How to Use a Meat Tenderizer?

• Maurice E. Terry

Who does not love tender meat? You need tender meat to prepare anything from a your favorite meat burgers to spicy sausages. However, tender meat is a little bit expensive compared to other meats. Ordinary meat cannot guarantee that you will have all those freshly cut tender meat that you required. Some people choose tough meats like chuck roast, brisket, flank steak, and hanger steak. These meats are less expensive because they are hard to cook, chew and eat, but they’re not less tasty.

A meat tenderizer can be a kitchen mallet or chemical powder which helps you to break tough muscles and protein structure of tender meats and provides you easy to cook and easy to eat tender meat. If you know how to use meat tenderizers perfectly, it will be much easier for you to make those delicious burgers out of budget meat.

What Is Meat Tenderizer and Why Do You Need It?

A meat tenderizer can be a tool, powder or some chemical that tenderizes tough meats. A tenderizer tool can be a kitchen mallet or specialized hammer which is used to pound meat. On the other hand, meat tenderizer powder is a chemical compound which requires no pounding effect.

There is also another form of meat tenderizer which is blade tenderizer. It consists of several nails or blades which are used to cut through the muscle fibers of the tough meat.

The major benefit of tenderizing tough meats is that it gets the taste of protein-rich tender meat in a budget. Tough meats are also linear cut and consist less fat compared to the expensive tender meat. It is the layer of fat which also responsible for making them tender. So, eating tough meats means you have similar protein with less fat. But, how can you use a tenderizer to get fresh tender meat?

How to Use Meat Tenderizer

There are several ways you can tenderize those tough cuts of meat. Also with a meat mallet, you can use tenderizing powder as well as some homemade solutions. Let’s learn more about how to use these meat tenderizers.

Using Powdered Meat Tenderizer

Meat tenderizer powder is made with natural enzymes which are typically bromelain or papain. These enzymes can easily break the tough muscle fiber of meat if applied correctly. However, a lot of cooks and household persons think that sprinkling on the surface of the meat with this powder is one only working procedure.

Well, they are wrong! The meat tenderizer powder is needed to get inside of the meat to work perfectly. If the powder sits on the meat, it makes the surface tender, and he rest of the meat will remain tough.

To get the best result use the powder along with blade tenderizer. Pierce the meat with blade tenderizer, a knife or wide needle and then spread the powder over the meat. Sprinkle some liquid over it to help the powder reach inside the meat. Water is best suitable, but if you want to add some flavors add other types of liquid such as vinegar, fruit juice or Worcestershire sauce. If the meat is highly thick, repeat the process on both sides of the meat.

Using Pounding Based Meat Tenderizer

The best way to tenderize meat naturally is to use a meat mallet. Pounding is an old technique which requires no chemical or enzyme to break the meat’s muscle fiber. Meat mallet is generally made of hardened wood or metal. However, the metal one is more useful as it is heavier and requires less pounding to make the meat tender.

To do it perfectly, make meat slice. Now wrap the meat slice with plastic wrapping paper or some wax paper and start pounding. If you realize the meat is perfectly beaten and become more tender, you should stop pounding. Make sure the meat is evenly beaten. However, keep in mind that, over pounding may result in mushy meats. Additional with professional grade mallet or meat tenderizer you can use kitchen mallet, rolling pins, skillet or saucepans to do it.

Using a Meat Tenderizer Machine

There are different ways you can tenderize meat. The easiest and safest way is to use a meat tenderizer machine. You have to spend little cash to buy one, but the machine is worth buying for. It tenderizes meat without any harmful chemical, and you do not have to worry about whether it is evenly tenderized or not. The machine will do the job for you. All you need to do is to cut your meat widely large slices according to the size of the machine’s meat pusher. Now, if yours one is the manual meat tenderizer machine, then push the meat into the tenderizer and start rotating the handle. If it is an automatic one, you’ve to push the meat into the machine and relaxes. The sharp blades of the meat tenderizer machine will tenderize your meat more evenly than ever.

You have to keep in mind that over tenderized meat is mushier and loose the taste. So, only tenderize your meat twice if the meat is tough and you require highly tender meat.

Using Blade Meat Tenderizer

A blade tenderizer is another meat tenderizer tool that is used in a lot of household kitchen. It consists of sharp blades or wide needles to cut through the meat’s muscle fiber. All you have to do is that, take the tough meat and place it on the meat cutting board. Take the blade meat tenderizer and start pushing with it. Do it evenly on the whole part. Now if the meat is too thick and tough, flip it over and start tenderizing again.

Using Homemade Meat Tenderizers

Along with discussed meat tenderizer, you can tenderize with homemade solutions. These solutions include using salt, papaya juice, kiwi juice, lemon juice vinegar and slow cooking options.

Use salt as like as meat tenderizer powder, but keep it for more time. The best way is to cover the tough meat with salt coating and then leave it there for an hour or two. You can also use lemon juice or kiwi juice along with vinegar to make the homemade acid marinade. Soak your meat with this marinade for one to two hour, and you will have nice tender meat.

Instead of using blade meat tenderizer you can use your knife to cut through the muscle fiber of tough meat. However, another best solution for tough meat is to slow cook with low heat for a long time. A slow cooker can help you with a great deal in this aspect.

Final Words

To have the taste of tender meats, you do not always have to buy those tender meats from the market. Whether you are buying ordinary meats or tough meats, use a meat tenderizer to make those meats tender. We believe that using the above mentioned technique will help using different types of meat tenderizer perfectly. There are also a lot of homemade solutions available to perfectly tenderize meat. For more info or to provide a suggestion, do not forget to write us back.