How to cook beef easily

As we all know, beef is rich in protein, has high nutritional value and a delicate taste, and many people like to eat it. However, because the meat is firm and not easy to rot, it takes some effort to cook it. If you simply stew the beef in water, it may take two hours to stew it until it is tender, which not only wastes time but also fuel. Next, I will introduce to you some tips to make it easy to stew the beef.

1. Tips for stewing beef

When stewing beef, you should use hot water instead of cold water, because hot water can quickly coagulate the protein on the surface of the beef, prevent the loss of amino acids in the meat, and keep the meat delicious.

After boiling over high heat, remove the lid and simmer for 20 minutes to remove odor, then cover and use low heat to keep the floating oil on the soup at a certain temperature to achieve the braising effect.

During the cooking process, salt should be added later and enough water should be added at one time. If you find that there is too little water, you should add boiling water.

The day before stewing the meat, rub mustard on the meat and wash it off with cold water before stewing. This will not only make the meat cook faster, but also make it tender.

Wrap a small amount of tea leaves in gauze and put it into the stove to stew with the beef. The meat will not only cook quickly but also have a fragrant taste.

Adding some wine or vinegar to stew the beef can make the meat more tender. Putting a few hawthorns or a few slices of radish in the meat can make the beef cook faster and remove the odor.

2. Stewed Beef

Some people think that "beef stew is delicious but difficult to make." In fact, it is not difficult. Some people summarize it as: "Choose the right meat, use plenty of soup, use yellow paste as the base and put a little salt; add the right amount of seasonings together, and cook at just the right time to make the meat fragrant and tender." When choosing meat, most people always like to buy some parts with bright red meat shreds to make beef stew. In fact, this type is more suitable for stir-frying. If used for stewing, the meat will become firm and woody. There are many parts of beef suitable for stewing, such as tendons, loins, cuts, chest, and spine, which account for about 70% of all beef. These parts have tendons and skin, and alternating fat and lean parts. They look unsightly on the surface and are not popular with customers. However, if they are cooked properly, the meat will become plump, soft and tender after maturity, and will be fresh and delicious. After selecting the meat, rinse the whole piece first to remove the dirt floating on the surface; wipe it clean and cut it into walnut pieces, soak it in clean water for about half an hour to remove the blood and impurities in it, then take it out and set it aside. However, be careful not to use hot water or boiling water to tighten the meat, otherwise the meat will become tough and difficult to stew.

Prepare the soup: Add enough warm water into the pot and put in an appropriate amount of yellow bean paste, commonly known as "making the base". Stir it with chopsticks. At this time, the sauce residue will sink to the bottom and the sauce foam will float to the top. Use a sieve to scoop out the residue and remove the foam to ensure that the broth is colored but not muddy. Do not use soy sauce to make soup because soy sauce contains bitter sugar color. After adding it to the soup, the broth will also have a slightly bitter taste, and the flavor of the stewed meat will be greatly reduced. Add enough soup at one time and do not add water in the middle. If there is not enough soup, you can only add hot water or boiling water. Never add cold water in the middle, otherwise the boiling meat will meet the cold water, which will easily cause the surface of the meat to shrink and tighten, making it difficult for heat to transfer inside, and the meat will become hard and tough, making it difficult to chew and swallow. After the soup is ready, add appropriate amount of salt.

Add ingredients: Put the cut and cleaned beef into the pot, then add seasonings. Common ingredients include cloves, cinnamon, sweet licorice, pepper, aniseed, fennel; or pepper, aniseed, cinnamon. No matter what seasonings are used, onions, ginger and garlic are indispensable. You can also add some orange peel. If 2.5 kg of meat is used as the standard, the seasoning can be 20 peppercorns, 4 to 5 pieces of aniseed, 3 to 4 pieces of cinnamon, 3 to 4 inch long sections of green onion, etc. Cut 1 piece of ginger (do not cut it off) and 4 to 5 cloves of garlic. Put all the seasonings into the pot together, and put the peppercorns, aniseed and cinnamon into a gauze bag. It can be used 2 to 3 times.

Heat: Put the ingredients into the pot and cover it. When the pot boils, remove the lid and simmer it to allow the bloody smell to evaporate. Cover the pot again after 20 minutes and simmer on low heat. It will be cooked in about 3 hours. The beef will be tender and the soup will be beautiful and fresh with a fragrant aroma. Using a pressure cooker to stew beef is also very effective, as long as you control the heat. That is, after boiling over high heat, release the air for 5 minutes, close the safety valve, and after 20 minutes, switch to medium heat and cook for another 20 minutes.

Cooking old beef: If you buy a lot of beef, you can apply a layer of dry mustard on the beef one day before putting it in the pot. When cooking, rinse the meat before putting it in the pot. The beef processed in this way is not only easy to cook, but also tender. Adding some wine or vinegar while cooking will make it cook faster. When cooking beef, first sew a gauze bag, put in a small amount of vegetable leaves, tie the bag, and put it into the pot to stew with the beef. This way the beef will cook faster and have a fragrant taste. When cooking beef, add two or three shelled walnuts and or a few hawthorns. It will not only cook faster but also remove the mutton smell. When braising beef, adding a small amount of Chinese mustard greens can make the meat taste delicious.

3. Ginger can tenderize beef

Ginger is not only a seasoning, but it also tenderizes the beef. If you find that the beef is a bit tough, you can cut the washed fresh ginger into small pieces, mash it, put the ginger powder in gauze and squeeze out the ginger juice. Mix the ginger juice into the shredded or sliced ​​beef, stir well so that the surface of the beef slices is evenly covered with ginger juice. Leave it at room temperature for about 1 hour and then cook it as needed. The beef tenderized in this way is fresh and tasty, with a strong aroma and without the spicy taste of ginger.

4. Tips for stewing beef until tender

To stew the beef until it is tender, add a few slices of hawthorn to the pot, and then simmer it slowly over low heat. This will make the beef tender and delicious. In addition, when cooking beef, you should boil the water first and then put the beef into the pot. This not only preserves the nutrients in the meat, but also makes it taste particularly delicious.