steak (450g, sliced against the grain)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- water (1/4 cup per pound)
- ii teaspoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce or soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ii teaspoons Shaoxing Wine (Optional)
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Add blistering soda and water to the sliced beefiness and massage with hands until almost of the liquid is absorbed. Let stand up ane-2 hours.
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Rinse the beefiness thoroughly under running water until the water runs clear. Drain.
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Add together oil, oyster sauce/soy sauce, Shaoxing vino (optional), and cornstarch to the beef. Set bated to marinate for 15-30 minutes, and and so your beef is ready to employ.
Short-Cut method for Tenderizing beef
Add together i/8 teaspoon to one/4 teaspoon (for tougher cuts) of baking soda and i to 2 tablespoons of water to the beefiness and mixing and working information technology into the beef before marinating will as well do a fine job tenderizing!
Follow step 3 and increase the marinating time for your beefiness at least 15 minutes.
Source: https://thewoksoflife.com/prepare-beef-for-stir-fry/
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