How to Make Beef Incredibly Tender and Juicy in Minutes – The Chinese Secret Method!

00:00 You order beef and broccoli from the

00:02 place down the road, $8. The beef is

00:05 soft, it gives under your teeth, it is

00:07 wet in the middle, and it slips apart.

00:10 Then on Saturday, you buy a good piece

00:12 of steak for $18. You take it home, you

00:15 slice it, you cook it exactly the way

00:18 the recipe says, and it comes out gray

00:21 and chewy and dry and tastes like

00:23 something you have to work at. Better

00:26 meat, worse result. And you have spent

00:28 years blaming the cut or the pan or the

00:32 recipe or yourself. It is none of those.

00:35 That takeout beef was almost certainly a

00:38 cheap cut, cheaper than anything you

00:40 would put in your cart, and it was made

00:43 tender in 20 minutes by something that

00:45 costs about 4 cents. Every Chinese

00:48 restaurant in your town does it. Every

00:50 Chinese home cook does it. Almost nobody

00:53 outside those kitchens has ever been

00:55 told what it is. My name is Shufen. My

00:59 grandmother did this to every piece of

01:01 meat that came into her house, and she

01:04 did it without thinking, the way you

01:06 would rinse rice. There was a bowl, and

01:08 the meat went in the bowl, and it sat

01:11 while she cut the vegetables, and that

01:13 was simply what you did with meat before

01:15 it met a hot pan. It never occurred to

01:18 her that anybody did it differently. I

01:20 am going to give you the whole thing,

01:22 the one ingredient that does the real

01:24 work, which is already in your kitchen.

01:27 The exact amounts, because this is the

01:29 one place where too much is far worse

01:31 than too little. The step everybody

01:34 skips, that is the difference between

01:36 soft beef and wet, heavy restaurant

01:39 beef. And at the end, the part that will

01:41 change what you buy, because once you

01:43 can do this, the cheapest beef in the

01:45 store beats the expensive one. And I

01:48 will tell you exactly which cut to reach

01:51 for. But first, you have to understand

01:53 why beef goes tough, because once you

01:55 see it, everything after makes plain

01:58 sense. A muscle is bundles of long

02:01 fibers, and around and through them runs

02:05 connective tissue. When you put that

02:07 meat on heat, the proteins inside those

02:10 fibers start to change. They tighten,

02:13 they shorten, they pull in on themselves

02:16 like a hand closing into a fist. And

02:19 they are full of water, so as they

02:21 clench, that water is squeezed out, and

02:23 it runs into the pan, and it hisses and

02:26 steams away. And what is left in your

02:29 mouth is the fist, dry, tight, chewy.

02:32 That is all toughness is, proteins

02:34 clenching and ringing out their own

02:36 water, nothing else. So there are only

02:39 two ways to win. You either stop the

02:42 fist from closing so hard, or you get

02:44 the meat off the heat before it can. The

02:47 Chinese method does both at once, and it

02:49 takes about 25 minutes of waiting and

02:52 roughly 2 minutes of work. Now, the part

02:55 that should genuinely bother you,

02:57 because these are the things you have

02:58 been doing carefully on purpose,

03:01 believing they helped.

03:03 You marinate in something acidic, lemon

03:06 juice, vinegar, wine, pineapple, a

03:09 bottled marinade that is mostly acid,

03:12 and you leave it for hours because more

03:15 must be better. Acid does break proteins

03:19 down, that is true. But it also does the

03:22 thing you are trying to prevent, which

03:24 is that it makes the proteins on the

03:26 outside clench and squeeze water out. So

03:29 a long acid soak gives you meat that is

03:33 mushy and grainy on the surface and dry

03:36 underneath.

03:38 2 hours in a lemon marinade does not

03:40 tenderize a steak. It cooks the outside

03:43 of it and ruins the texture.

03:46 You buy your way out.

03:48 The recipe says the beef was chewy, so

03:51 next time you go up a grade and up

03:53 again, and now you are cooking a $22

03:56 piece of meat in a stir-fry, and it is

03:59 still not what the restaurant gave you,

04:02 because the problem was never the money.

04:04 And you crowd the pan. You put a whole

04:06 pound of beef into one skillet at once,

04:09 and it drops the temperature of that pan

04:11 instantly, and the meat sits there

04:14 releasing water until it is swimming in

04:16 it. That is not searing. That is boiling

04:19 meat in its own juice, and then the

04:22 water finally cooks off, and only then

04:24 does the meat start to brown, by which

04:27 time it is cooked through twice over.

04:29 That gray, weeping pan is the single

04:31 most common thing I see, and it is why

04:34 so many people believe they cannot cook

04:37 beef.

04:38 So, here is what a Chinese kitchen does

04:41 instead, and it happens in four moves.

