Which meat tenderizer to get?

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Not terrible to clean honestly, the guard and spring are both of decent quality so there’s some confidence when holding it down to expose the needles to spray clean. But I do use the hose at work and not residential sink water pressure so that’s to consider. I would imagine a short soak of the blades in warm soapy water would give you a good start on it
 
I'm curious as to what to use a tenderiser for. I've never felt the need for one in decades of cooking. But then, it's probably also a matter of using particular recipes. What sort of recipes would you not want to cook without a tenderiser?
 
I'm curious too, I've never seen a need for one. I feel like I'm missing out on something...
 
Michi said:
I'm curious as to what to use a tenderiser for. I've never felt the need for one in decades of cooking. But then, it's probably also a matter of using particular recipes. What sort of recipes would you not want to cook without a tenderiser?
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I mainly use it for making thicker ribeyes flatter so it looks better on the plate, and I’ve heard some argument from a guy I used to cut meat with that it helps with an even cook but I have never really thought there to be much truth to that part. Its definitely not a necessity in the kitchen by any means whatsoever but I feel it does serve some purpose
 
You could get one of these.

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Twigg said:
You could get one of these.
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Yes, I've had one of these for decades. I use it occasionally, mainly for Schnitzel. (To be honest, a rolling pin or wine bottle would probably do almost as good a job.)

But I'm intrigued by this spiky Jaccard thingy. It's sort of like an iron maiden for meat… :)
 
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Michi said:
I'm curious as to what to use a tenderiser for. I've never felt the need for one in decades of cooking. But then, it's probably also a matter of using particular recipes. What sort of recipes would you not want to cook without a tenderiser?
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I'm wanting to make tonkatsu.

Watch "How To Make Perfect Tonkatsu | Japanese Pork Cutlet | とんかつの作り方" on YouTube



Its partly done so that you can eat it with chop sticks without having to gnaw at it.
 
Use a mallet to pound a thick slice of protein into an equally thinner piece.
The tenderizer cuts through the connective tissue in the meat and makes it more tender, cook faster and absorb seasoning better, all without smashing the protein. It's often used make chicken fried steak for example.
 
dafox said:
Watch "How To Make Perfect Tonkatsu | Japanese Pork Cutlet | とんかつの作り方" on YouTube
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Thank you for that! Yes, I can see how that makes sense. I'm afraid my bank balance is about to drop again (albeit by a small amount) ;)
 
Many of these mechanical tenderizers are throwbacks to an era where our consumption of meat was much more limited and that meat which was consumed was often that of a working animal who's useful output was less than it's caloric value. Which is a long way of saying our meat was much tougher in olden times.

Kitchenchem said:
I would be concerned about transferring bacteria from the surface to the interior of the meat if it’s going to be cook below 160F.
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Food safety temperatures were generated for a zero kill time safety. You can safely eat food that's been cooked at lower temps if those temps are held to longer times. Chefsteps I think has explained this for free I think and there's practically a whole book dedicated to it in the Modernist Cuisine series which costs quite a bit.
 
SeattleBen said:
I've actually used this thing for dinner services. We pressed whole rib roasts that we'd cut into cubes for the jus after we cooked it.
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Yeah, they’re cool as hell. I’ve been wanting one since I first saw one (ok, I was 8 so I probably wanted a lot of things), and it’s been on my christmas wish list ever since. What are they called in English?
 
dafox said:
I'm wanting to make tonkatsu.

Watch "How To Make Perfect Tonkatsu | Japanese Pork Cutlet | とんかつの作り方" on YouTube



Its partly done so that you can eat it with chop sticks without having to gnaw at it.
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I use the spine of gyuto to flatten, fine lines, and criss cross pattern, both sides.
 
SHOWERDOOKIE said:
Jaccard makes some decent hardware assuming you’re talking about this and not the weird powdered enzyme stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/Jaccard-2003...hvtargid=pla-82942213260&psc=1&language=en_US
This one is enough for steaks and such at home, they make larger industrial one but I use this one at work and it’s done fine and I usually do large quantities with it
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Kippington said:
Holy crap that thing looks like a nightmare to clean.
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Michi said:
I'm curious as to what to use a tenderiser for. I've never felt the need for one in decades of cooking. But then, it's probably also a matter of using particular recipes. What sort of recipes would you not want to cook without a tenderiser?
Click to expand...


I've used this exact Jaccard for over 15 years. I use it for two things; tri-tip and brisket destined to become pastrami.

It's built like a tank. The springs are firm so yes, cleaning it (after a soak in hot soapy water) is still a tiny hassle, but it does such an amazing job breaking down the random muscle fibers of weird cuts like tri-tip and allowing marinades to actually penetrate.

I've never once got sick from using it that I can tell. One time, for shits and giggles I held it under the powerful steam wand of my commercial espresso machine knowing that super heated steam would sanitize it well.

I imagine someone could take a tougher cut of beef like London Broil, and Jaccard the hell out of it, then sous vide it and get really impressive tenderness and texture out of it, while still preserving the moisture of the meat.
 
OK, I get it now: for marinades, the tenderiser makes a lot of sense.

In Australia, cuts such as tri-tip and brisket are not all that popular. A lot of that meat ends up getting cut into pieces for stews and the like. Which sort of explains why you basically never see a spiky meat tenderiser here.
 
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