How to Tenderize Meat with Baking Soda

Instructions

1. Prepare the meat.
   
   This tenderizer is most effective with smaller cuts of meat, of course. Use it to tenderize meats sliced for stir-fry or stews or carnitas ahead of time, or on a chop or steak. If you're making shrimp, peel and devein the shrimp as usual.
   
   (Note, this is a treatment for raw meats only. Pre-cooked meats will only take on a soda flavor and not be tenderized at all.)
   
   
2. Sprinkle on baking soda tenderizer.
   
   Use about a teaspoon for a pound or so of meat. It doesn't have to be exact, because you will rinse it off later. Work the baking soda into the meat a little with your hands.
   
   
3. Leave to marinate for 15-20 minutes.
   
   Some people recommend using less soda and leaving it over night, however, if you marinate for too long, you may end up with a soda taste to your food.
   
   
4. Rinse thoroughly.
   
   You want to get all the baking soda off the surface of the meat. It's a tenderizer, not a condiment. Squeeze or wipe the excess water off the meat. Pat the meats dry with paper towels. (Or a clean cloth, if you prefer, but remember that these will have to be properly washed.)
   
   
5. Continue with your recipe.
   
   If your recipe calls for the meat to be marinated in spices or sauce, you start with that step now. For instance, many stir-fry recipes will call for the meat to be coated in corn-starch (which will not only soak up the extra moisture, but also give the meat a more velvety texture) and soy sauce.
   
   Cook as usual, and enjoy a tender, moist meat.

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Ideal way to soften meat

Christopher Williams

Braising is the most ideal method of tenderizing a tough cut of meat, by allowing it to simmer in an appropriate liquid in order to break down the tough connective tissues within the meat. This has long been the accepted method amongst chefs for good reason, if done properly, it works. It seems to me that the bulk of tough cuts come from red meats, such as beef. One such cut that is notoriously tough is the short rib. It is also the perfect candidate to prove the merits of braising. Below is a simple recipe that even the most novice of cooks can pull off with amazing results and a guarantee of accolades.

BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS
5 lbs Beef Short Ribs
2 lbs Yellow Onion, diced
1 lb Carrots, diced
1 lb Celery , diced
1 T Garlic, minced
3 qt Burgundy
3 qt Beef Stock
4 ea Bay Leaves, whole
TT Kosher salt/ Black Pepper
2 T Vegetable Oil, for sauteing
8 oz Butter, melted
8 oz Flour
Begin by seasoning the sort ribs liberally with the salt and pepper, return them to the refrigerator while you prepare the braising liquid.
In a stock pot, add your diced veggies, a bit of salt and pepper and begin sauteing them at a low heat, continuing to stir, until they begin to make a stock. Add your garlic and continue cooking for about 3-4 minutes. Add your bay leaves and Burgundy and turn the heat up to a medium heat. This is where some patience is required. Your are wanting to reduce your wine by 2/3, and this takes some time. Allow it to reduce and you will taste the difference. When your wine has finally reduced, add the beef stock and continue to simmer and reduce this by half.
Meanwhile, allow your butter to melt in a separate pan at a low heat. Once your butter has completely melted, begin whisking your flour in and allow the mixture to cook until you can smell a nutty aroma. Use your roux(butter/flour mixture) to thicken your braising liquid once it has properly reduced. You are looking for a sauce-like consistency, something that coats the back of a spoon. When sauce is finished, remove from heat.
Preheat oven to 325.
Now, place the vegetable oil in a large saute pan and turn your heat to a medium high. When oil is thoroughly hot, sear your short ribs on all sides. Be sure to allow them enough time to get a nice deep color. Remove the ribs from the pan and place bone side down in a roasting pan at least 4 inches deep. Pour your sauce over the ribs, making sure to cover them by at least half.
Now, place a piece of parchment paper on top of the ribs and cover pan with foil. Bake at 325 for about five hours or until the ribs are fork tender. Serve over mashed potatoes or by themselves, using the liquid as sauce.
FOR BEST RESULTS: after cooking the ribs initially, allow them to cool uncovered under refrigeration overnight. The following day, skim the now hardened fat off, re wrap and return to an oven at 375 for about an hour and a half to two hour, or until they reach an internal temperature of 170. Since the short ribs are a particularly fatty cut, I strongly suggest taking the next day approach so that you might more effectively skim off the fat. Enjoy!

