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Tender and juicy beef. How to cook beef so that it is tender

Sometimes young housewives make mistakes when choosing meat. And at home it suddenly turns out that this is not a young veal at all, but a rather old animal. And everything would be fine, but how can you make the beef soft so that it is a pleasure to eat? And so that loved ones don’t even suspect the hostess’s unpleasant puncture? Is there really nothing more that can be done?

It's not as bad as it might seem at first glance. Many more experienced cooks give some advice in this case.

1. For example, to make beef soft, you can cut it into pieces and marinate it overnight in a special brine. The marinade is prepared similarly to that used for barbecue. You can prepare the brine by adding vinegar, salt, pepper, seasonings and onions. You can replace vinegar with dry wine. Some people pour ketchup or tomato juice on the meat. There is an option for marinating meat in kefir or sour cream. The main point here is this: the marinade must be sour!

2. Of course, many people understand that cooking time can make beef tender, no other method can. Therefore, after frying, it should be properly stewed by adding a little liquid to a high frying pan. If you marinated meat before cooking, then milk is perfect to neutralize excess acidity. Mayonnaise or sour cream added during stewing will make the meat tender and juicy.

3. Some people add a little soda to the pan at this time. Since this method helps make beef soft, you can use it too. But here you need to remember that during neutralization, the soda begins to hiss violently, as if boiling, throwing it away, and if the dishes have low edges, there is a possibility of some of the broth leaking over the edge onto the stove.

4. There is an option to also add a small amount of sugar to the pan.

5. Instead of marinating, you can simply coat portioned pieces with mustard and keep the meat in this state for half an hour. You should fry it directly in the coating - this will only improve the taste of the dish!

6. If there is not enough time to wait for the beef to marinate, then there is an option to make chops from it. To do this, cut pieces for chops 1 - 2 cm thick against the muscle fibers. The direction of the cut is extremely important for the softness and juiciness of the dish!

Then, having salted and peppered the piece, they begin to beat it with either a special culinary hammer or a regular hammer, well washed and scalded. When beating meat with a regular hammer, you need to be careful, as you can break the meat into a liquid state. In general, it is best to beat it in the most convenient way to achieve the desired effect.

After beating, you can simply fry the meat in a large amount of fat. You can also make chops in batter. For the batter, beat an egg with a small amount of flour and a pinch of salt. After dipping a piece in batter, it is either immediately placed in boiling fat, or dipped again in crushed crackers. Potatoes, pasta, buckwheat or fresh vegetables should also not be neglected as a side dish.

7. Thrifty housewives share this way to make beef soft: before stewing, you can simply boil the meat! By leaving a small part of the beef in the broth and preparing the first one from it, you can easily make a wonderful goulash from the rest of the boiled beef.

True, here the second question arises: soft? Everyone agrees that the best way is to cook meat in a pressure cooker in one large piece, since with this method it is difficult to check when the product is ready, and the option of bringing the meat to a “crumbly” state should not be discounted. And it’s very difficult to make a second dish from overcooked beef.

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can speed up the cooking process in this way: after boiling the water, boil the meat for five minutes and add a little cold water to the broth to stop the boiling. This needs to be done several times. You can simply stop heating the pan in order to continue the process after a certain amount of time. By the way, with such several “approaches”, the procedure for boiling meat allows you to preserve the greatest amount of useful elements in both the broth and the meat.

You can make aspic out of it - delicious and wonderfully beautiful! And many people even prefer to eat boiled meat rather than fried meat during lunch with their partner. And, by the way, you are absolutely right!

The article presents practical solutions on how to make beef meat softer and juicier when cooking.

Any piece can be fried and make fried meat or ready-made fried or fillet, steak, entrecote, meatballs and meatballs more enjoyable for the child. Helpful tips from this article will help you with this.

How to make beef soft and juicy

You can make beef soft and juicy by marinating it as if you were preparing a kebab from it. A faster way is to rub a whole piece of meat with mustard an hour before cooking.

