Tenderize by 'Velveting': a Skeptic's Guide

People say that 'Velveting' is the key to the "Chinese Restaurant Stir Fry". So why doesn't the word exist in the Chinese language?

0:00 - What is velveting?
1:11 - A Guide for velveting
4:11 - An unhinged rant
8:13 - Too much Chris, where's Steph?

FULL, DETAILED VELVETING GUIDE

Is over on Substack! Check out more velveting information than you've ever wanted over here:

chinesecookingdemystified.substack.com/p/a-guide-t…

That said, might as well be helpful and copy it over here too...

IN CASE YOU NEED IT RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW

First, thinly slice your meat against the grain. For most applications, aim for ~3mm thick ‘sheets’ of meat. From there, if you like, you can slice those sheets again into small slivers (or even once again into a small dice). Alternatively, you could also cube the meat into a half centimeter dice.

Next, marinate the meat. Mix the meat in with the following ingredients, per ~200g:

Salt, ¼ tsp
Sugar, ½ tsp
White or black pepper, ⅛ tsp
Light soy sauce (生抽), ¼ tsp
Dark soy sauce (老抽), ¼ tsp
Shaoxing wine (料酒/绍酒), ½ tsp
Egg white, ½ egg
Cornstarch, 2 tsp
Baking soda, ¼ tsp or Sodium Carbonate, 1/8 tsp or Kan Sui lye water, 1/8 tsp or Papain (Chinese Meat Tenderizer powder), 1/8 tsp
Oil, to coat, ~1/2 tbsp

The above is applicable to Pork and Deboned Chicken.

For beef, also add in 2 tbsp of water and an optional 1 tsp of oyster sauce.

Shrimp, tofu, organ, and fish all have their own considerations during prep – you can check out our shrimp guide here and our (old) tofu guide here. Fish, organ, and bone-in poultry we’ll need to cover sometime in the future.

Finally, shallow fry the meat. I.e. “pass through oil”.

Get a wok with 1-2 cups of oil up to ~150C, or until the oil can lightly bubble around a pair of chopsticks. You could also use a pot or a skillet with ~1cm of oil (enough to submerge the ingredient).

Over a high flame, cook the ingredient until it visibly looks ‘done’, 30-45 seconds. Transfer to a spider or strainer to let the excess oil drip off before you add it to your stir fry.

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www.patreon.com/ChineseCookingDemystified

Outro Music: 三月会 by 蛮虎乐队    • 三月会 (Live)