Winter is harsh, dry and cold. In this weather, the food that makes people feel good is, in addition to hot pot around the table, another delicacy may be a pot of stew that makes the sauce fragrant, crispy, soft, and warm. When the meat is stewed, whether it is pork stew, beef stew or mutton stew, after eating more than half of the pot, your body will feel extra warm and comfortable, and your hands and feet will no longer be cold.

However, many people are not willing to make these stews. The reason is that the methods are time-consuming and the cooking process should not be rushed. You can only simmer over low heat and let the meat simmer for a long time. It must be soft and tender, and the meat is delicious.

At the same time, no matter what kind of meat is stewed, it is easy for "the meat will not become tender after being stewed for a long time." This problem has often been asked by netizens in the background and Xiaolu said:

" If you don't use a pressure cooker to stew meat at home, but just use an ordinary household iron pot to stew it, even if it stews for more than an hour, the soup of the stew meat will have dried up, but the texture of the meat will still be hard and difficult to chew. None of them are soft and fragrant, and there are no errors in the operation steps, but I don’t know what the problem is.”

Whether it is stewed pork, beef or mutton, the stewed meat should be tender and crispy, except when it is cooked. In addition to using the correct "water" during the cooking process and simmering over low heat throughout the cooking process, there are certain requirements for the seasonings, spices, ingredients, etc. that need to be added, and this is also a detail that is easily overlooked by large appliances.

So when stewing pork, beef, and mutton, how can you always stew it until it becomes tender? It's not that there's not enough time, it's that there's less "acidic material" in it.

This "acidic substance" can be vinegar or some acidic spices. In short, no matter what kind of meat is stewed, a little amount of "acidic substance" must be added, and then after a regular stewing time, It can make the stewed meat soft and tender, and the greasiness will be reduced, making it crispy and tasty. This kind of stew is delicious.

I don’t know how to add “acidic substances”. Below, Xiaolu will share three home stew methods of “pork stew, beef stew, and mutton stew” for your reference. You will understand them at a glance.

Stewed five-spice pork

Ingredients: pork belly, eggs, rock sugar, scallions, ginger slices, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, dried chilies, white wine, balsamic vinegar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce

Stewed five-spice pork & method:

1. Cut the pork belly into mahjong-sized pieces, wash and absorb the water, blanch in water, remove and wash.

2. Heat the pan, pour in a little oil, add the pork belly pieces and stir-fry for a while, stir out the lard, shovel it to one side, add rock sugar and stir-fry until melted, then add it with the pork belly Stir-fry the cubes until browned with sugar.

3. After the pork belly is fried to a sugar color, add star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, dried chili peppers, scallions, ginger slices and other ingredients, mix and stir-fry evenly, then pour in white wine and balsamic vinegar along the edge of the pot. After stir-frying, pour in enough hot water to cover the meat noodles, add light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. During the stew, boil the eggs and peel them. Stew the meat until it is cooked. Open the pot, put the eggs in the pot, and continue to stew for 30 to 40 minutes.

5. The pot is very good. Open the pot to test the saltiness, and then you can taste it.

Beef brisket stewed with tomatoes and potatoes

Ingredients: Beef brisket, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, green onions, ginger and garlic, spices (star anise/flavor/hawthorn/cinnamon), braised sauce wine, Light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt, balsamic vinegar, white wine, rock sugar

Stewed Beef Brisket with Tomatoes and Potatoes & Method:

1. Cut the beef brisket into even pieces and put it on a plate, add a small amount of water , pour some white wine, sprinkle a spoonful of salt, and wash it with your hands for 2 to 3 minutes to wash out the blood and impurities in the beef brisket, rinse it clean, and then perform the usual blanch to remove the mutton, pick up and wash the remaining Don't pour the beef broth, it can be used as stock.

2. Heat oil in a pan, add rock sugar and stir-fry over low heat until it melts into jujube-colored sugar water. Pour in beef brisket and stir-fry evenly to coat with sugar color. Then add onions, ginger, garlic slices, and spices into the pan, stir-fry evenly. .

3. Pour a little white wine and an appropriate amount of balsamic vinegar along the edge of the pot, mix and stir-fry until the aroma overflows, then turn off the heat and pour the ingredients in the pot into the wok.

4. Add the remaining beef broth from blanching to the wok, just enough to cover the noodles. Add light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and braised soy sauce wine, bring to a boil over high heat, and reduce to low. Simmer for 40 minutes.

5. Take another pot, heat it with oil, add cut potato cubes, carrots, tomato cubes, and onion cubes into the pan, stir-fry until fragrant, add some salt to taste , then turn off the heat.

6. Stew the beef brisket until it is cooked. Turn on the pot and pour the fried side dishes into the wok and continue to simmer for 1 hour. When the soup is almost cooked to the point of cooking, test the saltiness and sprinkle some. Garnish with chopped green onions before serving.

Stewed mutton with white radish

Ingredients: mutton leg, ginger, scallions, salt, spices (white pepper/Panthoxylum bungeanum/Dahurian angelica/kaempferia/hawthorn/nutmeg, etc.)

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White radish stewed mutton & recipe:

1. After buying the mutton, don’t rush to cook it. Cut the mutton into several pieces first, soak them in water for 1 hour, and remove the meat pieces. Strain out some of the blood soaked in it and then wash it, then put it into the pot with cold water, add a handful of peppercorns, ginger slices, green onions, and cooking wine to blanch it in the usual way to remove the odor, remove the overflowing foam, pick it up and wash it with warm water.

2. Boil water in a soup pot, put the mutton back into the pot, add spice packets, ginger slices, and green onion segments, bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce to a low heat for 30 minutes.

3. Boil the pot, add the white radish cubes, and continue to simmer for 60 minutes.

4. Add some salt to the pot to taste, sprinkle some chopped green onion and coriander, turn off the heat, and taste.

Xiao Lu has something to say:

When stewing pork, beef and mutton, it always fails to cook well? It’s not that there’s not enough time, it’s that you add less “acidic substances”. The “acidic substances” in seasonings, various vinegars, and the “acidic substances” in spices are hawthorn. No matter what kind of meat is stewed, the meat can be stewed quickly and crispy. If it's rotten, you can add a little of these "acidic seasonings or spices" appropriately.

When the meat absorbs the organic acids in these "acidic substances", the muscle fibers of the meat will soften, making the meat tender in a short time, and the meat will soften as the muscle fibers , the flavor of the sauce can be stewed more easily.

However, the amount added should not be too much, a little vinegar, and only a few slices of hawthorn. If the amount is too much, the stew will taste sour.