Revive your tough meat: Simple tricks for tender perfection

Did you buy tough and dry meat? You can try to save it, and there are several methods to do so. These techniques can even tenderize beef while keeping it juicy. It's worth knowing these solutions.

When the meat is tough and dry, its taste will not be satisfying even if prepared appropriately. The quality of the meat influences this. Therefore, before you start preparing your planned dishes, it's worthwhile to tenderize them. A quick and easy way to do it is to use baking soda. Thanks to this method, the meat will have an ideal texture regardless of the cooking technique—frying, baking, grilling, or boiling. There is no need to worry about the taste, as baking soda does not affect it.

              
• Baking soda can be used on any type of meat, regardless of the planned cooking method. When boiling, simply add a little baking soda to the water, keeping the proportion of half a teaspoon per quart.
• If planning to fry, the meat should be cut, rubbed with baking soda, and left for a few hours in the refrigerator. After this time, the meat should be rinsed thoroughly, dried, seasoned, and fried. This way, it will maintain its juicy interior.
• Chicken can be marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, garlic, and baking soda with potato starch, a popular practice in Asian countries. Prepared this way, the chicken becomes incredibly soft and crispy, and the starch creates an appetizing and crispy coating.
• Baking soda is also excellent for lamb and venison, as it helps not only tenderize the meat but also remove their specific smell. The meat should be soaked overnight in a brine of two quarts of water and a teaspoon of baking soda, and it should be dried before processing.