The velveting technique is the secret Chinese food places use to make sure meat stays tender and silky (velvety!). If you don’t want to do it with the traditional oil-blanching, use water instead.
In the water-velvet method, you still marinate the meat in cornstarch, wine, and egg white. Rather than briefly cooking the meat in hot oil before stir-frying, however, you blanch the meat in boiling water for about 30 seconds.
The results of water-blanched meat, Serious Eats’ J. Kenji López-Alt says, are nearly identical to oil-blanched meat. Using water is easier, however, and you don’t have to waste oil.
Check out the link below for step-by-step directions.
Chinese Velveting 101: An Introduction to Water-Velveting [Serious Eats]
Comments
One response to “Water-Velvet Meat For Better-Than-Takeout Chinese Food At Home”
I thought bicarb soda was “the secret Chinese food places use to make sure meat stays tender”.