In Asian dishes, the meat often melts in your mouth. This is mostly due to some preparation and tricks.
Fried rice with pork, fried noodles with chicken or ramen meat: if the dishes are prepared by an Asian snack bar or restaurant, the meat is usually nice and tender and juicy. Tendons or similar worrisome ingredients cannot be tasted. Is it because of the great care he takes in preparing the meat? Not only
Tender meat: the tricks of Asian gastronomy
In Asian gastronomy, tools are often used to tenderize tough meat quickly and effortlessly. These include additives such as so-called meat tenderizers. These are, for example, the plant enzymes that release the meat fibers, without the cook having to cook the meat for a long time and slowly.
Instead of meat tenderizers, other aids can be used, such as flavor enhancers – often in soy sauce -, release agents and lactose, also softening the firm connective tissue of the piece of meat.
Important
Additives, meat tenderizers and the like are not only used in Asian cuisine. In other gastronomic establishments, aids are also used to make the meat nice, tender and juicy.
Tender meat: this is how it works at home without chemicals
For each meat to be tender, it needs the right preparation and not only the right additives from the gastro supplier. Three more tricks help make beef, pork and melt-in-your-mouth:
- Using the serrated side of a mallet or meat mallet, pound the meat until tender. This destroys the fibers and makes them soft. Otherwise, the meat can be done in a few spots, right on the grain.
- Put the meat in acidic liquids or use acidic ingredients such as lemon, pineapple or kiwi to make a marinade and let it work for the required time. Buttermilk or papaya in the marinade also ensures that tough muscle tissue is softened.
- Meat should be cooked as slowly and gently as possible (slow cooking). Baking or steaming is ideal.
Tender meat: these points are crucial
If you want to make it without additives or extensive processing of the meat piece, you should make sure of that
- the meat is fresh
- the quality of the meat is high,
- the meat is properly seasoned.