How to Make Very Tender, Juicy Beef by Roasting

Beef will be soft and juicy if:

Sprinkle its pieces with spices and salt a few hours before frying;
Beat the meat before frying;
Place the pieces in a well-heated frying pan with oil;
At the end of cooking, pour a little water into the pan and simmer the meat under the lid until the water evaporates.

How to make beef tender when stewing and baking

Beef stew will be tender if:

cut the meat into pieces across the grain;
First, heat the oil well in a frying pan, and then place the pieces of meat in it;
For the first 5-7 minutes, fry the meat, stirring and uncovered;
Simmer for the next 30-40 minutes over medium heat, covering with a lid.

Oven-baked meat will be soft and juicy if you place it in a baking sleeve, which will not allow moisture to evaporate, and the meat will cook in its own juices. In order for the golden brown crust to form, the meat should be kept in the oven for some more time, but after removing it from the sleeve.

How to tenderize beef and steak

The following recommendations will help make beef and steak tender:

Frozen meat must be thawed before cooking. It is advisable that defrosting occurs naturally, and not in the microwave or in water.
Pepper and salt the meat before placing it in the pan.
Steak meat is not beaten.
For even frying, also coat the steak pieces with vegetable oil before cooking.
Before adding meat, the frying pan is thoroughly heated and the heat is not reduced in the future.
When frying a steak, do not put oil in the pan, just constantly turn the meat from one side to the other until it is completely cooked.

How to make beef chops tender

A few secrets to tender beef chops:

Buy unfrozen, “fresh” light red meat for chops.
Cut the meat into portions across the grain. The thickness of the chop is usually about 1 cm.
You need to place meat that has been dried with a towel, not wet, in the pan, then less juice will flow out of it.
If the meat was not breaded, then it is better to salt the chop during the frying process, after a crust forms on the meat.
You can bring the fried chop to readiness if it remains damp inside and at the same time preserve its juiciness in the microwave or oven.

How to make beef kebab soft

The marinade helps make the beef kebab soft. Classic marinade - vinegar, spices and onions. More refined - red wine, a mixture of black and red pepper, as well as onions and garlic. The meat is marinated for 6 -18 hours in a glass or clay container. When frying kebabs, since beef is quite lean meat, it should be sprinkled with mineral water. Well-marinated meat is ready after 20 minutes of frying on a skewer.

How to make beef goulash soft

Meat for goulash should not have veins or hymen, only then the goulash will turn out soft and tender. To prepare goulash, it is better to use a cast iron frying pan or a frying pan with a non-stick coating. For the first minutes, until the pieces of meat turn white, the goulash is fried over high heat; for the next hour and a half, the heat should be reduced to minimum, and the frying pan should be covered with a lid. This way the beef will simmer well and be quite soft.

How to Tenderize Cooked Beef in the Oven

Beef cooked in the oven turns out soft if it is pre-marinated for 1.5-2 hours (depending on the size of the piece of meat) and fried, wrapped in foil. To create a golden brown crust, at the end of frying, the foil can be opened or removed altogether.

How to make beef cutlets tender

How to make tough and old beef tender when boiling

Even old beef will become soft and tender in taste if it is kept in a solution of 100 g for several hours before cooking. vodka and 10 tablespoons of soy sauce.

How quickly can you soften minced beef?

Tough ground beef can be softened by placing the ground meat in a plastic bag and beating it for at least 5 minutes. You can soften the minced meat by adding cold beef broth or egg white.

How to Make Beef Soft and Tender in a Frying Pan

If you marinate beef with the addition of alcohol (beer, wine or vodka) before cooking, the cooked meat will be much more tender and softer. Alcohol will evaporate during cooking and will not harm your health.

There are many ways to cook beef to ensure it's tender and juicy in the pan. Some people prefer pork because of its tenderness, but pork has its downsides. Beef, even old beef, can be cooked deliciously, and you just need to choose the right recipe. I will give just a few simple recipes on how to cook soft and juicy beef in a frying pan, which even a novice cook can handle.

