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[hughver]

I'm making beef Stroganoff for supper tonight and plan to use lean scraps (mostly what was left of the flap) from the Select grade rib roast for the beef. I read an article about velveting and thought that it might be a good process for the select beef. Anyone have experience with velveting? I've never heard of it. Does it work? Advice on its utilization would be appreciated.

[Bar-B-Lew]

I know nothing about what you are asking so I can't help you there.

On a side note and similar subject of the recipe, my wife found a recipe for poor woman's stroganoff that used ground turkey.  We tried it last week and it was pretty good.  I think she is putting it in the recipe box to try again at some point in the future.

We have been trying different things over the last few years to gather recipes for us to make when I retire and am on a semi-fixed income and will not be going out to eat as frequently.

[Bentley]

For me and that particular dish it would be an unnecessary step.  To me it is almost a tempura process, so it would not fit in the way I like Beef Stroganoff!

[Kristin Meredith]

I know nothing about it, but read up on it.  Please share what you learn and any photos also.  Sounds like an interesting process.

[hughver]

Sorry no photos but cut beef into 2 X 1/2" strips, used 1 1/2 tsps. baking soda per pound of meat, sprinkled it on, tossed meat to spread, let set in fridge for 30 minutes. Seared meat in a smoking hot cast iron skillet till well seared (approx. 30-60 seconds, pieces were still red in the middle). Stroganoff turned out very good and meat was tasty and tender. I have no idea if the velveting helped but it surely did not hurt, the next time I use poor cuts of beef I'll definitely try again.

[Osborn Cox]

I have been using velveting with chuck roast for beef stir fry’s for about a year.   It makes the beef as tender as tenderloin in my opinion.  The recipe I use calls for 1tsp baking soda/lb of beef, and a little water.   Massage it in to the beef and refrigerate for 1-2 hrs.  Then rinse several times until water is no longer cloudy.   Then I marinade the beef for a few hours until dinner.    It has been a game changer for my beef stir fry’s.   I use a similar technique for shrimp stir fry’s and it yields restaurant quality results.   

[elenis]

It is interesting hearing about all the techniques people are using that are considered velveting. In Chinese food from the restaurants they do oil blanching for the velveting. If you don't want to mess with dirtying a bunch of oil to do it like the restaurants then you can do water velveting instead. The velveting mixture I use per pound of thinly sliced meat is 2 tablespoons of egg white, 4 teaspoons of cornstarch, 4 teaspoons of shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine) and 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt. I mix all the velveting ingredients together until it is smooth then toss my protein in it and get it all covered well and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then you bring a good bit of water up to a boil and add a teaspoon of oil to the water and then you put some of the meat in and make sure it gets broken up so it can all cook separated. It just needs 30-40 seconds in the boiling water and then you scoop it out and make sure it drains well and then it is ready to be used in your stir fry. It doesn't cook all the way through in that short time, but it does get that texture you expect from Chinese takeout.

[hughver]

Interesting, thanks for posting. However, for my dish, searing is necessary to get the correct stroganoff flavor.

[jdmessner]

I had not heard the term velveting before. However, the other day (before I saw this post) I was going to make a stir fry, using some very lean beef. I read through a few recipe ideas for a bit of inspiration. One of them mentioned mixing the beef with baking soda and refrigerating it for about 20 minutes to tenderize. I figured it couldn't hurt. don't really know how to describe it, but the meat looked a little brighter. I must admit, it did make it tender. The texture was a bit different, I think velveting was probably an accurate description.

[hughver]

Come to think about it, I've been lightly sprinkling baking soda on my shrimp before sous vide for the last several years. Just never related it to velveting or beef. The shrimp seem to be plumper, with a better bite when I use baking soda.