Tired of bland chicken breasts and overcooked steaks? Do you want to try a new approach to creating main dishes and elevate your cooking skills to a higher level? We'll show you how to cook tender and juicy meat, and our culinary tips will make you feel like a top-notch chef in the kitchen and a true gourmet!
Culinary Tricks for Cooking Delicious Meat
1. Choose fresh and tender cuts of meat with a delicate pink or pale red color. Avoid brownish steaks or those marinated in colorful spices – they have likely been on the shelves for a long time and will be tough no matter how you cook them. Choose fillets without a lot of tough connective tissue or veins.
2. Thaw meat at room temperature, without soaking it in liquid. Only chicken fillets can be thoroughly rinsed with cold water.
3. A great option is injecting. It's best to buy a special culinary tool, but a regular medical syringe will work in a pinch. Fill it with boiled, peppered water and inject the contents into the steak all around its perimeter from different sides.
4. When adding additional ingredients (onions and other vegetables, seasonings, thick marinades, sauces) to raw ground meat, fillets, or portioned pieces, mix the mixture with your hands, thoroughly kneading the meat like dough. This way, it will better absorb the flavor and juices of the auxiliary products and become more tender.
5. Marinate meat in a plastic bag or cling film, trying to completely remove air from the resulting packages.
6. Try different marinades before the main cooking. One of the most delicious is a protein-based one. Salt the meat, add a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce (for 500g), a few pinches of white pepper and starch, and one egg. Mix thoroughly and let it marinate for 30 minutes.
7. Dip the steak in any carbonated drink for 10 minutes. "Coca-Cola" or "Sprite" work best. You can also try soaking the meat in lemonade, but for the full effect, you'll need to leave it in the solution for several hours.
8. Don't skimp on oil for frying; it should completely cover the bottom of the pan, reaching halfway up the height of the meat pieces. Excess fat can then be removed with paper towels.
9. The pan should be well-heated. Cook the meat with a lid on, making sure the cooking surface doesn't dry out.
10. Do not overcook the meat while frying, otherwise it will become dry and acquire an unpleasant color. Turn off the heat as soon as the red hues disappear from the surface of the product, if they are small pieces. For larger cuts and chops, fry until a spatula can gently press into the meat, releasing juice and marinade liquid without blood.
11. When boiling, immerse the meat in boiling water, adding half a teaspoon of sugar. Do not let the water boil too vigorously.
12. If you're cooking meat on skewers or spits, moisten the tools in water and leave at least 2 cm of space between pieces so that hot air can then distribute evenly from all sides. This will help you avoid dry edges and a raw center.
13. When cooking a dish in the oven, place citrus slices between the pieces or on top of the steak. Their acidity will tenderize the meat, and the nectar will make the finished dish juicier.
14. Before baking, pour a small amount of water into the baking pan, and make small incisions (no more than 4 mm deep) in a grid pattern on large pieces of meat.
15. Salt meat dishes just before serving or at least immediately after final heat treatment. This way, the spice won't draw out too much moisture or overpower the taste of other seasonings.