How to cook beef steak at home in a frying pan?

Not everyone knows how to cook juicy beef in a frying pan. In good steakhouses, the meat is tender, juicy and flavorful to the point of dizziness. How to cook a medium-rare beef steak at home in a frying pan so that it tastes as good as the chef's in the restaurant?

In fact, there are secrets here and they start with the choice of meat. In many supermarkets, meat departments sell meat already cut for steaks. This is the meat you need. Don’t take the most expensive or the cheapest, but pay attention to what looks appetizing to you. Just make sure that the expiration date on this steak is in order. Immediately buy olive oil, butter, ground black pepper, dried garlic and salt. It is difficult to give the dosage of spices, because it is done according to taste.

When you get home, don’t rush to immediately throw the meat into the pan. Rub the steak thoroughly on all sides with a mixture of salt, pepper, and garlic, and let it sit on a plate for 20–30 minutes. The meat should be at room temperature, otherwise it will be raw and cold inside.

Pour olive oil into the pan until it completely covers the bottom and turn the heat under the pan to high. The oil must be well heated before you start frying the meat, this is an important point.

Tongs are used to cook steaks. This makes sense and is what explains the juiciness of the steaks. When turning over with tongs, the meat is not pierced, and the crust, which “seals” the juice inside, remains intact.

Very carefully place the meat in the heated pan and turn on the timer. The meat should be fried for exactly 1 minute, after which it should be turned over with tongs and fried, on the other side, for 1 minute as well. Tilt the pan so that the oil flows to one side, take the steak with tongs and fry the edges of the steak in a circle until it is browned on all sides.

To make a beef steak juicy, you need a final chord. This is the main secret of steak, which transforms the taste. Make the heat under the pan as low as possible. Cut a piece of butter and place it on top of the steak. You need a small piece. For a steak weighing 250 grams, you need a piece of butter the size of a walnut. Lightly sprinkle the steak with dry garlic and wait until the butter has completely melted and the meat has absorbed it.

That's it, we can assume that the steak is ready. Transfer it to a plate and wait a little. Beef steak should not be cut immediately as soon as it is fried. The meat needs time to absorb the juices into its fibers, and this will take about five minutes. The wait is worth it, take my word for it. When slicing, the juice will not pour out onto the plate and splash in all directions, but will remain in the meat, making it incredibly tender and juicy.

Beef stewed in a frying pan

A traditional Russian dish is beef stewed in a frying pan with onions. If you have beef from the shin, the one called “for jellied meat” is what you need. Such meat contains gelling components that will prevent the meat from becoming tough when fried.

To prepare you need:

- 1 kg of beef;

- 4 large onions;

- 100 grams of vegetable oil;

- salt, pepper to taste.

Wash the meat and remove films and tendons from it. They will not be fried or stewed, even if you spend all day on it. Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces. Salt and pepper it and place it in a deep frying pan with heated vegetable oil. First, you need to fry the meat over high heat for 10 minutes. Stir to prevent the meat from burning. The meat already looks appetizing on top, but inside it is still completely raw.

Cut the onion into rings or half rings and mix it with the meat. Fry the meat and onions until the onion pieces become transparent. After this, pour half a glass of water or broth into the pan, turn the heat down and cover the pan with a tight lid. The beef and onions need to be simmered in a frying pan for at least 40 minutes so that it is soft. Look under the lid from time to time and, if necessary, add a little more water. Try a piece. With this method of cooking, stewed beef in a frying pan turns out very tender and aromatic. It can be eaten even without a side dish or salad and does not require additional sauces. Ketchup and other sauces will only spoil the taste and you will not feel the real aroma of meat and onions.

Beef goulash in a frying pan

Goulash came to us from Hungarian cuisine and was loved by many housewives. The dish is easy to prepare, and there are many options for how to cook beef goulash in a frying pan.

