How to Velvet Meat for a Stir-Fry - CHOW Tip

Chowhound Jed Kolko is a Chinese-food autodidact. He's taught himself to "velvet" his meat for a stir-fry using this marinade, sealing in moisture and keeping the meat soft as it cooks.

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TRANSCRIPT
Velveting is a technique often used in Chinese restaurants to keep protein used in a stir-fry moist, even after it's cooked. You first want to marinate cut up pieces of meat overnight in a mixture of egg white, corn starch, cooking wine, and salt. Then, when you're about ready to stir-fry, you first poach those marinated cubes of meat very, very gently for about twenty or thirty seconds. The heat of the water creates a seal around each cube of meat, then when you drain the meat and stir-fry it, that seal keeps the juices of the meat in, even while it cooks in the sauce.