Pounding your meat

[Coconut Monkey]

I don't think any of us guys get what we want all the time. And when this happens, we pound our meat.

I don't think I've ever seen a chicken breast that was perfectly flat. Thus, we flatten it to try and get consistency in our cooking. I've been looking at meat pounders (or tenderizers), and many of them also have a side with teeth on it.

Does anyone pound beef, chicken, or pork with the teeth side? Is it proven to help tenderize the meat? Or should I just buy a high quality meat pounder without the teeth. Thanks so much!

John

[JPGators17]

I have a couple of meat pounders, but then I read the article here and tried the skillet approach. I won't be going back to the meat pounders. Since the skillet is larger than the breast it flattens it very evenly, and it takes far less whacking. Give it a try.

"Leave the tenderizer mallet and the rolling pin in the drawer. They tend to tear the meat. Use a skillet or sauce pan. First look around to make sure nothing on the table will fall off when you start pounding. But don't haul off like you are pounding a nail. Thwack it gently and focus on the bulb end. Several whacks are better than a vicious spanking. Take it down to about 3/4"."

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/pounding_chicken_breasts.html

[SlushDeezey]

It's my meat and I'll pound it as fast or slow as I want. Nobody loves me like I love me.

[Potkettleblack]

Thank you. The ADHD was keeping me from coming up with one single coherent snarky answer to this, and you nailed it.

[Coconut Monkey]

I have a couple of meat pounders, but then I read the article here and tried the skillet approach. I won't be going back to the meat pounders. Since the skillet is larger than the breast it flattens it very evenly, and it takes far less whacking. Give it a try.

"Leave the tenderizer mallet and the rolling pin in the drawer. They tend to tear the meat. Use a skillet or sauce pan. First look around to make sure nothing on the table will fall off when you start pounding. But don't haul off like you are pounding a nail. Thwack it gently and focus on the bulb end. Several whacks are better than a vicious spanking. Take it down to about 3/4"."

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/pounding_chicken_breasts.html

Thanks! That makes total sense.

But what about "tenderizing" the meat? That is, using the teeth side to soften tougher cuts of meat like flank steak.

John

[DeusDingo]

i know off topic but how long have you been a subscriber to PCGamer?

[Potkettleblack]

I think Meathead's take on jacquard tenderizers probably covers the toothy end of a meat mallet. If all the bad junk is on the surface of the meat, pounding the surface with a flat thing is okay, because we're going to cook the exterior to a high temperature that will kill all the bad. If we instead thump it with the toothy side, we will be pushing some badness into the interior of the meat, where it won't get as cooked and might not get as dead. Not to the extent of a jacquard, as far as pushing the surface junk into the interior purity, but still, worse than a flat pounding with a skillet.

[Coconut Monkey]

i know off topic but how long have you been a subscriber to PCGamer?

So glad you noticed! Basically since the beginning of the magazine. You know, when it was good.

[Coconut Monkey]

I think Meathead's take on jacquard tenderizers probably covers the toothy end of a meat mallet. If all the bad junk is on the surface of the meat, pounding the surface with a flat thing is okay, because we're going to cook the exterior to a high temperature that will kill all the bad. If we instead thump it with the toothy side, we will be pushing some badness into the interior of the meat, where it won't get as cooked and might not get as dead. Not to the extent of a jacquard, as far as pushing the surface junk into the interior purity, but still, worse than a flat pounding with a skillet.

So what you're saying is that a flat mallet tenderizes as well as a toothed mallet?

[Jerod Broussard]

He is saying if you have a piece of meat that you are not going to cook to 160+ internal, best not to penetrate the meat with any pointed objects and possibly drive surface microbial contamination into the meat (e.g. cooking a medium rare steak).

[Potkettleblack]

Jerod has it exactly.

I'd go further and suggest that if your protein is not tender enough, it might be better to look into sous vide, and going a couple hours over the baldwin pasteurization table time for whatever you're cooking. Then you don't need to worry about flatness, either.

[HorseDoctor]

Jerod Broussard "He is saying if you have a piece of meat that you are not going to cook to 160+ internal, best not to penetrate the meat with any pointed objects and possibly drive surface microbial contamination into the meat (e.g. cooking a medium rare steak)."


What then of all the thermometers we plunge into a sreak to be sure that it's not over 130 BEFORE the outside is seared??? I understand the concept MH is alluding to but suspect the statement is more to CYA and pacify liability lawyers than based on actual proven cases of food poisoning resulting from the use of "Jaccard" type tenderizers. If there were any even suspected cases, Jaccard would be out of business and the FDA would be all over similar products like stink on dog poo... I have a Jaccard and use it routinely on thicker venison steaks with zero problems. Granted, I how they were cut up and under what conditions because I did it myself, but if I had any concern that the level of external contamination of a piece of meat was such that I was afraid to poke it with a Jacaard (or a thermometer) I would feed it to the coyotes and hope they got sick! Just my $0.05 worth.

[HorseDoctor]

Thanks for that info.

[Jerod Broussard]

Coconut Monkey experience an outbreak for yourself and you will realize that ONE is way too many.

HorseDoctor FYI- while handing out FSIS info at a fair we had our "fair" share of FDA pamphlets to hand out as well....pun so not intended

[Potkettleblack]

Each outbreak might be hundreds of customers of a single restaurant. So, six outbreaks could be quite significant, as they are looking at commercial establishments, not sick dinner guests.

My rule of thumb is that giving guests anything that will make them ill is poor manners.

Jacquarding does tendering the crap out of things. I might recommend a presear before jacquarding, but then I use SV on a lot of my proteins.

[JPGators17]

Thanks! That makes total sense.

But what about "tenderizing" the meat? That is, using the teeth side to soften tougher cuts of meat like flank steak.

John

I've never even attempted to tenderize any meat. Not that I'm an expert on the subject, it just seems to me that if a piece of meat is so tough that it needs to be beaten into being edible, then I'm either not going to cook it at all or I'm going to tenderize it through an alternative cooking method to grilling it.

[Breadhead]

Interesting name for this thread...😆

in·nu·en·do
[ˌinyəˈwendō]
NOUN
an allusive or oblique remark or hint, typically a suggestive or disparaging one:
"she's always making sly innuendoes" · [more]
synonyms: insinuation · suggestion · intimation · implication · hint · [more]

[Jerod Broussard]

Well we "had" this thing headed in the right direction......

[Breadhead]

Sorry Jerod... I couldn't resist.🤔 That was too easy.🙈 You can delete if you want.👍