Why is the beef in homemade stir fry tougher than the same dish from your local takeout place?

Question

The meat from the takeout restaurant is always tender but when i try it at home its tough and dry. What are they doing differently? If anyone has worked in a chinese restaurant and knows the answer, that would be awesome.

Answer 1

Most takeout place add a bit of baking soda to make the beef tender. But it twists the natural flavour of the meat!  Below is how we keep the natural flavour and also could make the beef soft and juicy.

Good quality beef is kinda tricky, you cannot marinate it with salt or soy sauce or else it gets tough!

My tips to you is to cut the beef in even slices or strips (against the grain) then marinate with beaten egg white and 2 tablespoons of water (for 500g of beef fillet), keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before your stir frying.

Prepare the seasoning in a bowl - mix soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, corn starch, ground white pepper, Chinese yellow wine and set aside.

Heat wok over high heat then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of peanut oil in the wok, stir fry some garlic slices and ginger slices till fragrant, add beef in wok, stir fry speedily till beef turned colour, then pour seasoning mixture in the wok, toss to combine. Turn off heat, sprinkle sesame oil and chopped green onions in wok. Serve with steamed rice.

Answer 2

You have to look at what cuts you're using as to what they're using.

Something like skirt steak works very well; cut against the grain and it will be quite tender, and only needs a minute or two in the pan.

Plus, odds are they're marinating for 24+ hours, which helps break down the muscle fibres in the meat.

A soy-ginger-garlic based marinade works great and will help tenderize.

Answer 3

meat literally take 2 seconds to cook. once color turns brown take it out!

so cook meat first then remove it then cook veggies with sauce etc and add the meat in the very last minute

took me a few tries to figure out but its better now

Answer 4

They cut thin slices against the grain, and it has ben tenderized in a marinade of some sort.  Also when they are cooking on the wok.. they flash cook it for only a few minutes and let it steam with the other vieggies to finish cooking.

I would say cutting the meat the wrong way and over cooking are the 2 main reasons.

Answer 5

I am a former chef and have worked in many hotels with chinese kitchens in them, yes the cut of meat is critical, a marinade is fine, but the chinese take-aways and restaurants also coat the meat before cooking in cornstarch/cornflour, and deep fry it briefly to seal in the moisture and juices, this keeps the meat tender and the juices do not run out and get tough.

For home use just use you favorite marinade for 1-2 hours, then dust or sprinkle a bit CS/CF, and heat a bit more oil than your stir frying with in your pan or wok, not deep enough to cook a horse in, and fry the meat until lightly browns, remove and drain on kitchen paper or paper towel, pour off the majority of the oil, add the onions, garlic, ginger and spring onions stir fry for 1-2 minutes, the harder veg, again toss it for 1-2 minutes, a bit of stock and cover for 1-2 minutes, and then add the meat, then cook it for a short time add your prepared sauce and thicken w/ cf-cs and water, done in 6-8 minutes and then no more tough stringy meat, you can do the same for chicken and pork, even shrimp/prawns, but cook it a bit long to ensure in the final cooking everything is done, with them you can add a lid before the sauce to steam cook it well, but with beef slightly undercooked is fine, it will finish before it hits the plate anyways.