"International Velvet" or Annalena cooks Chinese style: Velvet lamb

I wonder how many of Annalena's readers will have gotten the allusion to "International Velvet." For those of you in your formative years, or the two heterosexual men who are reading this blog, Elizabeth Taylor's very first movie was "National Velvet," about a young girl, and her horse. Annalena saw the movie when she was rather young, in glorious black and white. Those eyes, that face, that hair: Miss Taylor was beautiful, nay GORGEOUS, from day 1 (and how many of you got the pun on "nay." Ms. Nora did. Sure you did, girl. Fess up). And all of you should in some way manner or form see that movie to see how, literally, "A Star is Born."

Now, that all came up because the word "velvet" was on Annalena's mind, as she tried a new technique last night. How was it? Well, it was better than "meh," but I don't think it's going to go down as a favorite. I will have to play with the technique a bit.

I had been reading several articles on a Chinese cooking technique called "velveting." What I read, was that the technique was a way to keep proteins from overcooking and keeping them moist. Although just about all of the recipes that I saw spoke of doing it to chicken, there were a handful that used beef as the protein sauce. Annalena had lamb on the menu last night, and decided to "velvet" it.

According to what I read, to "velvet" something is to let it marinate in a mixture of cornstarch and eggwhite for a short period of time. After that, you fry it. Theoretically, the marinating tenderizes the meat, and also prevents the drying out that happens when you cook protein at high heat.

I can understand how the technique prevents drying out. Both egg white and corn starch cook to crusts that would keep juices in. How the marinade tenderizes meat vexes Annalena, because there is nothing she knows of, either in egg white, or corn starch, that would act to break down proteins (if any of you know: Frank, one of the two heterosexual men out there reading this: if you could check with Crystal to check with her mom? Hmmmm?). Annalena suspects that the tenderizing actually comes later on in the cooking, when acid is added. But the more you know about the subject of cooking, the more you realize how little you know.

I am quite convinced that I did certain things wrong in making this dish. I will probably try it again, because it does seem intriguing. Here we go.

For a pound of meat - and I will reiterate that almost all sources refer ONLY to boneless chicken - you need a tablespoon of cornstarch, and one egg white. As your quantities go up, you increase both. Two egg whites, two tablespoons of cornstarch, etc. Pour the starch into the egg white, stir it into a slurry, and then add the protein. Turn it to coat it , cover it, and leave it alone for half an hour.

When I did this, I came back to meat that was pretty much stuck to my bowl. Not surprising, corn starch will do that. What I did next may have been the issue with my "so so" results. Since I was cooking lamb, I did not want to deep fry and just put a few tablespoons of oil into my pan. When it was hot, I added the meat (which, incidentally, had been salted the night before and was lamb tenderloin. You should use what you like, but do salt it). I cooked it for the requisite five minutes that I always use for meat and tried to turn it.

No luck. The meat had fairly vulcanized to the pan. Well, since I was planning to use the last of my blueberry gastrique with the lamb (or pomegranate molasses), I jsut added some of it to the pan, and that succeeded in releasing the meat. I then went on to brown it, but had a difficulty with the meat sticking as I went through the process. When it was done, it WAS good, but I'm not sure what the velveting added to it. The Guyman liked it, so did I, so we will come back to it.

In reading through internet information on the technique, it seems that many people use a LOT of oil to cook velveted meat, and also cook it twice. One recipe, for example, had chunks of chicken cook in two inches of oil, at 275, and then stir fried it with vegetables, and some flavoring agent (the flavoring agent, incidentally, is key here: you need a very strong liquid, something like soy sauce, or fish sauce, or as I used, the gastrique, or vinegar, SOMETHING, because egg white and corn starch are, essentially, tasteless).

Not everything works as perfectly as you would like in the kitchen. I am posting this to let you know about the workings of Annalena's kitchen, and how sometimes, it isn't the most perfect thing in the world.

Now, the eggplant tian on the other hand? Heavens, carissimi, you all MUST make it.