Restaurant-Style Stir-Fried Beef
By Steve Dunn, Cook's Illustrated, published March 1, 2016

The ultrasupple texture of beef stir-fried in Chinese restaurants normally requires a messy coating and a dip in hot oil. We looked for an easier way.

Years ago, the test kitchen nailed down our approach to stir-frying beef: Choose flank steak for its big, beefy flavor and relatively reasonable price; soak the meat briefly in a soy sauce–based marinade; and cook it in batches in a large nonstick skillet. Follow those guidelines, and you’re well on your way to a satisfying dish. And yet there is one quality that method doesn’t deliver: a texture typical of Chinese restaurant stir-fries, in which the meat is almost meltingly tender, with a luxurious, silky softness. I am a big fan of this texture and wanted to find a way to add it to our beef stir-fries.

Seeking Softness

The supple meat served at Chinese restaurants is achieved via a traditional technique called velveting. It involves marinating the meat in egg whites, cornstarch, water or rice wine, and salt for 15 to 30 minutes, during which time the mixture forms a gossamer-thin coating on the meat and the alkaline egg whites tenderize the meat by changing its pH. The meat is then blanched in simmering water or oil to set the coating, which will protect the meat against the blazing heat of the wok. The coating turns plush and silky as it cooks, delivering its namesake texture.

I decided to give velveting a try using oil blanching, which the Chinese call jau yau, or “passing through oil.” Keeping in mind that slicing meat against the grain shortens the muscle fibers and makes them easier to chew, I prepped the steak by dividing it into strips and then cutting those strips against the grain into thin, bite-size pieces.

Next, I submerged the steak pieces in a thin paste of egg whites, cornstarch, rice wine, and soy sauce (my replacement for the usual salt). After a brief soak, I blanched the pieces in a pot of hot oil, drained them, and transferred them to a skillet to be quickly stir-fried. Sure enough, the resulting meat seemed ridiculously tender, just like that which I’d enjoyed in Chinese restaurants. That said, the process was messy and fussy—no wonder velveting is typically practiced only in professional kitchens. In a home kitchen, an extra blanching step just makes things too complicated.

Transferring the beef straight from the egg white–cornstarch mixture into the skillet without first blanching to set the coating seemed like a good shortcut to try. Alas, this resulted in an outer layer more akin to scrambled eggs than to the plush coating I was after. Clearly blanching was nonnegotiable when egg whites were involved. Well then, how about getting rid of the egg whites? Happily, a simple marinade of cornstarch, rice wine, and soy sauce resulted in beef that, while not as silky or tender as traditionally velveted meat, came close.

To finish the job, I applied a tenderizing trick that has practically become standard practice in the test kitchen and works by the same principle as egg whites. Soaking meat in a solution of baking soda and water raises the pH on the meat’s surface, making it more difficult for the proteins to bond, which keeps the fibers tender and moist. In the past, we’ve historically called for baking soda soaks at concentrations that required rinsing the meat prior to cooking, lest the meat taste soapy or metallic. But after some experimentation, I found that a lower ratio of baking soda (just ¼ teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of water) still made a noticeable difference in the meat’s tenderness and made rinsing unnecessary.

Science: just ¼ teaspoon = meat that’s 20% more tender

Just like egg whites, baking soda raises the pH on the surface of the meat, making it more difficult for the proteins to bond and therefore keeping the meat tender and moist. To demonstrate the effect of treating meat with baking soda, we soaked one batch of flank steak in a baking soda mixture and left a second batch untreated. We cooked both samples sous vide to 160 degrees and then used a texture analyzer to see how much force was required to “bite” into slices. The results: Meat treated with baking soda was about 20 percent more tender than untreated meat.

Because the small amount of baking soda was performing the same role as the egg white, I was able to achieve my goal—extremely supple and tender beef—without adding any extra work to the process.

Now that the beef was sliced, pretreated, and marinated, it was time to stir-fry. Batch-cooking the meat was a must to ensure proper browning by not overcrowding the pan. What’s more, we have found that arranging the meat in an even layer and allowing it to cook undisturbed for a full ­minute—forget about keeping the pieces in constant motion—­guarantees deep browning. With flavorful, ultratender, well-browned meat at the ready, it was time to turn the bare-bones beef into a full-fledged stir-fry.

