Why is my meat so hard and chewy?

[Anonymous]

What am I doing wrong? I buy expensive pieces of meat and I ruined them each and every time I cooked them. Even my ground meat feels hard and chewy. Tell me how to cook tender tasty meat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What am I doing wrong? I buy expensive pieces of meat and I ruined them each and every time I cooked them. Even my ground meat feels hard and chewy. Tell me how to cook tender tasty meat?

What are you trying to cook? I buy cheap cuts of beef and use my pressure cooker and they turn out so tender.

I have no idea how you could mess up ground beef, I've undercooked it and over cooked it and it has never ever been chewy. Maybe it is in your head?

[Anonymous]

You sound like you are over cooking the meat - too high of a temp or too long on the grill.

What is the meat?
Steak? And if steak, what kind and what's the cut?
Chicken? Try marinating it.
Fish? Try cedar plank on the grill.

[Anonymous]

More details please - tell us exactly what you are trying to make and we'll help you figure out what's going wrong.

[Anonymous]

Low and slow.

Or, high and fast.

[Anonymous]

Marinate and only cook it until it's medium done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What am I doing wrong? I buy expensive pieces of meat and I ruined them each and every time I cooked them. Even my ground meat feels hard and chewy. Tell me how to cook tender tasty meat?

You are overcooking on high heat. Are you free styling or using recipes?

[Anonymous]

Without more detail you are either over or undercooking your meat. I suspect it's undercooking tougher cuts...

[Anonymous]

You're not cutting against the grain.

[Anonymous]

Overcooking and/or choosing the wrong cut of meat for a given application.

[Anonymous]

I learned a lot by watching Julia Child's lessons on youtube.

[Anonymous]

MIL, is that you?

Lower heat for a longer time. Start there, then see where it gets you. If you ground meat is chewy you are over cooking it most likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More details please - tell us exactly what you are trying to make and we'll help you figure out what's going wrong.

I think I might be overcooking and buying the wrong cut. I've tried everything, I always hate the tester of my meat. I like buying lean meat because I feel guilty seeing any fats on meat, although I love the taste of the fattier cuts.

.I use a slow cooker
.I bake the meat with red pepper, mushroom and spices for free style cooking.
.I stir fry

Right now, I have a chuck short ribs - 3lbs worth. What would do with it? I think I should use meat tenderizer so I don't kill it?

[Anonymous]

Oh, lord. Start with some recipes, dear. You clearly can't freestyle. And fat is what keeps the meat tender.

[Anonymous]

Lower fat stuff doesn't do well in the slow cooker, in general.

Specific cuts need different treatments, so it's important to know what cut you have, especially when it comes to beef and pork.

Your short ribs are a good braising cut. I'd throw them in the slow cooker with some red wine, rosemary, garlic, onion, and a bay leaf. They need time.. ideally, hours and hours. You'll go through a period where they will be tough before they become tender. You're basically relaxing the muscle fiber with moisture, heat, and time. You can't rush these cuts!