04:44 Move one, and it is free. Cut the meat

04:47 correctly. Look at the piece of beef,

04:50 and you will see fine lines running

04:52 through it, all going the same

04:54 direction. Those are the fiber bundles.

04:57 If you cut along them, every piece on

04:59 your plate contains long, unbroken

05:02 fibers, and your teeth have to do all

05:05 the shearing. Cut across them at a right

05:08 angle to those lines, and the knife has

05:10 already done that work, and each fiber

05:12 in the mouth is a short stub. Same beef,

05:16 a different food.

05:18 And cut it thin,

05:19 about the thickness of two coins, an

05:22 eighth of an inch.

05:23 Thin against the grain is where half of

05:26 all tenderness comes from before you

05:28 have added a single thing. Here is how

05:31 you actually get slices that thin

05:33 without a professional knife. Put the

05:35 beef in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes

05:38 first, until it is firm at the edges,

05:40 but not frozen through. Firm meat holds

05:44 still under the blade. Soft meat rolls

05:47 and squashes and you end up with wedges.

05:50 20 minutes in the freezer and even a

05:52 dull knife cuts like a good one. Slice

05:55 at an angle laying the knife over and

05:57 you get wider pieces that cook faster

06:00 still. Move two, and this is the secret

06:03 itself.

06:04 Baking soda, not baking powder. Baking

06:07 soda, the plain box in your cupboard,

06:10 the one you have used for cakes and

06:12 drains and the smell in the fridge. 4

06:15 cents worth of it does what an $18

06:17 upgrade at the meat counter cannot.

06:21 Here is why it works and it is

06:22 beautiful. Meat is slightly acidic.

06:26 Baking soda is alkaline, the opposite

06:28 end.

06:30 Coat the surface of the beef in a little

06:32 of it and you push the pH of that outer

06:35 layer up and at that higher pH the

06:37 proteins simply cannot bond to each

06:40 other as tightly. The fist cannot fully

06:43 close. So when the heat hits, the fibers

06:46 do not clench hard and they do not ring

06:48 themselves out and the water stays where

06:51 it was. The meat stays soft and stays

06:54 wet. That is the entire trick and it has

06:57 been in Chinese kitchens for

06:59 generations.

07:01 Now the amounts, and this is where I

07:02 need you to listen properly because this

07:05 is the one place on this whole channel

07:07 where more will hurt you.

07:09 Half a teaspoon of baking soda for 1 lb

07:12 of beef. That is it. Level, not heaped.

07:16 Too much and you will taste it and it is

07:18 not a small unpleasantness. It tastes

07:21 soapy and faintly metallic and it does

07:24 not cook away and the texture goes past

07:26 tender into something soft and slippery

07:29 and wrong like meat that has given up.

07:32 People try this once, use a big spoonful

07:35 because they want it to really work and

07:37 then decide the method is nonsense. It

07:40 is not the method, it is the spoon.

07:42 Weaker is better. Say it twice. Weaker

07:46 is better. Toss the sliced beef with

07:48 that half teaspoon until every piece has

07:50 some on it. Let it sit 15 to 30 minutes

07:54 at room temperature and do not go past

07:56 40 because past that the surface starts

07:59 to soften too far. Then rinse it

08:02 properly in a bowl of cold water, two

08:05 changes until the water runs clear. This

08:08 step is not optional and it is the one

08:10 people skip. The baking soda has already

08:13 done its work on the surface of the meat

08:15 and it does not need to be there anymore

08:18 and if you leave it, that is when you

08:20 taste it. Rinse it away and the

08:23 tenderness stays behind because the

08:25 change happened in the protein, not in

08:27 the coating. Then dry it, really dry.

08:31 Squeeze the beef in your hands over the

08:33 sink, then press it between paper towels

08:35 or a clean tea towel until the outside

08:38 is barely damp. Wet meat cannot brown.

08:41 Every drop you leave on it is a drop the

08:44 pan has to boil off before any cooking

08:46 begins and that is the difference

08:48 between beef that sears in 90 seconds

08:51 and beef that stews for 5 minutes. Move

08:54 three and this is the one that makes the

08:57 difference between soft beef and

08:59 restaurant beef. You are going to put

09:01 water into the meat on purpose. In a

09:05 Chinese kitchen, this has a name and it

09:07 is done to every piece of meat that goes

09:10 in a stir-fry and I have never once seen

09:12 it in a Western recipe.

09:15 Put the rinsed dry beef in a bowl. Add a

09:18 tablespoon of soy sauce and a tablespoon

09:20 of Shaoxing wine or dry sherry if that

09:23 is what you have. Then add three

09:25 tablespoons of cold water or cold stock,

09:28 but not all at once. A splash at a time

09:31 and after each splash you mix with your

09:34 hand, always stirring in one direction

09:36 and you keep going until the liquid has

09:39 vanished into the meat. It will vanish.

