Perhaps I have missed this all these years, but I just learned about the technique of "velveting" meat prior to stir frying. I'm assuming some of our learned cadre here are familiar with this process and I have just flat out missed it. I recently used "velveting" with baking soda (1 tablespoon baking soda, 1/4 cup water, 1# of meat for 1 hour) with chicken and pork. The chicken turned out great; the pork, not so much. I'm thinking the pork was not cut small enough for the tenderizing to work well.
Looking for advise and experiences with this technique and what better place to ask than here?
I do a very simplified version of this, especially for steak. I marinate thinly sliced steak in soy sauce and cornstarch, just enough to coat with both amounts, for 15 minutes.
The cornstarch significantly improves browning and, to me at least, gives the meat a silky texture. The effect is noticeable. The last time I did a stir fry I skipped the cornstarch and the final dish was very lacking.
We're a family of 4 living between the US & China. When we're not packing or unpacking suitcases, we're sharing our culinary exploits and travels w/ each other here!
For what it's worth, when visiting Beijing a few years ago, I signed up for a cooking class. One of the dishes we made was Kung Pao Chicken. That's where I was introduced to mixing the bite sized pieces of chicken with seasoning and cornstarch. Used a chopstick to mix it in (of course). Didn't really marinate it at all. Just coated the chicken and into the wok. Now I always do chicken that way.
One thing to be aware of with cornstarch is that it does act a bit like glue when mixed with soy sauce. I know when I am stirfrying, I have to take care to separate out the individual pieces before putting them in, else they all stick to each other.
From my experience, cornstarch dusted on the meat before marinating thickens the sauce and helps create a nice crust, but it is not the same as using baking soda to velvet the meat. Baking soda seems to change the meat, so when it is cooked, it is gentile, easy to chew, and gives a nice 'mouth' feel. The texture also keeps for the next day with leftovers.
Baking soda and baking powder are common ingredients in baked goods, and they also have an interesting role to play in cooking meat. Many people think they tenderize the meat but it is probably the rough handling that chefs give the meat when treating it with baking soda or baking powder as well as their ability to help retain
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Count me among those who had totally missed "velveting" as well...! But I haven't cooked a stir fry in close to 20 years I reckon... it makes such an oily mess, even with a proper wok. I don't find it worth the trouble. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Never heard of velveting meat before stir frying. But, I don't stir fry that often. Very interesting and will have to review all links and give it a try.
Always learning something new. Thanks for posting.
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In the book “The Wok” you agitate the meet in water, drain really well then add in your soy and corn starch and/or baking soda. There have been times where I wondered about the water agitation, but I still do it. And I love woking it up!
Check out The Wok if you haven’t yet. It’s a great book on process and has an amazing amount of recipes!!!
I generally use cornstarch when cooking meats in stir fry applications. To me it does change the texture of the meat a little. Recently when I did the Mongolian beef and adding soy sauce and cornstarch, it really made the meat tender. It seems the cornstarch helps keep moisture in when cooking the meat too.
I’ll have to check out using baking soda sometime.
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I'm with barelfly , using Kenji's method for velveting meat before stir-frying. He massages the chunks of meat while he washes it. I don't mind doing this with beef, but splattering water around with chicken creeps me out. That said, the technique works pretty well, so I just hitch up my big girl britches and follow it step by step. The meat turns out tender and tasty and does not clump when stir-frying.
Edited to add: I just noticed that Old Glory gave us a link to Kenji's method in his post #2 .
Used to love that show.
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