When it comes to food additives, many people can't help but feel scared, thinking that once they eat food containing food additives, it will endanger their health. In fact, generally speaking, food additives are safe as long as they are not used in violation of regulations and are not used in excess. For example, monosodium glutamate has been "demonized" by some media for a long time, causing people to "talk about monosodium glutamate discoloration", but in fact it is no problem to eat monosodium glutamate.
Right and wrong of tender meat powder
In the voice of people's doubts about modern food, "tender meat powder" is also one of the food additives that make people suspicious. On the one hand, "tender meat powder" can make very old and dry meat tender and smooth; On the other hand, many people, including our chef, are wondering whether this "unconventional" thing will do harm to the human body. Therefore, in order to know whether tender meat powder is harmful to human body, we must first understand how the meat is "tender".
The trend of meat People think that meat is "old" because it contains protein with high mechanical strength, such as collagen. However, in the process of heating and cooking meat, these protein will denature or even hydrolyze, lose their mechanical strength and become "soft".
However, due to the low efficiency of heating to soften meat, people think that if these protein can be decomposed by some substance, the meat will become "soft" and "tender".
And this thing is called "tenderizer".
From the biological point of view, the most effective way to decompose protein is protease, which can break protein. There are many proteases in nature, such as pepsin and trypsin in human body. Theoretically, any protease can be used to treat meat, so as to achieve the purpose of "tenderizing meat".
What is "tenderizer"? There are all kinds of products on the market. At present, the most widely used effective ingredient of tenderizer is papain, in addition to starch.
Papain is responsible for decomposing protein in meat, while starch is used to thicken the meat and adhere to the surface of the meat. When heated, starch denatures and cross-links to form a film wrapped on the surface of meat to reduce water loss and make the meat "tender and smooth".
Hundreds of years ago, South American aborigines discovered that when you cut immature papaya, there will be emulsion flowing out, and this emulsion can make the meat that is difficult to cook "tender". In this sense, the "tenderizer" based on papain has a history of hundreds of years. Papain, an effective component, is separated from the emulsion of papaya in modern times.
Compared with other proteases, papain has better stability. Generally, protease is "delicate" and requires a higher working environment. If the pH is not right, they will lose their ability to work, and if the temperature is not right, they will go on strike. Papain, on the other hand, is more "solid", and it can work conscientiously in acidic and alkaline environments even at a fairly high temperature.
For example, bromelain has been widely used abroad. However, compared with papain, bromelain is "delicate" and requires higher pH and temperature of working environment than papain. When the temperature is above 65℃, it will lose its working ability, while papain still has considerable fighting power at 90℃.
It has a history of hundreds of years, and it comes from "pure natural" ingredients like papaya, so people naturally believe that it is "friendly" to human beings. Papain is almost the most widely used protease in the food industry in the world, especially in China.
Composition and function of tender meat powder Tender meat powder, also known as pine meat powder, is a kind of auxiliary material that can make animal raw materials soft and smooth without destroying the elasticity of muscle fibers. It is white powder. Its main component is papain, a loosening agent extracted from papaya.
From this point of view, tender meat powder is a pure natural product, and moderate use will not bring adverse effects on health.
The main function of tender meat powder is to partially hydrolyze elastin and collagen in meat by protease, which makes meat products taste tender but not tough, delicious and fragrant.
It can properly decompose collagen and elastin in connective tissue and muscle fiber of animal raw materials, break the connection bonds between some amino acids, thus destroying its molecular structure, greatly improving the tenderness of raw meat and improving its flavor.
However, some chefs still have scruples about it, mistakenly thinking that it is a chemical product, which is not conducive to human health. Therefore, in practical application, if you can use it less, you can use it less, and if you can't use it, you don't need it. As a result, I have been wronged.
Safe tender meat powder contains immature papaya emulsion rich in papain. Collect this emulsion, put it in a container, and then dry it in a drying oven. The dried white block is mashed into dry powder by a masher, then diluted with an appropriate amount of excipient (such as starch), bottled or put into plastic bags. This crude papain product can be sold under the trade name of "tender meat powder" after inspection.
Papain as tender meat powder in China, although it started late, has made rapid progress. Tender meat powder produced by Guangzhou Horticultural Plant Protein Food Factory contains: starch and papain; Uses: It can make meat tender, smooth and delicious, easy to absorb, improve nutritional value and save 60% cooking time and fuel.
Therefore, the advantage of tender meat powder is not only tender effect, but also safe, non-toxic and hygienic. In fact, it advances the hydrolysis of protein in human body, improves the transformation rate and utilization rate of protein, and increases the nutritional value. At the same time, it does not produce any peculiar smell, and can improve the color and flavor of meat. -
Precautions in the use of tender meat powder In the process of using tender meat powder, there are also some details that need to be paid attention to in order to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
One is that the optimum temperature of papain in tender meat powder is 65℃, and it will lose its activity if it exceeds 80℃.
Secondly, to give tender meat powder enough time, it is difficult to achieve the tender effect when cooking.
Thirdly, the more tender meat powder is added, the better. If the raw materials are decomposed too much, it is not conducive to meat. -
In addition, tender meat powder is not suitable for all meat products. Adding it to the meat with old and tough muscles, thick fiber and low water content can make the meat soft and juicy. But if it is used in fish and shrimp with high water content and tender meat, it will be counterproductive.
