When figuring out the best ways to tenderize a tough cut of meat, it is important that you do your research. The cut of meat itself will greatly determine how it will cook and how you should prepare your meat. There are many ways of preparation for more difficult cuts of meat, as we will discuss further.

Taking the Physical Approach

Many people like to take this route, as it is practical and effective. Having the right tools for tenderizing your meat will also help prevent injury or exhaustion. So, you might want to look around for meat tenderizers.

There are manual and automated professional meat tenderizers available. With manual tenderizers, you will have to work with your hands, but with automatic tenderizers, you can simply feed the cuts through a mill to tenderize the meat.

Temperatures Matter

Using certain tricks of the trade, you can tenderize even the toughest cuts of meat without having to man-handle your meat. Some people are particular about this for many different reasons. Whatever your reason, you can still get the job done by cooking the mean at a low and slow temperature.

The muscle fibers of meat are tough because they are tense, and when you cook the meat at a low and slow temperature, it allows those fibers to relax. This causes the fibers to become soft and malleable, allowing you to create thin slices or pull the meat apart with ease.

Marinades Are a Must

Depending on how you like your meat, there’s a marinade out there for just about everyone. However, if you’re dealing with a difficult piece of meat that is extremely tough, you might want to consider marinading your cut in a mixture that has a decent bit of acid in it. When it comes to acid, there are a few options.

First, you can use vinegar, and there are many different varieties out there. If you’d like to steer clear of vinegar, you can use other acids, such as fruit juices, wine and alcohol, tomatoes, and buttermilk. You will have to play around with these to discover which one works best for you.

As you can see, the world of cooking has many tricks that help chefs tenderize tough cuts of meat with ease. If you’re not interested in a heavily spiced meat, you can manually tenderize with your hands and the proper utensils. Or you could cook your dish low and slow to get the desired texture and taste that you’re after. And, if all else fails, go with an acid-based marinade, which will work through those muscle fibers to give you a beautiful meal.