Beef Stir Fry Question...

Buy good cuts of meat and don't cook very long. The idea behind stir fry is ridiculously high heat and just searing it on the outside very quickly. Let the meat come up to room temp before you throw it in the wok, otherwise it siezes up as soon as it hits the pan and the proteins stick together making very tough meat.

OH and cut against the grain!

I usually marinade in a mix of soy sauce, honey and a tiny bit of sesame oil. And be careful about overcooking -- just a minute or two on each side should do it.

I usually make my stir-fry with flank stank. Because it's not the most tender cut, you have to be sure to slice it across the grain to break up the connective tissue. I also angle the knife a bit on the diagonal to get a flat and thin cut which also helps with a quick cook time.

Most people cook stirfry for waaaay too long or cook it on too low a heat. ((Think of it like steak... would you bake a steak? Do you cook it well done and then cook it some more?))

Do a test on individual strips. Just barely brown it on VERY high heat... pull it off... temp it (160 is brown all the way through/ well done, 150 is medwel, 140 is med, 130 is medrare, 120-125 is rare. Then allow it to sit for 10 minutes (meats continue to cook from residual heat) cut it, look at the center and try it.

My sister swore up and down she just barely browned her beef strips and they still came out all tough... so I went and watched her. She used TONS of strips, so she had to keep stirring and stirring and stirring... for apx 10 minutes. By that time, temping them, they were all WELL over 200 degrees in the center, and quite tough, AND when pulled off then sat in a giant pile of 200 degree meat heating up even further. So learn for her oops, as well, and work in small batches!

I actually like to crock pot the meat then stir fry the veggies and add the meat in at the last second! I cut the meat when it is slightly frozen (easier to handle) and crock pot cooks well when it is slightly frozen no need to add liquid or you can add a dash or two of warschestire sauce to it. Here is MY FAV it is not beef it's pork
Pork chops (however it takes to feed your troops)
Carrots cut on the bias (angle cut)
Broccoli
Pineapple chunks
Sweet n Sour Sauce (La Choy is my fav brand)
Cut the chops and the carrots and get them going in the crock pot (about an hour before eating time)
Then get the broccoli and sauce in the stir fry pan for about 5 - 10 min then add in the meat & carrots. Drain the pineapples (keep the juice for breakfast the next am or to add to smoothies during the week) and add at the last second take off the heat and layer on rice of your choice. The fam loves it and tastes great the next day since it is not breaded meat. Pork can dry out so fast if it is not done quite right and this has been the best way I have found to keep the pork moist.

Asian cook here... I make stir-fry alot and find that a good pan makes all the difference. I use either a cast iron pan or, my favorite is a 14" stainless steel chef's pan. It's thick on the bottom and has a domed lid. I used to use a non-stick pan but that didn't worked well because you can't heat it hot enough.

The trick to the stainless steel pan is to heat it first, medium high heat til hot, then add the oil, tip the pan to cover the bottom, wait a few seconds for the oil to heat and throw the meat in right away. If you do that, the meat shouldn't stick to the pan.

The meat has to be sliced very thin so it cooks quickly. Remove it from the pan as soon as it is cooked. You have to cook in small batches or it all sits in the pan too long and gets tough. You may have to divide the beef strips and cook one part at a time and keep it warm in the oven while you cook the rest. But it shouldn't take too long if the strips are thin and the pan is hot. What takes longer is the prep, to make sure the strips are thin and even.

Another way to get tender beef strips is to saute quickly, then add liquid, cover and simmer. If I have vegies, I like to saute them separately first, then add them back to the pan to simmer with the meat. If I'm in a hurry or feeling lazy, I just throw the raw vegies in with the simmering meat.

Here's another thing to try. Dredge the beef strips in flour or cornstarch before frying in oil. The coating will brown and the meat will stay tender inside. Fry quickly then add beef broth. The flour/starch will simmer with the broth and make a nice gravy.

By the way, you have to use oil! The traditional way to make stir fry was with pork fat or lard. But you can use canola or vegetable oil to make a heart-healthy dish.

Doing it with pork strips, is good too.
Softer.

Or for beef, I use flank steak.

When I use beef for the stir fry, I cut in into very thin slices. You may want to cook it first and then remove while you cook the veggies. Add the beef back in, after the veggies are cooked, and just warm it for a few minutes.

Here's a recipe from the pioneer woman, everything she posts is good. It calls for snow peas but I'm sure any veggies you have will be great (I usually just wing it too). As far as the meat, I just buy whatever is on sale (as long is it looks OK) and stab it with a fork before you slice it to tenderize it. The soy sauce mixed with brown sugar and corn starch gives the stir fry a glazy sort of consistency, really yummy!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/main-cou...

If you use teryaki for your recipie then poke it the end of a sharp knife and marinate in the fridge for a few hours. Usually,that will make the meat tender.

You use a tenderizing mallet. Looks like a square hammer w/points all over it, you 'beat' the beef on both sides on a chopping block to tenderize. Don't beat it so much that you can read thru it but just to flatten it & make it 'loose' & pliable if that makes sense. If you have the single piece of meat not already cut up, I prefer to cut my own strips AFTER beating it but that's just me. If this is too much for you, you can always try the meat tenderizing spice normally found on the baking isle in the grocery store but honestly I think beating it works a lot better. Plus you normally marinate the steak strips for an hour or two in addition to tenderizing which also helps. If you haven't already gotten your beef, grocery stores normally offer already cut up beef strips that are 'ready to go' too so that may also be an option for you. If you go w/that option, you may just want to sprinkle on some tenderizing spice that I mentioned just to give it extra help. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Mix equal parts of corn starch and sesame seed oil and coat the meat strips first. That keeps them tender and moist. This is called " velveting" and is done in Asian cooking. Use this method for all tender cuts of meat, even chicken breast will stay juicy that way. Good luck.