In the classic version, for beef goulash you need:

- 1 kg of beef;

- 100 grams of lard;

- 50 grams of vegetable oil;

- 3 onions;

- 3 tbsp. l. tomato paste;

- 1 tbsp. l. flour;

- 0.5 l. meat broth or water;

- paprika, salt.

Wash the meat, trim the veins and films. Cut the beef into small pieces. Ideally, the pieces should be approximately 2x2 cm, but this is not critical. Maybe a little less, or a little more. Salt the meat and let it sit while you cook further.

Chop the lard, the smaller the better. Place the lard in a frying pan and fry until the fat is rendered. Pour vegetable oil into the frying pan and place the meat on it. If the pan is small, it is better to fry the meat in small batches. The pieces of beef should be browned and fried, not steamed. Add finely chopped onion to the meat and fry for another 5 minutes.

When the onion is fried until golden brown, sprinkle the meat with flour and stir. Immediately after this, add the tomato, turn the heat down and, stirring, fry the meat for another 3 minutes. Place the contents of the pan in a saucepan and pour in the broth. The broth should almost completely cover the meat.

How long to cook beef goulash depends on the quality of the meat and the size of the pieces. On average, this takes about 30–40 minutes. If your beef is old and very tough, 30 minutes after the start of stewing, add peeled and chopped kiwi to the meat. You will be surprised how much this exotic fruit affects the density of meat.

Before turning off the goulash, add paprika to the sauce; if desired, you can add bay leaf, herbs or other spices to your taste. Beef goulash goes well with any side dish and doesn't take much time to prepare. Properly cooked meat will never get boring, and you can cook it every day, and never repeat it.

Good afternoon, my dear readers! I used to not really like beef. It always turned out harsh and tasteless to me. Until I tried it with my close friend: the difference in taste was felt immediately. Of course, I took the recipe from her and adopted a couple of tricks. Now I know exactly how to cook beef soft and juicy! I will share a couple of recipes with you so that everyone will be delighted.

How to cook juicy beef?

This meat can be prepared in different ways: stewed, fried, baked or simply boiled.

Roasting steaks- the pieces should not be too thin, otherwise the pulp will simply dry out. It is important to use a little oil and place it in a very hot frying pan. Fry briefly so that all the juices are retained in the meat. And be sure to let the meat “rest” after frying so that the juice inside the piece is evenly distributed

Extinguishing- one of the most reliable and easiest ways to get a tasty dish even if you bought tough old beef. Before stewing, it is advisable to lightly fry the pieces, then they will acquire a tender crust and retain the meat juice. You can also cook beef in pots; the meat always turns out tasty and soft.

Cooking- to do this, select large pieces and lower them into boiling water. In this case, the piece immediately “seizes”, and the juices inside it are, as it were, “sealed”. Cook for about an hour or more, depending on the size. It is better to add salt towards the end of cooking. Also, when boiled, meat on the bone usually turns out juicier.

Recipe for juicy beef baked in the oven in foil

This is one of the simplest recipes. Choose good young beef with a little “fat”, for example, the shoulder part. Next, just do everything as indicated and you will definitely get tender and very juicy meat.

What you will need:

1 kg beef meat in one piece;
1 carrot;
3 – 4 cloves of garlic;
sprig of rosemary;
ground black pepper.

Step by step recipe:

1. Set the oven to preheat at 300°C.

2. Cut the carrots into small strips. Cut the garlic into long slices.

3. Rinse the meat under running water and pat dry with paper towels. Pepper on both sides. It is advisable to use freshly ground pepper.

You can use thyme - literally a pinch only on 1 side. Do not overdo it with this spice, otherwise it may give a bitter aftertaste.

4. Spread 2 layers of foil on a work surface. It needs to be cut off enough so that the piece of meat can be completely wrapped. Arrange the rosemary leaves and some of the chopped carrots. Leave some rosemary.

5. Place the side of the beef on the foil that is sprinkled with thyme.

6. Prick the piece shallowly and often with a knife. Place the garlic slices and remaining carrot strips into the resulting holes.

