Thread: Have you found . . . . ?

Originally Posted by mattdw

I haven't noticed that, but I've found for both stews and curries that browning the meat really well first (in a frying pan + hot oil) makes a world of difference. Also (before browning) cutting the meat into small pieces across the grain. Missing either of those steps has lead to some pretty average stews .

(Both the goat back steak I made curry from and the wallaby shin I made stew from in the last couple weeks turned out beautifully tender.)

Searing the meat first does two things, the first one is why your meat remains tender.
Searing seals off the outside, greatly reducing loss of moisture. It also creates something known as the maillard reaction which is the conversion of sugars into more complex flavours...doesn't attribute to the tenderness but still groovy to know :p