To Make Meat Tender
Ingredients
Directions
Hang and salt
Hang a large piece of beef or mutton in a dry, cool place for up to six weeks in winter.
Rub the meat with coarse sea salt and vinegar every few days.
Soak
For tough meat, soak it in vinegar for 3-4 days in summer or 6-8 days in winter, adding spices if desired.
To soften a tough steak, pour a few spoonfuls of vinegar on it and let it sit for 12-24 hours.
If using sour milk, change it daily and wash the meat well afterward.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Vinegar
- Acidity breaks down tough connective tissue, softening the meat's texture.
- Coarse sea salt
- Salt draws moisture out and helps the meat's proteins loosen and tenderize.
The step that matters
Soaking tough meat in vinegar for the full time. Acid slowly breaks down tough fibres and connective tissue, but the process takes days. Cutting the soak short leaves the meat tough, while leaving it too long can make the surface overly sour and soft.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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