Scientific use of tender meat powder;
1. The amount of tender meat powder should be 0.5% ~ 1% of the weight of raw materials.
2. When using tender meat powder, it should be dissolved with appropriate amount of water before being put into the raw materials, and must not be directly sprinkled into the raw materials, because it is not easy to mix evenly. You can also add tender meat powder directly to soy sauce or sauce, and then add meat pieces and slices and mix well.
3. Although it takes some time for the tender meat powder to act on the raw materials, it can generally stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Too long time may lead to the loss of elasticity of raw materials; The time is too short to achieve the tenderizing effect.
4. If you are in a hurry to cook, you can mix the solution with tender meat powder and meat raw materials and put it at about 60℃ to accelerate the decomposition of meat protein by papain in tender meat powder. It can be used for cooking in about 5-8 minutes.
Other tenderizing methods, of course, whether to use tender meat powder depends entirely on the chef's personal wishes. The method of tenderizing meat is not only a way of using tender meat powder such as knocking, patting and arranging knives, but also has a certain tenderizing effect.
Below, I will introduce several methods of tenderizing meat without tender meat powder.
1, knocking at the door
Cut the meat into large pieces with the required thickness, and repeatedly beat the meat with the toothed side of the meat hammer to destroy its muscle tissue until the meat feels soft by hand.
2. Beating method
Cut the meat into large pieces with the required thickness, lay them flat on the chopping board, and beat the meat with a blade. The angle of the hand should be straight down when falling, and then outward when touching the meat slice, which will also destroy the muscle tissue of the meat slice.
3, delimit knife method
Cut the meat into large pieces with the required thickness, spread them on the chopping board, and chop them repeatedly with the back of a knife to break and soften the muscle tissue.
4, beer method
Take 5 kilograms of clean beef tenderloin, change the knife, add 200 grams of beer, stir until it is thick, then add 250 grams of clear water to make it thick in one direction, and then add 30 grams of salt, 8 grams of chicken essence, 8 grams of delicious soy sauce and 5 grams of oyster sauce. Grab it for about 5 minutes until it feels sticky. Keep grabbing it until it dries. After feeling moderate wet and dry, add 3 egg whites and stir well.
Note: Beer is divided into 1 1 degree, 9 degree and 10.5 degree. The higher the degree, the better the tenderizing effect.
5. Red wine law
250 grams of fresh beef tenderloin, cut into large grains, marinated in 50 grams of red wine for 5-6 hours, then stirred with salt and black pepper, finally sprinkled with raw flour, covered with salad oil, put it in the refrigerator, and take it out when necessary.
6, soda water method
① 500g beef tenderloin is cleaned, drained, and the beef is put in the refrigerator 1 hour.
② Add 100g soda water to the frozen beef, stir it slightly, seal it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator for refrigeration 1 hour.
③ Take out the beef, change it into the required shape, add 10g soda water, stir it a little, seal it with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
(4) Take out the beef, add 20g soda water and 100g clean water, fully whip until the meat absorbs water, seal it with plastic wrap, and continue to put it in the refrigerator for refrigeration 1 hour.
⑤ Take out the beef, add 5 grams of salt, monosodium glutamate and light soy sauce, 30 grams of raw flour, 3 grams of egg white 1 and light soy sauce, continue to stir vigorously, cover with salad oil and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
7, fresh ginger juice method
Slice 500g beef tenderloin, add 1 00g ginger juice, marinate for about 35 minutes, then rinse10min, control moisture, add 8g salt,10g monosodium glutamate,1egg white and 2g beef powder, mix well, add 20g egg white and mix well, and finally use.
8, papaya juice method
① 2,500 grams of cowboy bones are naturally thawed, washed at 1 hour, cut into required pieces, and drained.
(2) Add 3kg of boiling water into the pot, put 100g of fragrant leaves into the pot, boil for 5 minutes with low fire, remove from the fire, filter and let cool.
③ Put 20g of flour and raw flour, 20g of beef powder 10g, chicken essence, 5g of black pepper, salt, 2.5g of spiced powder, 50g of peanut butter, 0g of egg white 15g, 30g of soy sauce and 30g of claw juice into a pot, and stir evenly.
(4) Put the cowboy bone into it, stir it evenly, let it stand for 15 minutes, then pour 300g of boiled geranium water in two or three times, and stir it while pouring until the cowboy bone absorbs all the geranium water.
⑤ Seal the beaten cowboy bones with plastic wrap, put them in the freezer 1 hour, and take them out when using.
Tenderization methods of chicken and pork are basically the same. Take pork as an example: take pork 1kg, wash it, cut it into the required shape, add salt and monosodium glutamate 10g, egg white 1g, wet starch 20g, papaya juice 5g, yellow wine 5g, mix well and marinate slightly.
Conclusion We need to know more about food science. For food additives, we should treat them rationally and correctly, and we should not follow suit.
If a certain food additive will endanger human health, the government will explicitly prohibit its use, so it is no problem for some food additives to be used in a certain range.
However, it depends on the chef's own requirements for practice and the pursuit of food.