A great way to soften tough meat

Diane Palmer

A great way to soften tough meat, is to marinade in vegetable juice!
Stab your meat with a fork in many spots, place in a casserole dish, and then pour some vegetable juice over it, cover and leave in the fridge for a few hours, or the day.
Then take your casserole dish, and add a few vegetable to the dish, such as potatoes, carrots, etc, and then cook in a slow oven of 325, to 350 degrees for at least a couple of hours, or depending on the size of the meat portion.
This makes a great warm casserole on a cold day, and the juice makes a nice gravy, and you already have the potatoes and vegetables in the same dish, just serve with some warm bread, and voila! you have a great meal out of some tough meat!
If you have a slow cooker or crock pot, this works great also, just set it up in the morning, by placing the meat in the crock pot, add the vegetable cocktail juice, and some additional pepper if you wish, (although I find the vegetable cocktail juice spicy enough) throw in some cut up potatoes, carrots, onions etc, and leave to cook for the day, you have a fully cooked dinner when you get home from work, and the aroma in your kitchen will spur your appetite!
Just pick up some fresh bread on the way home and maybe a nice dessert and you will have dinner fit for a king out of tough meat!

Meat mallet

Brian Lamacraft

Tough cuts of meat can be tenderized in various ways. Some people use a combination of methods or the one that works the best for them.
Meat Mallet
This mallet can be used to pound tougher cuts of meat. They are usually made of cast aluminum and some have a wooden handle. They have prongs that cut into the meat and help to tenderize it. Better mallets have a flat side used for beating the meat in addition to the pronged or dimpled side. Some cuts of meat may have to be worked on longer depending on how tough it is. You can also use it to flatten out thicker cuts of meats such as steaks. If you don't have a mallet you can use a rolling pin or a small heavy skillet such as one made out of cast iron.
Marinades
Meat marinades are another great way to tenderize tougher cuts of meat. Soy sauce, salt, oil, garlic, vinegar, herbs and spices make up a typical marinade. You can also buy commercial marinades at the grocery store. These marinades also add flavor to meat as well as make it more tender. Other methods include using beer and wine . Many chefs have their own favorite marinades they like to use. Meat is usually left to marinade from anywhere form a few hours to overnight. Be sure to thaw out the meat completely before adding the marinade so it can soak into the meat fibers. You can even put some marinade and meat in a bag and further tenderize it with your meat mallet.
Slow Cooker
A slow-cooker can turn very inexpensive meats into great flavorful meals. The process of slow-cooking the meat all day can tenderize the toughest meat cuts. Almost any meat can become tender using this method. Add spices and garlic to the pot to enhance the flavor of the meat. This also makes a good one pot meal when combined with vegetables.
Roasting
Roasting larger cuts of meat in the oven like chicken, beef, and turkey tenderizes the meat through the slow cooking process. You can add your vegetables in with the meat if you like and cook everything together. This method works well for the larger pieces of meat. You can try a marinade before roasting for extra flavor. Let the meat sit for a few minutes before cutting into it so the juices don't run out and dry out the meat before it is consumed.
Try any one of these methods and you will soon have your tougher cuts of meat nice and tender. Buy a meat mallet and slow cooker and find some marinade recipes. Meat doesn't have to be expensive or a prime cut. If you tenderize tougher cuts you can save yourself a lot of money.

