How Prepare the Meat for Stir Fry and Some Important Reminders

There are different types of meat that can be used for stir frying and here’s how to prepare it before cooking. The protein power consists of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, shrimp, and tofu.

If you by beef flank steak, cut lengthwise into three long strips, then cut across the grain as thin as you can manage. Marinate with soy sauce and rice wine while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. For pork, buy shoulder (Boston butt) or country style ribs. Slice thinly, and then cut into matchsticks. Marinate with rice wine and cornstarch. (And did you know bacon works great in stir fry? Are you surprised? Buy thick slices bacon and cut crosswise into thin strips. It is especially great with gai-lan (Chinese broccoli).

For Lam, supermarkets commonly carry shoulder chops (sometimes also called arm chops or round bone chops), an inexpensive and under-rated cut. Buy them, cut the meat off the bones, and slice it thinly. Marinate with soy sauce and rive wine. For chicken, buy boneless, skinless thighs. Trim excess fat and cut into ½ inch dice. Marinate with soy sauce and rice wine. (Chicken breasts are a problem as they tend to begin to cook through before they have adequately browned, offering a catch-22 between slippery white chicken or dry, overcooked chicken. Stick with thighs).

For shrimp, buy wild Gulf of Mexico shrimp without preservatives (the giveaway: the words “shrimp, salt” on the label) in the 21-25 or 26-30 size. Do not leave the tail unpeeled that drives other people nuts. For tofu, buy firm or extra-firm, press out excess water, and cut into dice. (Softer tofu can work well in braised dishes like ma po tofu, but not in stir fry).

When a stir fry hits a snag, blame the protein. Meat, poultry, fish, and tofu can stick, turn tough, or fail to brown. Then you are facing pizza delivery. Avoid Domino’s by checking the protein sidebar for instructions on preparing and marinating six popular proteins. Crunchy vegetables are welcome in a stir fried dish. Raw vegetables are not. If you are using broccoli, carrots, or other hardy and dense vegetables, add a bit of water to the pan and cover to steam the vegetables for a minute or two if necessary.

Anyway, heed the warning of the common culinary school admonition; “Let the food cook.” Line cooks at your local wok-burner-equipped Chinese restaurant can put food into a wok, flip it a few times, and serve it. But we have already understood that you are not working with that kind of heat in your kitchen. If you want a good sear on your ingredients, put them in the pan and wait a minute or two before stirring. This way, the heat cooks and sears your ingredients better than keeping a stir all the time.

Don’t take my word for it. “I resist the temptation to touch the meat for 20 seconds to 1 minute,” writes Grace Young in the Breath of a Wok, our favorite collection of stir fry recipes. “This is critical because it allows the meat to sear, intensifying the flavors.”

Happy cooking to everybody and please continue cooking.

About the Author:

I'm Gerald, a business enthusiast. I like cooking and reading recipes and I want to share my knowledge about cooking stir fry and other foods.

Do you want more? Check my new Stir Fry Recipe.