What are your best tenderizing methods?

pinkcherrychef

pinkcherrychef

Senior Member
Joined
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Egypt
Okay so I'm having some issues with red meat here in Egypt. I can buy meat here that comes straight from the butcher that was just prepared that very same day. So fresh is never a problem. The problem I have is the toughness. It's tougher than what I'm use too. In America I really never had much of this problem just smash it or let it marinate in salt water or whatever for half an hour then tada you have tender meat.

Maybe I'm just picky or perhaps the stores in the US put chemicals in the meat before hand to make it more tender. I've never had fresh meat like this so I have nothing to really compare it to. Egyptians here just slow cook it for a very long time to make it nice and tender. My mother in law uses this method. Great method just 2 problems it takes a massive amount of gas and a lot of my time. Propane gas is very expensive so I tend to not cook for a long time. Also I love cooking it's a passion of mine but being in the kitchen for 3 hours or longer is very tiring and not what I want. So I need your best methods on how to tenderize the toughest meats.

Here's what I've tried already to make the meat tender but failed
Smashed it (this method worked partially but didn't make a huge difference just a very small one)
Cutting the fat and tissue( This did help but the meat it self was still very chewy)
Marinating in salt water for 30 mins ( Again didn't make a big difference)
Marinating in salt and vinegar for 30 mins (slightly better but not much honestly)
Marinating with onion juice salt and seasoning ( Added lots of flavor but still tough)
Slow cooked for hours ( This did help with make the meat tender but even after like 4 hours the meat was still kind of tough)

Thank you for reading and for your help
 
What cut of meat are you trying to cook? With tough cuts, I always opt for my BGE, smoker or rotisserie over charcoal, whether it be pork or beef. I don't own any BBQ or grilling equipment that uses gas..
 
CraigC said:
What cut of meat are you trying to cook? With tough cuts, I always opt for my BGE, smoker or rotisserie over charcoal, whether it be pork or beef. I don't own any BBQ or grilling equipment that uses gas..
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I should of mentioned I don't have a grill,smoker,slow cooker,or pressure cooker or anything like that. I live in Egypt grills and smokers are only used in restaurants or food stands not at home. I actually don't think I have ever seen a home grill or smoker in the stores here lol. Other stuff you mentioned is very over priced here in Egypt right now so I don't buy them. I use only a gas stove and gas oven that's all. Also I don't eat pork I'm Muslim lol. As far as cuts go it's pretty much all kinds honestly I don't really know how to tell which is which. My other half picks out the cuts because they know which is good and which aren't. I need something that works best for all types of cuts.
 
pinkcherrychef said:
Here's what I've tried already to make the meat tender but failed
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I admire your dedication to the task.

I'm not a meat cook at all and think others better qualified should respond, but I did wonder whether you should try using bicarbonate of soda as a tenderizer?
 
Wandering Bob said:
I admire your dedication to the task.

I'm not a meat cook at all and think others better qualified should respond, but I did wonder whether you should try using bicarbonate of soda as a tenderizer?
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I heard about this method but I saw a video on youtube of different methods of tenderizing meat and they tried baking soda. The people who tasted the one that was tenderized with baking soda was voted the worst. They people who tasted said it made the meat taste very weird. So honestly I'm kind of scared to try that method lol.
 
pinkcherrychef said:
The people who tasted the one that was tenderized with baking soda was voted the worst.
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Sure - I understand your caution. There are plenty of excellent meat cooks on here who will respond to your query, I'm sure.

If it was me though, I wouldn't just rely on a video on YouTube that voted against baking soda - who knows what their motivation may have been?
 
Although you do not know what cuts of meat you are getting do you know from what animal? Goat, beef, mutton etc?

If meat isn't hung and aged in some way (however good the cut) its unlikely to be tender. There is no tradition of doing this in Egypt, really, due to the heat and hygiene issues I think. I used to live in Cairo (long time ago) and I have to say that I didn't cook with the meat unless it was slow cooking. You could try a long marinade in the fridge (several days). You can marinade fresh meat for many days with no problem. It is worth a try.

I have a great recipe for a long marinade which I will dig out later today.
 
morning glory said:
Although you do not know what cuts of meat you are getting do you know from what animal? Goat, beef, mutton etc?

If meat isn't hung and aged in some way (however good the cut) its unlikely to be tender. There is no tradition of doing this in Egypt, really, due to the heat and hygiene issues I think. I used to live in Cairo (long time ago) and I have to say that I didn't cook with the meat unless it was slow cooking. You could try a long marinade in the fridge (several days). You can marinade fresh meat for many days with no problem. It is worth a try.

