Recipe: Yummy Velveting Meat / XO Beef

Velveting Meat / XO Beef. Now to finish velveting the meat. This is how to tenderise beef with a Chinese restaurant method called "velveting beef". Also used for chicken, it's a simple, highly effective technique using baking soda that transforms economical beef so it's incredibly tender in stir fries and stir fried noodles.

Your cheerful local Chinese restaurant is using economical stewing beef to make stir fries with ultra tender strips of beef by tenderising it! How to tenderise beef - easily! There are a few methods, but this is the easiest way: Velveting meat is a Chinese cooking technique used in Chinese restaurants. You can have Velveting Meat / XO Beef using 14 ingredients and 11 steps. Here is how you achieve that.

Ingredients of Velveting Meat / XO Beef

1. You need of For Velveting the meat:.
2. Prepare 400 of g- Beef Any cut will do even cheap ones, as velveting with make even the toughest cuts soft, although saying that, I'm using sirloin awks.
3. It's 2 of tbsp- Corn Starch/ Fine White Cornflour, this is the real star that will soften the meat.
4. You need 2 of tbsp- Chinese Cooking Wine, this will help add flavour and help the cornflour stick to the beef, also it'll probably help the meat tenderize too but I'm not too sure.
5. It's of For The Stirfry:.
6. Prepare 2 of tbsp- XO Sauce, this is the real MVP of the show packed with so much umami you don't know what to do.
7. Prepare 4 of - cloves Garlic.
8. Prepare 1 of - Thumb of Ginger.
9. It's of The Velvet Beef.
10. You need 2 of - Red Peppers.
11. You need 1 of Onion.
12. You need 1 Handful of Mangetout.
13. Prepare 2 of tsp- Cooking Oil.
14. You need 3 of - Large Mushrooms.

The process of velveting is one where you marinate raw meat to tenderise it in cornstarch and egg white or bicarb to give it a soft, velvety texture. For years I watched my mother "velvet" beef and chicken neither of us knowing what the term was but happy that the beef and chicken that we ate was soft in texture-I guess. The Chinese technique of velveting meat is an oft-used yet underappreciated one. It refers to the coating of meat pieces in cornstarch, egg whites, wine, and other seasonings such as garlic and soy sauce, to make it more tender.

Velveting Meat / XO Beef step by step

1. 1. Firstly we can start by thinly slicing the beef..
2. 2. In a bowl add the beef and equal parts cooking wine and cornflour 2tbsp should be adequate, then mix together ensuring beef is coated..
3. 3. Set the mixture aside for 30mins minimum and that's half the velveting done. Now we can concentrate on prepping the stir fry..
4. 4. Finely chop the ginger there's no need to peel it, I've never peeled ginger, also crush and chop the garlic and put them into the same bowl..
5. 5. Chop the peppers, onions and mushrooms then put it into a bowl with the mangetout whole and prep is done..
6. 6. Now to finish velveting the meat. After the meat has sat for 30 minutes, bring a pan of water to boiling point then add the beef and bring to boil again for 3-5 mins, then drain and we're ready for stir fry! Also, you could fry the meat in 2 inches of oil it works the same but that's fat..
7. 7. Get a fresh frying pan and bring it to a high heat then add the oil..
8. 8. When the pan is smoking hot add the garlic and ginger then mix..
9. 9. Before ginger and garlic start browning, add all the veggies and start stir-frying this is going to happen quickly because the pan is going to be very very hot..
10. 10. Once the veggies start softening a lil add the beef and stirfry!.
11. 11. Now add 2 tbsp of XO and mix that baby in then take in those smells. If it seems a lil dry add some water then fry until a thick sauce is formed then you're done. Enjoy with a bowl of rice of something..

Learning how to velvet meat is as integral to Chinese cooking as say, browning meat is for the French or Italian. Image by Shao Z./Serious Eats Lastly, adding the chicken a few minutes before the dish is complete allows the meat to heat up to the same temperature as the rest of the meal without prolonged exposure to more heat (which will create a loss of moisture and a tougher texture). The traditional method for velveting beef is to pass the meat through hot oil (essentially deep frying) which is literally referred to as zǒu yóu (走油) in Mandarin or "jau yau" in Cantonese. In most cases, we prefer to sear the meat in a hot wok, since having a wok full of oil at home is simply not practical. The velveting process ensures tender, silky pieces of meat in your stir-fry.