Tenderizing Meat

Frenchy said:

Everything I read says to add VINEGAR along with oil and spices to
tenderize a lower priced tougher piece of meat, but I don't like the
taste of vinegar.

Nor do I. You are reading the wrong things.

Quoted message said:

Will substituting WINE for the VINEGAR do the same
thing? Vinegar is essentially oxidized wine isn't it? And I love wine!

Vinegar is SPOILED wine.

Quoted message said:

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

A hammer and a cutting board.

Quoted message said:

Thanks in advance for your help!
Roger

--Bryan

Frenchy said:

Everything I read says to add VINEGAR along with oil and spices to
tenderize a lower priced tougher piece of meat, but I don't like the
taste of vinegar. Will substituting WINE for the VINEGAR do the same
thing? Vinegar is essentially oxidized wine isn't it? And I love wine!

Personally, I'm not a believer in using a marinade as a
tenderizer. I don't find it's effective, though it can
add flavor. If you want tender, it's best to use a tender
cut in the first place.

Quoted message said:

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

The bottled products tenderize via enzymes. You end
up with a very mushy exterior, but it doesn't penetrate
very far into the meat. That's fortunate... at least
only the outer surface is ruined.

Skip these products, IMO.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

On 1 Jan 2006 15:18:00 -0800, "Frenchy" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Everything I read says to add VINEGAR along with oil and spices to
tenderize a lower priced tougher piece of meat, but I don't like the
taste of vinegar. Will substituting WINE for the VINEGAR do the same
thing? Vinegar is essentially oxidized wine isn't it? And I love wine!

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

Depends on the cut of meat, how you're going to cook it, and what
it's supposed to be when done.

A meat mallet works. As would a jacquard.

-sw

Frenchy said:

[snip]
If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

The first thing is to choose a cooking method appropriate to the cut of
meat. That said, the acid in vinegar or in wine has a little
tenderizing effect. So does soy sauce. So does baking soda. So does
pineapple juice. But these all work best on thin slices of meat. For
bigger chunks, it's long, slow, moist cooking that will help the most.
-aem

Frenchy said:

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

What's wrong with Adolf's? It's a natural enzyme (papain).
Anything else (like vinegar) would add acid or other flavors.

Frenchy said:

Everything I read says to add VINEGAR along with oil and spices to
tenderize a lower priced tougher piece of meat, but I don't like the
taste of vinegar. Will substituting WINE for the VINEGAR do the same
thing? Vinegar is essentially oxidized wine isn't it? And I love wine!

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

Try lemon or lime juice instead for the acid instead of vinegar. You could
also try some yoghurt marinades.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Frenchy said:

Everything I read says to add VINEGAR along with oil and spices to
tenderize a lower priced tougher piece of meat, but I don't like the
taste of vinegar. Will substituting WINE for the VINEGAR do the same
thing? Vinegar is essentially oxidized wine isn't it? And I love wine!

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

Thanks in advance for your help!
Roger

Lemon juice or MSG.

If it's a flat cut of meat, I use a Jaccard tenderizer!
I use it all the time on Sirloin steak prior to using it for stir fry.
My housemate has bad teeth and it's something I have to take into
consideration for all of my cooking.
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-[censored]." -Jack Nicholson

Acid is a must. Vinegar is just an easy way to get it. There are dozens of
vinegars - all with different tastes. You can use citrus - like lemons or
limes. You can use coca-cola. Wine will not substitute for Acid (if it
can, it is called vinegar not wine).

When you say you don't like the taste of vinegar, do you mean straight out
of the bottle or do you mean when it is used in cooking, salad dressings,
pickles, etc?

Tenderizing marinades are supposed to be "tasty". They shouldn't taste
like "vinegar". They should taste like a blend of a number of ingredients.

Elaine, too

Frenchy said:

Everything I read says to add VINEGAR along with oil and spices to
tenderize a lower priced tougher piece of meat, but I don't like the
taste of vinegar. Will substituting WINE for the VINEGAR do the same
thing? Vinegar is essentially oxidized wine isn't it? And I love wine!

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

Thanks in advance for your help!
Roger

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Everything I read says to add VINEGAR along with oil and spices to
tenderize a lower priced tougher piece of meat, but I don't like the
taste of vinegar. Will substituting WINE for the VINEGAR do the same
thing? Vinegar is essentially oxidized wine isn't it? And I love wine!

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

Thanks in advance for your help!
Roger

An Austrian chef once utterly surprised me by saying that the only thing that
is ultimately needed if you want to tenderize mean is olive oil - just putting
your meat in olive oil for an hour will tenderize it considerably. Seems to
work every time I've tried it :-)

I normally only use marinade for bbq, and there I mix olive oil, soy sauce, dry
white wine or dry sherry with maybe garlic and fresh ginger. No cheap cuts,
though.

Both papaya and kiwifruit have a reputation for being good tenderizers.

Other than that, as somebody said - long slow cooking. Alternatively, for stews
and goulash where I use the cheapest gravy beef, I brown it in the pan, then
give it ~1/2 hour in the pressure cooker and it melts in yer mouth.

-P.

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not
so great) words of knowledge:

Quoted message said:

Everything I read says to add VINEGAR along with oil and spices to
tenderize a lower priced tougher piece of meat, but I don't like the
taste of vinegar. Will substituting WINE for the VINEGAR do the same
thing? Vinegar is essentially oxidized wine isn't it? And I love wine!

If wine is not a good substitute, then what else would you recommend to
tenderize meat with ordinary kitchen ingredients (i.e. not Adolf's
tenderizer).

Thanks in advance for your help!
Roger

Cook the meat "Low and Slow".

If you are doing it in an oven, use 200 degrees.

If you are doing it in a crock pot, use the 10 hour setting (low ).

Do not over cook the meat - medium should be as well cooked as you want.
When you start cooking meat over medium (Pink center ) it starts to
toughen up and lose its flavor also.

What the "Low and Slow" does is to dissolve the connecting fibers that
make meat tough. It also dissolves a lot of the fat, so the meat stays
moist and flavorful.

We like to marinate low cost meats and chicken in mojo criollo to both
tenderize it and give it a "tropical flavor"

http://store.cubanfoodguy.com/product_info.php?products_id=241

This is what the Cubans use to make the awesome Cuban Pork. They will
usually use a pork shoulder but also do chops and beef. We will soak a
cheap cut of beef for the afternoon and it comes out great.

Mike