7. Sprinkle some remaining rosemary on top and add a little thyme.

8. Carefully wrap the meat stuffed in this way in foil to form a tight package.

9. Place the beef in the preheated oven. Cook at 300°C for a quarter of an hour.

10. Then reduce the temperature to 200 °C and bake for about 40 minutes.

Remove the finished piece from the oven and let it cool slightly, opening the foil slightly.

How to cook beef soft and juicy - bake in a sleeve?

This is another option for baking meat, but not in foil, but in a sleeve. In addition to the already mentioned shoulder blade, such parts of the carcass as the neck, as well as the back flesh, are perfect for it. Milk is used here as a marinade: it will make the pulp even more tender.

Prepare:

1 – 1.2 kg of beef in a whole piece;
1.5 – 2.5 glasses of milk;
2 - 3 cloves of garlic;
salt;
black and red pepper;
spices and herbs;
1 – 2 bay leaves;
2 – 3 tbsp. vegetable oil.

How to do:

1. Cut a piece of meat shallowly around the perimeter. You can make cross-shaped cuts for beauty: they will look great on a ready-made dish.

2. Place the meat in a non-metallic bowl and cover with milk. Leave to marinate for 8 hours. During the specified time, you need to turn the piece over once.

3. After a while, remove the piece from the bowl and add salt.

4. In one container, mix garlic, pepper, selected spices and herbs and oil. Mix everything.

5. Coat the meat on all sides with the resulting mixture of spices and oil.

6. Place the prepared piece in the sleeve, close it and make small cuts in the cellophane. Bake for about 15 minutes at 300°C.

7. After a quarter of an hour, reduce the temperature to 200 °C and bake for about 45 - 50 minutes.

8. Then remove the meat from the oven and cut the sleeve. Place it back in the oven for another 10 minutes until golden brown.

You can use any spices and herbs in this recipe. I prefer time-tested combinations: basil and rosemary, or thyme and a little oregano. But you can also use the most common herbs and spices: parsley, green onions and hot peppers. Or just use store-bought meat spices.

Recipe for cooking large pieces of beef in a slow cooker

This beef will turn out very tasty and juicy, even if you didn’t buy the best piece of carcass. The recipe does not indicate any specific spices, since any that are suitable for meat can be used here: cumin, allspice, coriander, tarragon, turmeric, mustard seeds, cloves, etc.

Ingredients:

0.7 kg of beef in a whole piece;
1 – 2 cloves fresh or 10 – 15 g dried garlic;
black and red pepper;
spices and herbs;
100 ml water;
salt.

How to cook:

1. Sprinkle the beef on all sides with spices, garlic, pepper and salt.

2. Carefully wrap the piece in foil.

3. Pour some water into the multicooker bowl. Place a special steaming rack on top of it.

4. Place the package with the product on the grill and close the lid. Cook on “Steam” mode for 3 hours.

5. Remove the finished meat from the multicooker and leave for another third of an hour in foil. You shouldn't cut the piece right away, because... in this case, all the juice will flow out of it.

The slow cooker will help you make the beef “simmered,” which means you are guaranteed tenderness and juiciness of the final result. Before putting the meat in the slow cooker, you can leave it for a couple of hours to marinate with the aromas of spices and herbs. Then it will not only be tasty, but also deliciously aromatic.

How to deliciously fry a juicy beef steak in a frying pan?

A steak cooked this way will certainly come out juicy and soft. A minimum number of ingredients are used in this recipe. But all of them only emphasize the rich taste of meat. It is advisable to use a grill pan for cooking. On it, the steaks will always come out evenly fried with an appetizing lattice pattern.

What is necessary:

1 large steak weighing about 700 g;
about 50 g butter;
1 – 2 cloves of garlic;
a sprig of fresh rosemary;
a pinch of salt;
black pepper;
1 tbsp. vegetable oil.

