The question "How to make meat soft?" perhaps every housewife cares. Indeed, it often happens that cooked meat is hard and tough. And not always it depends on the method of preparation or on the skill of the hostess to cook. To keep your meat dishes always soft, juicy and mouth-watering, you need to be guided by some tips. We will talk about this later.
How to make meat soft, juicy and tasty?
Let's start with the ways to cook it. You can make boiled meat, grilled, pan, grill or grill, stewed, salted, smoked, baked and so on. But in each of these options, its softness also depends on the product itself.
By the word "meat" is meant a protein product of animal origin. This can be pork, poultry, lamb, beef, game, as well as fish. But still, in this case, I would like to talk specifically about beef.
Before making the meat soft, I would like to draw your attention to the correctness of its choice. If you plan to roast meat, then you should buy chilled. Of course, it’s best to do this in a familiar butcher’s market than in a store where stale beef is most often sold. For frying, tenderloin is perfect.
Before cooking soft meat, it must be properly marinated. To do this, take a piece and wash it thoroughly in cold water. After that, let the water drain and coat the meat with pepper and salt. Then we put it in a clay or glass bowl and cover it with a lid. In this form, leave for 40 minutes. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that adding bite for softness is not worth it, as this will only ruin its taste.
After that, cut the meat across the fibers. Best in thick slices, as this will help preserve its juiciness. If you decide to cook the meat in an ordinary pan, then its optimal thickness is considered to be from 2 to 3 cm.
To keep the meat soft, you can beat off its individual pieces with a kitchen hammer. This should be done with light strokes around the perimeter, while laying on a wooden board. When one side is repelled, you should start beating off the reverse side, starting from the center and moving to the edges. In this case, the piece of meat should increase in area, this will indicate the correctness of beating. But if you use a tenderloin for cooking, in this case it is better not to beat it.
Now pieces of meat must be salt and pepper again. It is better not to use red pepper for pepper or any other spices. Then you need to heat the pan with vegetable oil and start cooking. To form a delicious crust, do not cover the pan with a lid.
Marinades for meat
Since making meat soft is obtained not only using the above method, I would like to share several recipes for marinades, presented below.
- 1 finely chopped onion, a few tablespoons of vegetable oil, dry white wine - 3 tbsp. spoons, a couple of sheets of mint (fresh), 2 slices of crushed garlic, rosemary. With this mixture, marinate the meat for a day.
- 2 chopped onion rings, olive oil - 4 tbsp. tablespoons, 1/8 liter of red wine, 4 slices of garlic, chopped into small pieces, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme. Marinate the meat for about 3 hours.
- 1/8 liter of vegetable oil, a couple of drops of Tabasco sauce, 3-4 tbsp. tablespoons of cognac, pepper, salt. Pickle 12 hours.
- sugar - 2-3 tbsp. spoons, 6 tbsp. tablespoons of ketchup, red pepper, 3 tbsp. tablespoons mustard, herbs (finely chopped). Pickle 12 hours.
- For 500 g of thinly cut meat: in 3 tbsp. tablespoons add 1/2 tsp. soda. Marinate the meat for about 2 hours in the refrigerator.
In addition, there are many other ways to marinate meat, which will help make it unusually soft, juicy and tasty. Which one to choose is up to you!