Hi
@ariemich and welcome to our forum. Like you I'm slightly puzzled about the science behind 'velveting' so if anyone can shed light on this that would be interesting.
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New Member Introductions. We are a very friendly forum and love to know more about our new members. And if you have Israeli recipes then please post! I think the food there is some of the best in the world.
I do a bit of Asian cooking and can explain the science behind it (I hope
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There are two key ways to velveting protein (both have been mentioned above). The first one is to coat the protein (meat, chicken or fish) with a starch so that it gelatinizes and forms a moisture-resistant barrier around the outside of the protein. By doing this it prevents moisture from leaking out of the protein as it's squeezed out of cells with denaturing proteins. Ordinarily it would leak out into your pan and rapidly boil or evaporate off but now it's trapped in the pieces of meat. This isn't unlike sous vide cooking, where the food being cooked stays moist, because the water is trapped inside (by a bag). So technically this type of velvetizing doesn't tenderize protein, it keeps it moist by trapping the water inside and preventing it, or lessening its ability, to escape. Cornstarch is the preferred starch to use for this method (I use this method and love it).
The other method is to use baking soda and water and is, in fact, a tenderizer. Baking soda neutralizes acid and raises the pH level on the surface of the meat, causing the outside of the meat to become more alkaline. This chemical reaction makes it more difficult for the proteins inside the meat to tighten up, and when proteins can't bond together, the meat stays tender when cooked instead of constricting and toughening up.
For the cornstarch method, all you need for it to work is to have two things- cornstarch and some liquid to have it stick to the protein. That liquid can be egg white, soy sauce, rice vinegar, rice wine, etc. but you only need one of them for velvetizing. Some recipes for velvetizing will say to add several different liquids but you don't need it if you are just going to velvetize. Those additional ones will just be for flavoring. I usually just use egg white and corn starch and cover it and stick it in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes (I don't find it necessary to do it longer). I flavor the protein when it's cooking, unless the recipe calls for marinading.
The key is to slice the protein thinly when you go to velvetize it. I usually slice the protein when it is half-frozen.
Some recipes call for blanching the protein after having it sit in cornstarch. This is a good way to do it also, though I don't use that method (I am able to get my protein tender enough without the added step).
Hope this helps!