Step-by-step preparation:

1. Take the piece out of the refrigerator first to warm it to room temperature.

2. Sprinkle both sides of the steak generously with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

3. Lightly brush the steak with vegetable oil on both sides.

4. Place the piece in a very hot frying pan and fry for two minutes on one side. It is important not to overcook the meat in the pan, otherwise it will cease to be juicy.

5. After a couple of minutes, turn the steak over and place a piece of butter in the pan along with the cut garlic cloves and a sprig of rosemary. Fry for another two minutes.

6. While frying, pour melted aromatic butter on top of the beef.

7. Remove the steak from the pan and place it on a baking sheet. Cook in an oven preheated to 180°C for 8 - 9 minutes.

8. Remove the finished steak from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Cook these amazing steaks at least sometimes to arrange a small gastronomic holiday in your family. After all, such “correctly” fried meat will appeal to almost everyone, and you will want to cook it again and again.

Soft beef stewed in pieces with prunes in a slow cooker

This beef will be especially aromatic and tender in taste. The wonderful combination of meat and prunes will be fully revealed during the process of “simmering” in a slow cooker. Thanks to this kitchen appliance, you can get excellent results without much effort.

What to prepare:

0.5 kg beef;
¼ kg prunes;
about 0.1 kg of raisins;
3 – 4 large carrots;
1 large onion;
about 70 g butter;
1 tbsp. wheat flour;
0.3 l of water;
salt;
pepper.

How to do:

1. Cut the beef into small pieces. Cut the onion and carrots into medium cubes.

Beef is a valuable protein product and a constant source of iron. A variety of dishes are prepared from it, but it is most delicious when stewed. However, to make the beef juicy and soft, you need to know some secrets.
Recipe contents:

Beef is a tasty and nutritious meat. This is a real storehouse of protein, B vitamins and useful minerals. Of the many options for preparing it, the most convenient way is stewing. This process will make even the toughest meat soft and tasty. The time for stewing beef usually takes from 40 minutes to 2.5 hours. It depends on the age of the animal and the part of the carcass. The softest parts of beef are roast beef and fillet. Also, the most commonly used parts include the shoulder blades, neck and hip. If you decide to make beef stew, the following tips and little tricks will help you make the usual dish even tastier.

How to stew beef correctly - principles and cooking methods

Despite the fact that beef is very popular, not every housewife is happy to cook it. Since this type of meat is considered capricious, because... It doesn't always turn out juicy. To know how to properly stew beef so that it is tender, you need to take into account some secrets.

You can distinguish young beef (veal) from an adult animal by its softness, light meat, small fibers and light fat. Old beef is dark red in color with yellow fat.
Before cooking, always remove films and fat from meat.
Cut it into portions across the grain. Then it will deform less during heat treatment, become soft faster and be easier to chew.
For stewing, it is better to cut the meat into small pieces, then during prolonged heat treatment the fibers will become soft.
To soften the beef, first marinate it for 2-8 hours in milk, red wine, vinegar, lemon juice, citric acid, kefir, sour cream, etc. The acid softens hard fibers well.
You can additionally soften the pieces of meat by beating them with a kitchen hammer.
The fibers will become soft and easily separate from each other when the meat is stewed over low heat for at least an hour.
A little liquid is required for stewing meat. It should not completely cover the pieces, otherwise they will cook and not stew.
When stewing, make sure that the liquid does not boil or bubble, otherwise the meat will be tough and tasteless.
Stewed beef goes well with soy sauce, sweet pepper, garlic, nutmeg, coriander, thyme, mustard, chili.
You cannot salt the meat long before heat treatment, otherwise it will lose its juices. Salt the beef half an hour before cooking. Then it will retain its color and be juicy.
For stewing, use a duck pot, clay pots, a thick-bottomed pan and other heat-resistant dishes.
The lid should fit tightly and not let steam through.

Stewed beef with onions in a frying pan: classic recipe

Stewed beef with onions in a frying pan turns out soft and juicy. The main thing for frying is to use a thick-bottomed frying pan, ideally cast iron. Then the meat will not burn or dry out.