Is it necessary to add water to marinate beef? How to marinate beef with water?

We all know that beef is a common meat food. It is rich in nutrients, can be eaten in a variety of ways, and tastes fresh and delicious. It is loved by people. Many people cook beef at home. Before cooking beef, it is usually marinated. So, do you need to add water to marinate beef? Let's take a closer look!

How to marinate beef with water?

After choosing the beef, start preparing

1. Cut 500 grams of beef into 2 cm strips along the grain.

First cut along the grain, then cut the thin skin horizontally. This will make the beef less chewy and more tender when marinated!

2. Cut the beef into thin slices of 0.2 cm horizontally. If it is too thick, the taste will be bad; if it is too thin, it will be easily overcooked.

After cutting, start marinating

Put the chopped beef into a container, beat an egg white, add 3 grams of salt, and mix well. The purpose of adding salt is to make the beef taste good. If it is used for a short time, you can add salt to marinate. Adding egg white can increase the tenderness of the beef and also enhance the flavor.

After mixing evenly, add 10 grams of water and mix evenly for more than 1 minute to allow the beef to completely absorb the water.

Then add 3 grams of dry cornstarch. Adding dry cornstarch can lock in moisture well and increase the tenderness of the beef.

Add the dry cornstarch and mix quickly, then add a little cooking oil and mix well. The purpose of adding oil is to prevent it from sticking to the pan when frying.

Mix well and marinate.

Remember to stir well after adding water to allow the beef to fully absorb the water. Then add dry cornstarch to lock in the moisture. In this way, the beef marinated with water will be very tender and delicate.

Other Ways to Marinate Beef

(1) Cutting beef: For stir-frying or boiling, beef is usually sliced ​​or shredded. It should be marinated and starched in advance to achieve a tender and smooth texture in a short cooking time. There is a saying that goes "cut cattle and sheep horizontally, cut chicken vertically, and pork must be cut diagonally". Cutting beef against the grain will cut the fascia. If you cut along the grain, the fascia will remain, and the finished meat will be woody and taste bad.

Slicing: Before slicing the meat, you need to remove the fascia of the meat, then cut it into pieces of appropriate size along the silk thread, and then cut each piece into thin slices against the grain.

Cut into strips: If you want to cut into strips, cut along the grain of the meat first, use the back of the knife to break the fascia first, and then cut into strips along the grain. This way, the shape of the finished strips of meat will remain intact and not break easily. Of course, you can also cut into thin slices against the grain first, and then change the knife to cut into strips.

(2) Marinating and coating: Beef has a strong water absorption capacity. After adding water, the beef will be fully absorbed by the water, and the finished product will be plump, juicy, smooth and refreshing.

Take 1 catties of beef as an example: after slicing or shredding the beef, put it in a bowl, add 2 grams of salt, 2 grams of MSG, 5 grams of soy sauce, and 10 grams of cooking wine and stir evenly, then start adding water (up to 3 liang of water can be added to 1 catties of beef, which varies according to the water content of the beef), add water in small amounts and multiple times, and stir continuously in one direction each time you add water until the beef absorbs the water and becomes sticky after stirring vigorously. If too much water is added, the beef will not be absorbed and will not be sticky, and the starch will fall off. This is adjusted according to personal experience. After adding the water, add an egg white, stir evenly, and then add about 50 grams of starch (the starch can be covered on the beef in a thin layer, and the beef can be vaguely seen, so the starch is most suitable), stir evenly again, add a small amount of edible oil, mix well, marinate for 20 minutes, and then fry the beef until it changes color, and then fry it. When frying, you must fry it quickly over high heat to prevent the smooth beef from being overcooked. After this series of processes, the cooked beef will not be dry or sticky, but will be smooth, tender, refreshing, fresh and delicious.

How to make beef more tender

First of all, start by choosing beef. You should buy front leg meat. The front leg meat has a more delicate and tender texture and is suitable for stir-frying!

The second step is cutting. First, pat the beef with the back of a knife to break the fiber tissue of the beef, which can make the beef easier to taste and softer. Then cut it into thick strips along the grain, and then cut it into thin slices against the grain. The fiber of beef is relatively thick, so cutting against the grain can cut the fiber and make the beef easier to chew.

The next step is the most critical step, marinating. First, add light soy sauce, a little dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, pepper, and a little white sugar to the beef and stir it evenly by beating it. Then add appropriate amount of water in three times (the family method does not specify the amount, usually half a pound of beef is added with three tablespoons of water), and stir it by beating it until the water can be completely absorbed by the beef; then add half an egg white and appropriate amount of cornstarch, continue to stir it evenly by beating it, and finally pour in cooking oil and mix well, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for two hours, take it out and leave it at room temperature for 10 minutes before cooking. After this step of marinating, the beef is basically very tender and smooth, of course, this cannot be compared with the beef marinated with tenderizing powder.

Finally, it’s cooking. The restaurant method is to use oil. Put a large amount of oil in the pot, heat it slightly, then put the beef in and stir-fry quickly until it changes color and then remove it. The family method is generally to heat the pot and oil, pour out the oil, then put in an appropriate amount of oil, put the beef in and stir-fry quickly until it changes color, then immediately scoop it out and set aside. Put the ingredients back in the pot, stir-fry them first, then put the beef back in the pot. After the beef is back in the pot, stir-fry it quickly over high heat. Remember not to put it in the pot for too long to make the beef tender and smooth.