How to soften tough meat through cooking

Sandra Lynn

There are several ways to soften up tough meat and the proper methods listed here will ensure a tender, juicy cut of meat every time!
To soften or tenderize certain cuts of beef such as round steak or flank steak it is recommended that you use a marinade for such cuts. It may also be beneficial to slice the steak along the grain of the meat into long thin strips before marinating them.
This is a recipe for a marinade that works wonders;
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
freshly ground pepper
Mix these ingredients in a bowl and add the meat, sliced or whole.
Let stand in mixture times can vary, but 30 minutes is best.
Then cook according to recipe.Another great way to soften up tough meat especially blade steak or cube steak is to use a tenderizing mallet. They are sold almost anywhere kitchen utensils are sold.
The best way to use the mallet without getting bits of meat all over you, is to cover the steak with plastic cling wrap, then proceed to pound the steak with equal force, until small grooves appear on the surface of the steak. Repeat until entire piece is flattened and covered with crisscross grooves.
Unwrap the cling wrap and proceed to cook according to recipe.
To tenderize other cuts of meat such as liver or tongue it is recommended you braise them.
To braise them is to cook them in liquids. The most common is beef stock, or a mixture of stock and red wine. Then simmer slowly until done and inside is no longer pink. Some cooks add onions, garlic and spices to the braising liquid for added taste.
If you want the perfect baby beef liver it is recommended to soak the liver in milk for approximately 10-15 minutes, before braising.
Certain cuts of meat such as beef brisket are best if boiled. The meat can be very tough to cook otherwise; but one must be careful of the term boiled.
It is not meant as in boil rapidly, you must be careful to let it simmer only.
Cover the meat with fresh cold water,
add vegetables if desired and any seasoning,
Bring the water to a boil,
If there is sediment or gray bubbles in the water, skim it off,
Cover with a lid and lower the heat to simmer,
Cook according to recipe.
It is popular to use a coating of breadcrumbs to help keep fish tender and flavorful; and for poultry to help keep it tender and juicy.
Breadcrumbs can be bought or made with leftover crusts, baked in the oven until crispy and them crushed and seasoned with garlic, paprika, sage, pepper. For fish omit the sage and add dill, or tarragon.
Always dip the fish or poultry in an egg mixture before breading them.
Cook according to recipe.
Game such as venison, rabbit, or moose are very tough meat. It is essential that one does not try to cook fresh killed game. It is imperative that it be hung for a few days before attempting to cook it. This time will also cut down on the strong "gamey" flavor, some dislike.
Roast the game according to your recipe, then if the meat remains tough, it is a good idea to cut the meat up into smaller pieces and cook it again in a casserole or a stew. The meat will then be tender and delicious.
The quickest and easiest method of softening certain cuts of meat is buying a pre-mixed package of meat tenderizer. It is basically an assortment of different spices with gluten, soy, and other ingredients made for convenience only.
There are many different methods used for tenderizing tough meat; the choice is up to you.

How to soften meat

It has happened to the best and worst of us: meat that simply will not be bitten through! Usually this toughness is due to the cut of the meat. Ribs, some roasts, and shanks are the most common cuts of meat that are tough and need extra help. As a formerly professional barbecue chef and an amateur gourmet cook, tough meat is a challenge I love to face. The best method for softening tough meat is through a somewhat complicated, but well worth it, process called braising. Braising is a slow-cooking process that softens the collagen in these tough cuts of meat until it turns to gelatin. While that does not sound appetizing, I promise your meat will be lovely!

The first step in this process is to cut the meat into equal sizes, so if you are working with a shank or pot roast, it looks like stew meat. If it's ribs, obviously the pieces will be big, but keep them equal. This means cooking time will be the same for all of the meat.

After your meat is cut to size, get a pan- I use my beloved, deep cast-iron skillet. Turn on the heat under the pan and when it is hot, get some oil in there. To tell you the truth, I actually use beef suet because I get free fat from my local butcher.
In any case, while the pan and oil are heating, get your meat ready with spices or some such thing. I tend to marinate meat in the fridge for a couple hours before braising it. When the meat is ready, hopefully your pan is too. So toss the meat in the pan and turn it quickly to brown it all over. This will seal juices inside the pieces of meat and helps get the heat trapped in there too.
Now you need to add your liquid. I usually use a mixture of water and stock. I don't recommend wine because that changes the natural flavor of the meat way too much. Get the level of the liquid about halfway to 3/4 of the way up the sides of the now delicious-smelling meat.
Here's where braising is like poaching. You have two choices: cover the pan and put it in a hot oven to finish cooking, or cover the pan and simmer on the stove. I choose neither. This is because I want my liquid to be my sauce. So I will only cover the pan for a short time to get that cooking process going. Then I take the cover off and let the liquid reduce to a tasty sauce.
You must remember that braising is supposed to be slow-cooking. So keep that heat low so that the collagen in the meat melts into gelatin and makes it tender. Due to the slow nature of braising, keep an eye on the liquid. Don't let it evaporate completely.
It can take a while to finish braising. My pot roast pieces get done in under 45 minutes. But I have heard that a bunch of ribs can take hours. This is all worth it, because the meat is going to practically melt in your mouth when it is done. In order to make sure the meat is done, get a meat thermometer and stick it into the fattest part of the meat. For medium to well done, you are looking for an internal temperature of 150 to 160. Enjoy!