09:41 That is the strange part. Push it, and

09:44 the beef drinks it, and after a minute,

09:46 the bowl is not wet anymore. The meat is

09:49 just heavier and plumper and slightly

09:52 tacky in your fingers. You have put

09:54 water inside the muscle, and that is

09:57 water it will still have when it reaches

09:59 your plate. This is the reason

10:01 restaurant beef is juicy in a way home

10:04 beef never is, and it costs you 60

10:07 seconds. Then you lock it in.

10:10 1 Tbsp of cornstarch mixed through until

10:14 every piece is coated in a thin slick

10:16 paste.

10:18 An egg white, if you want it silkier

10:20 still, and for a stir-fry, I would.

10:24 And last of all, 1 Tbsp of oil stirred

10:28 through at the very end.

10:30 That order matters.

10:32 The cornstarch makes a soft jacket that

10:34 holds the water in and shields the meat

10:37 from the direct violence of the pan. So,

10:39 the outside does not overcook while the

10:42 inside catches up.

10:44 The oil goes on last because it stops

10:46 all the pieces from gluing themselves

10:48 into one lump and lets them slide loose

10:51 into the pan.

10:53 Put the oil in first, and the cornstarch

10:56 never sticks properly, and half your

10:58 coating ends up on the bottom of the

11:00 wok.

11:01 Let it sit at least 20 minutes now.

11:04 Half an hour is better, and it will

11:06 happily wait in the fridge overnight.

11:08 And honestly, overnight is best of all.

11:12 Move four,

11:13 the heat. And this is where people undo

11:16 everything they have just built. Get the

11:18 pan properly hot, hotter than feels

11:21 sensible.

11:23 A drop of water should skitter across it

11:25 and vanish, not sit and sizzle.

11:29 Add your oil, swirl it, and then work in

11:32 batches.

11:34 Half a pound of meat in the pan at most,

11:37 in one single layer with space between

11:39 the pieces.

11:41 Then leave it alone.

11:43 30 seconds without touching it.

11:45 Every time you stir, you drop the pan

11:48 temperature and you release more water.

11:51 And people stir constantly out of nerves

11:54 and end up with the gray weeping pan

11:56 again.

11:57 30 seconds still, then toss. Another 30

12:00 seconds and it is done.

12:03 90 seconds total.

12:05 Take it out of the pan while you still

12:07 think it might need a little longer

12:09 because it does not and it will carry on

12:12 cooking on the plate.

12:14 Cook your vegetables in the same pan.

12:17 Then at the very end, the beef goes back

12:19 in with the sauce for 15 seconds. Just

12:23 long enough to get hot and get coated

12:25 and off the heat and onto the table.

12:27 That is the whole method. Slice thin

12:30 against the grain.

12:32 Half a teaspoon of soda, 20 minutes,

12:35 rinse, dry.

12:37 Beat in the water, then cornstarch, then

12:40 oil.

12:42 Screaming hot pan, small batches, 90

12:45 seconds.

12:47 The mistakes that ruin it are few and

12:50 every one is avoidable.

12:52 Too much baking soda.

12:55 Not rinsing it off.

12:57 Not drying the meat afterwards.

13:00 Cutting along the grain instead of

13:02 across it.

13:04 Cutting too thick.

13:06 Putting the oil in before the

13:07 cornstarch.

13:09 Crowding the pan.

13:11 Stirring constantly.

13:14 Leaving it on the heat because it looks

13:16 underdone.

13:17 That is the entire list. And if your

13:20 beef disappoints you, it failed on one

13:22 of those and nine times out of of it was

13:25 the pan being too full or the soda being

13:28 too much.

13:30 And now the part that will change what

13:32 you put in your cart.

13:34 Once you can do this, the expensive cuts

13:36 become pointless for a stir-fry.

13:39 And I mean that plainly.

13:41 You are paying for tenderness, and you

13:43 can now create tenderness yourself for 4

13:46 cents. So, walk past the ribeye and the

13:49 sirloin and buy the cheap ones.

13:52 Flank steak,

13:54 skirt,

13:55 top round,

13:56 eye of round, which is one of the least

13:59 expensive things in the whole case, and

14:01 which nobody knows what to do with

14:03 because cooked as a steak, it is

14:05 genuinely tough.

14:07 Sliced thin against the grain and

14:10 treated this way, it comes out soft and

14:13 juicy and tastes far more of beef than a

14:16 mild expensive cut ever does because the

14:19 cuts that work hardest on the animal

14:21 have the most flavor in them.

