On 9/13/2016 9:46 AM, dsi1 wrote:
> On Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at 5:30:31 AM UTC-10, Taxed and Spent wrote:
>> On 9/13/2016 8:27 AM, Janet B wrote:
>>> On Tue, 13 Sep 2016 00:12:29 -0500, Sqwertz >
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Mon, 12 Sep 2016 16:39:05 -0600, Janet B wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, 12 Sep 2016 14:59:55 -0700, "Paul M. Cook" >
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Done in Chinese cooking.
>>>>>>
>>>>> I thought velveting was done in Chinese cooking. That seems to be a
>>>>> totally different process.
>>>>
>>>> I think velveting with cornstarch and egg is an Americanized Chinese
>>>> invention. I have never seen an Asian cook live, on TV, or in a
>>>> cookbook written by a native Asian call for velveting. But I have
>>>> seen them call for baking soda optionally mixed with water and refer
>>>> to that as velveting.
>>>>
>>>> Those lightly battered meats that you get by velevting with cornstarch
>>>> and egg are mostly an Americanized Chinese restaurant trademark and
>>>> you'll rarely find them at the more authentic Chinese restaurants
>>>> except with shrimp, and less rarely with chicken - the two proteins
>>>> that are least likely to need "velveting".
>>>>
>>>> -sw
>>>
>>> oh, o.k. thanks
>>> Janet US
>>>
>>
>> I could have sworn I leaved the baking soda trick as part of a Chinese
>> cooking class.
>
> Some Chinese restaurants will still marinate the beef in baking soda which changes the texture dramatically. It comes out pale and sponge-like. I used to do that back in the 70s but these days I reject that approach. These days I marinate the meat for a few minutes in cornstarch and then fry at high temperature - in a good amount of oil.
>
> https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/sh...hare_link_copy
>

The problem with a restaurant using the baking soda is they might tend
to do a big batch to last the whole day, so some of that has been being
denatured for a long time.