Cooking For Engineers

[sirpaul484]

Hello. I heard someone mention a 48-blade meat tenderizer for tenderizing meat, and I was wondering if it was a good item. I would think that an item that perforates meat like one of those would cause a loss of juices, which would not be a good thing. Would it be a good item in my kitchen, or would I be better off with a standard meat tenderizer?

Thanks!

[GaryProtein]

I have one of those blade type tenderizers where the three rows of about 16 blades (I never counted them before) extend when you push the device against the meat. That type of tenderizer DOES NOT cause a lack of juiciness in meats as long as you use it BEFORE you cook it. If you were to penetrate meat with it while you were cooking it, say on a grill or broiling, then all the juice would run out. So use it during food prep and you will be fine.

[Guest]

to split hairs: "tenderizing" meat means to gelatinize the collagen.

the blade thingies are really just perforating your meat. Kinda like what they do with toilet paper. Both are for your perceived convenience.

use the blade thingie on a cut of meat: you've got ground meat walking

[Howard]

I suggest you watch:

Good Eats - S10E04 - Cubing A Round

[GaryProtein]

I saw that show, and that is the "tenderizer" I own. It works just like Alton says.

To truly tenderize, i.e. break down the collagen, a little papain (Adolph's meat tenderizer-which comes from papaya) works very well.