14:23 That is why they are chewy in the first

14:25 place, and that is exactly the problem

14:28 we just solved.

14:29 This is worth real money.

14:32 Eye of round at five or six dollars a

14:34 pound against sirloin at 12 or ribeye at

14:38 22.

14:40 If you cook beef once a week, you will

14:42 save a few hundred dollars a year and

14:45 eat better while you do it. And it works

14:47 on more than beef. The same four moves

14:50 with a smaller pinch of soda make

14:52 chicken breast soft instead of stringy

14:55 and pork loin and the tough parts of

14:57 lamb.

14:58 Chicken needs less, about a quarter

15:01 teaspoon a pound, and less time, 15

15:04 minutes.

15:05 Fish needs none of it at all, only the

15:08 cornstarch, because fish has nothing

15:10 like that structure to fight.

15:13 Now, let me say the plain thing about

15:15 why nobody told you.

15:17 Walk to the meat counter and look at how

15:19 tenderness is sold to you.

15:21 Grades and names and marbling and price

15:24 per pound. And every step up that ladder

15:27 costs more.

15:28 And the whole ladder exists because

15:30 tender meat is the thing people will pay

15:32 for.

15:34 That is a real difference and I am not

15:36 saying it is a lie.

15:38 But it is a difference you are buying

15:40 when for most of the ways you cook at

15:42 home, you could simply make it. Look on

15:44 the shelf beside the spices and you will

15:46 find the other version of this.

15:49 A shaker of meat tenderizer, four or

15:51 five dollars. And what is in it is

15:54 usually an enzyme from papaya or

15:56 pineapple that chews the proteins apart.

16:00 It works in the sense that the meat gets

16:02 softer and it keeps working while it

16:04 sits and it does not know when to stop.

16:07 So meat left in it too long goes soft

16:09 and mealy and slightly rotten in

16:12 texture.

16:13 They sold you the harsher version of a

16:15 thing you already own for four cents a

16:17 spoonful. I do not think there is a

16:20 wicked man in a back room.

16:22 It is duller and sadder than that.

16:25 There is money in the upgrade from round

16:27 to sirloin to ribeye.

16:30 There is money in a shaker with a label.

16:32 There is no money at all in the box of

16:35 baking soda you bought for the fridge in

16:37 a year you cannot remember.

16:39 Nobody films a commercial for half a

16:41 teaspoon of it.

16:43 No salesman knocks on your door to tell

16:45 you the cheapest beef in the case will

16:47 beat the most expensive one if you give

16:49 it 20 minutes and a bowl of water.

16:53 So here is what I would have you do this

16:54 week.

16:55 Buy the cheap cut.

16:57 Eye of round or flank, whichever is

17:00 lower.

17:01 20 minutes in the freezer, then slice it

17:03 thin across the grain at an angle.

17:07 Half a teaspoon of baking soda to the

17:09 pound.

17:10 20 minutes.

17:11 Rinse it well in two changes of water

17:14 and dry it properly.

17:16 Soy, wine,

17:18 then 3 Tbsp of water beaten in a splash

17:21 at a time until it is gone.

17:24 Then a tablespoon of cornstarch.

17:26 Then a tablespoon of oil last.

17:29 Rest it half an hour.

17:31 Screaming hot pan, half a pound at a

17:34 time,

17:35 30 seconds untouched, toss, 30 more, and

17:39 out.

17:40 Vegetables next. Beef back in at the end

17:42 for 15 seconds with the sauce.

17:45 And when you sit down and eat it, notice

17:47 what happened because it will be the

17:49 first time your own beef has done what

17:52 the takeout beef does. And you will find

17:54 that the difference was never the pan

17:56 and never the money.

17:59 Tell me in the comments what cut you

18:00 tried it on and what you paid a pound

18:02 for it because I am always curious what

18:05 beef costs where you are and it is

18:07 different everywhere.

18:09 And tell me whether you were a lemon

18:11 marinade person or an expensive cut

18:14 person.

18:15 Because it is nearly always one or the

18:17 other and neither of you was doing

18:19 anything foolish.

18:21 The stories you leave will teach the

18:23 next person far more than I ever could.

18:26 And I read every single one.

18:28 Next time, since we are on making cheap

18:31 meat taste like money, I am going to

18:33 show you the pot my grandmother kept and

18:35 never once emptied. A dark spiced liquid

18:39 that meat goes into and comes out of and

18:42 that is topped up and used again and

18:44 again for years, for decades, and in

18:47 some families for more than a hundred so

18:50 that a piece of it is handed to a

18:51 daughter when she marries.

18:54 It is the deepest flavor in Chinese

18:56 cooking and it costs almost nothing to

18:58 start. And you can begin yours on a

19:00 Sunday afternoon.

19:02 That one is next.