Smooth as velvet

 

Obviously several years ago, but here are the boys in the kitchen.
Christian is often in the kitchen, cooking for us. Yum!

Christian fixed Mongolian beef for our dinner the other night, using flank steak. It was everything I don’t associate with flank steak—tender, flavorful, delicious. His secret? He “velvets” the meat. So I asked him to explain.

Ever notice that when you eat stir fry in a Chinese restaurant the meat has a special tender quality that you never can achieve at home? It’s due to velveting, a Chinese cooking method used primarily for stir fries but useful in all kinds of dishes.

Christian, a great cook who loves to experiment, was researching Asian cooking and came across the velveting technique. You don’t often, he said, see the words “velvet” and “beef” in the same sentence. The name may come from a velvet-like texture on the outside of meat that has been treated. Or some descriptions say the meat becomes “soft as velvet.” At the same time, velveting locks in moisture.

Christian tried it and found it was genius for cheaper cuts of meat like flank steak or sirloin that you intend to cut into strips for anything from stroganoff to tacos al carbon. Velveting tenderizes round steak for chicken-fried and is magic for some chicken dishes. Recently, I made coq au vin, with white wine and chicken instead of the traditional red and beef, and the sauce was delicious but the chicken too chewy—Christian said next time he’ll pound it flat and velvet it for me.

Velveting is fairly easy but it does add time to the cooking process. You slice the meat against the grain first, to expose all those tough fibers. It does not work as well with one large piece of meat.

Next, make a slurry of 1 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar, 1 tsp. salt, and one egg white. Whip the mixture as though you’re making scrambled eggs. Then pour it over the meat, stirring to be sure all strips are evenly coated, as you would with a marinade. Let the meat sit in the mixture for thirty minutes, and then dip it in boiling water or boiling oil for 45 seconds. (Christian always uses water because working with boiling oil is difficult and dangerous—and it would take a lot of oil.) Drain the meat on a plate coated with paper towels.

There is another method, slightly easier. Simply coat the meat with baking soda and after the thirty minutes rinse. If you let it sit at all longer than the half hour, the taste of the meat will be affected by the baking soda. Christian prefers the slurry method (though he wishes for a better word).

Christian Burton’s Mongolian Beef

1 lb. flank steak, thinly sliced, cut into bite-size pieces, and velveted

¼ cup cornstarch

½ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp finely ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. sesame oil

1/3 cup light soy sauce

1/3 cup water

2 tsp. freshly grated ginger

3-4 garlic cloves, minced or micro planed

½ cup dark brown sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ tsp. red pepper flakes, optional

2-3 green onioned, chopped, for garnish

Sesame seeds, for garnish

Heat sesame oil, soy sauce, water, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes in small saucepan and simmer until mixture reduces by one-fourth. Remove from stove and set aside.

Separately toss beef pieces in cornstarch, salt, and pepper.

Heat vegetable oil in large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, if necessary, cook beef in a single layer. Each piece should have a crispy crust on both sides. Drain excess oil from the meat on a plate lined with paper towels.

After the beef is cooked, wipe out skillet with a paper towel to remove leftover grease. Add the beef and the soy mixture to the skillet and again let it cook over medium heat until liquid is reduced to a thick glaze. Do not cook until all liquid is evaporated—you want that delicious sauce.

Serve at once over white rice and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions. Chopsticks not required.