A Peppery Punch

I’ve long been a fan of steak au poivre, the iconic French union of beef and black pepper, so I wondered if there was a Chinese dish that also celebrated this pairing. Indeed, black pepper beef (hei hu jiao niu liu)—a Cantonese standard of beef, green bell peppers, and yellow onions bathed in a black pepper sauce—seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

For the vegetables, which took their turn in the pan right after the meat was removed, I deviated from the original. I traded onion for scallions, swapped some of the green pepper for red, and mixed in fresh ginger and garlic. To tie it all together, I whipped up a salty-sweet-spicy sauce with soy and oyster sauces, a little brown sugar, and 2 full teaspoons of coarsely ground black pepper. When combined with my extra-tender beef, these ingredients delivered the best beef stir-fry I’d ever had, in or out of a restaurant.

How to Prepare Beef for Stir-fry
from https://thewoksoflife.com/

This recipe does wash off the baking soda that is added to tenderize the beef.

“Learn how to prepare beef for stir-fry just like professional chefs do in Chinese restaurant kitchens.”

First, cut the beef against the grain. “Cutting against the grain means cutting across those strands, so the long strands of muscle can be made shorter to create small, tender pieces. . . If using beef for noodle dishes or dishes like Beef and Pepper Stir Fry, an extra step to slice beef into thin strips (julienne) is required. In Chinese stir-fry cooking, the way ingredients are cut should be consistent with each other. Rectangular slices of beef are used for stir-fries with vegetables like beef and broccoli or beef and tofu. Long strands of noodles like you have in Beef Lo Mein require beef to be cut into similar long thin strips. Beef fried rice requires small chunks of meat to go with the small grains of rice. . .

Tenderizing your beef is the first step of the traditional process of velveting beef practiced by virtually all Chinese chefs. Chinese restaurant chefs take some extra steps in preparing beef for their stir-fry dishes. The first step is to add a good amount of baking soda to the beef––about 1 rounded teaspoon per pound of beef.

Next, add 3 tablespoons water until the beef is just covered, and massage the beef so the baking soda and water is uniformly distributed. Set aside for 1-2 hours. This step tenderizes (baking soda) and hydrates (water) the beef. Next, the beef must be rinsed thoroughly under running water to rid it of any excess baking soda [then drained], or you will taste it in the dish. . . .

Marinating beef for your stir-fry is an important 2nd step of velveting that should never be skipped. The marinade isn’t as much about soaking the beef in a lot of liquid or adding a bunch of different flavorings like you may be used to. It’s about giving the beef an extra juicy texture. Have you ever tried to make a stir-fry at home, but the meat comes out dry and not at all like what you’ve been served in Asian restaurants? Master this marinating technique, and you’ll successfully prepare Chinese stir-fry dishes at home.

After the beef has been tenderized: Add oyster sauce and/or soy sauce to give your beef an extra flavor boost. Add about 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beef. Add cornstarch and oil to give the meat a velvety texture. Add about 2 teaspoons of each per pound of beef. The cornstarch and oil gives the beef its velvety smooth texture sealing in juices and protecting the meat during the searing or cooking. Adding Shaoxing wine (2 teaspoons per pound) also adds flavor but is totally optional for those of you who are strict about alcohol consumption.

Mix everything together and set it aside to marinate for 15-30 minutes while you’re preparing your other ingredients. . .

The last step of velveting is cooking, which really depends upon the dish you are cooking and the outcome you’re looking for. 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. That said, we think searing beef imparts more flavor than the jau yau deep frying method. Some recipes, including soups, will only require cooking the beef in water as the final step. ”

1 pound beef flank steak or chuck steak (450g, sliced against the grain)
1 teaspoon baking soda
water (3 tablespoons per pound)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons oyster sauce or soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons Shaoxing Wine (Optional)

Add baking soda and water to the sliced beef and massage with hands until all of the liquid is absorbed. Let stand 1-2 hours.

Rinse the beef thoroughly under running water until the water runs clear. Drain.

Add oil, oyster sauce/soy sauce, Shaoxing wine (optional), and cornstarch to the beef. Set aside to marinate for 15-30 minutes, and then your beef is ready to use.

[For stir-fries, quickly sear the meat and remove from wok before it is done. About 20 seconds. Set aside until ready to add to the stir-fry near the end of cooking. The meat will cook a bit more at this point.]