Cooking beef for pepper steak
From American-"Chinese" restaurants, I usually order a dish called "Pepper Steak with Onions". This seems to be a simple enough dish, mostly a straightforward stir-fry, except for one unique characteristic: the beef comes out soft and easy to chew, much like chicken.
How is this achieved? Is it a certain cut of meat? A certain cooking technique?
Best Answer
Meat in stir-fries is often velveted. That makes for a supremely soft chunk of meat, and it can be done with any type of meat. This answer actually addresses chicken: How to cook extremely soft chicken?, but it applies just as well to beef. It's usually done with egg and cornstarch, but sometimes it's done with a small amount baking soda instead, as in this recipe for Beef and Broccoli.
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What kind of meat is pepper steak made from?
Pepper steak isn't an actual type of meat. The title can make it appear to be a specific type of steak but it's just the name of the dish because it contains peppers and steak. The steak often used in pepper steak dishes is flank, sirloin, or round steak.Why is my pepper steak tough?
Pepper steak can easily get tough, especially when you use cuts like shank or chuck. These cuts come from the legs and shoulders of the cow, so the muscles are used a bit more than the sirloin and flank, for example. The more a muscle is used, the tougher the meat tends to be.Can you use stew meat to make pepper steak?
Stew meat is perfect to use to make Pepper Steak. Stew meat cooked in the crock pot comes out so tender and is already cut up into bite-size pieces.Easy way to make the tastiest Pepper Steak recipe for your family - cooking stir fry
More answers regarding cooking beef for pepper steak
Answer 2
In addition to @Jolenealaska's answer the beef is cut across the grain, and very thin. It also helps to start with a tender cut like sirloin or rib.
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