I have a great recipe for a long marinade which I will dig out later today.
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Cairo oh my lol. Everyone here in Egypt has a saying here in Egypt you either love Cairo or you hate it. I've been there a handful of times it really isn't my cup of tea. It's very different from the rest of Egypt. You can never judge Egypt by Cairo alone. Everyone here prepares the meat by hanging for hours but I don't know about aging. I have never heard of that. As far as hygiene goes it all depends on where you buy it. I buy mine at very nice butcher shop that hangs the meat in a refrigerator with a glass door. It really bugs me how Egypt gets such a bad rap when it comes to meat. Long story short it all depends on where you buy the meat. Just like in every other country you got to search for the best places to by the best stuff. Egypt is no different when it comes to this. They be old fashioned in some ways but as far as hygiene goes it all depends on where you go. Thanks for the info :) I will try that next time
P.S. Sorry I forgot to mention this yes of course I always know which animal it's from I just don't know the cuts. My husband always picks the cuts because he knows which are the best parts of each animal. I buy all kinds beef,goat,sheep,camel all that good stuff. Camel is never a problem being tender but all the rest are always ending up tough.
 
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pinkcherrychef said:
They be old fashioned in some ways but as far as hygiene goes it all depends on where you go.
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I was in Egypt probably before you were even born - so it was much more primitive then, even in Cairo. Whereabouts are you (if you don't mind saying)? I used to visit Alexandria quite often (or 'Alex' as we called it). That was a lovely place.
 
morning glory said:
I was in Egypt probably before you were even born - so it was much more primitive then, even in Cairo. Whereabouts are you (if you don't mind saying)? I used to visit Alexandria quite often (or 'Alex' as we called it). That was a lovely place.
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Since Egypt is small I don't really like to say which city I live in. I'm overly cautious sorry lol:laugh:. It's a possibility you were there way before I was born I'm in my late twenties. Alex is indeed a very beautiful place. I've visited there a good amount of times. It's one of the number one choices I recommend going to visit if you ever come to Egypt. We call it Alex by English and Scandria by Arabic. I've been to a couple places in here in Egypt. A lot of things have changed over the years so I'm told by Egyptians. They would know wouldn't they lol.
 
I bought THIS, but I haven't tried it yet.

Meat Tenderizer..jpg
 
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A jaccard, as Sherm mentions, works well. Or, you can just go nuts with a thick tined fork. Actually, the latter is kind of fun, so long as you keep one hand behind your back.

Then, after doing the stabby thing, pound it down to futher crush or disrupt the longer fibers of the muscle/meat.
 
As @morning glory says, it could be that your meat has not been aged properly. Try asking your butcher. Beef, for instance, is at its best when it has been dry aged for between 28 and 36 days. You can do this yourself in a refrigerator. There are really no effective alternatives to this without affecting the quality of the meat. Alternatively, as others have suggested, use a slow cooking method - 4 hours is really not long enough, try doubling that. Finally, the only natural tenderising agent that I have ever found remotely useful is citrus fruit, but even that will not break down connective tissues in tougher joints. It works well enough on lean steak though. Hope this helps.
 
epicuric said:
As @morning glory says, it could be that your meat has not been aged properly. Try asking your butcher. Beef, for instance, is at its best when it has been dry aged for between 28 and 36 days. You can do this yourself in a refrigerator. There are really no effective alternatives to this without affecting the quality of the meat. Alternatively, as others have suggested, use a slow cooking method - 4 hours is really not long enough, try doubling that. Finally, the only natural tenderising agent that I have ever found remotely useful is citrus fruit, but even that will not break down connective tissues in tougher joints. It works well enough on lean steak though. Hope this helps.
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I know they were talking about the aging. Except the mentioned hygiene as well Egypt gets a bad wrap when it comes to meat because of the very old days. Nowadays it's much different but a lot of people still listen to very old stories and think they are still true to this very day. So I was just kindly sharing that information on how hygiene was not the problem :) thank you though for that advice. I found out the problem when Morning Glory mentioned the aging and did some research. My meat is always freshly slain the very same day it is not aged so this is why my meat has been so tough. I won't be able to age it myself or slow cook it for more than 2 hours because that would take all of the gas from my stove lol. Although I have come up with a productive plan on how to make it less tough thanks to everyone's advice and my research.
 
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