Beef is delicious, but due to its coarse fiber structure, the biggest challenge when cooking it at home is that it can be tough to chew. There are many key points to making beef tender and juicy.
First, you need to choose the right cut of meat. Generally, tenderloin is more suitable for stir-frying, while leg and rump meat are better for braising or stewing. When cutting the meat, slice it with the grain for strips and against the grain for slices.
To make stir-fried beef tender, the first and most common method is "velveting." Velveting involves coating the beef slices with a slurry made from starch and egg, which helps to retain moisture in the meat. For example, for 250 grams of beef, you can add 10 grams of wine, an appropriate amount of salt and MSG, one egg, and 20 grams of starch to the beef slices, and stir until a transparent, film-like coating forms on the surface. Some people also like to add baking soda to make the beef more tender. After adding it, you need to knead and mix it by hand repeatedly, then add water after about ten minutes.
The second method is to add some oil to the beef when marinating it and let it sit for 1-2 hours. This allows the oil to penetrate the meat. When stir-frying, the oil in the meat expands, breaking down the coarse fibers and making the beef much more tender. When stir-frying beef, use plenty of oil, make sure it's hot, and use high heat. It's best to cook it until it's about 70% done.
The third method is to dilute flour with beer before stir-frying, drizzle it over the beef slices, mix well, and let it sit for 30 minutes. The enzymes in the beer can break down proteins, increasing the tenderness of the beef.