Make Better a Stir Fry by Velveting Your Meat

Chicken can dry out in a snap. A few methods, like brining, marinating, and cooking over low heat can help, but there’s another technique that you should take advantage of. For a juicy, tender slice of chicken, bring on the velvet.
Velveting is a Chinese technique that helps smaller cuts of meat retain moisture during high-heat cooking. Even though you may not have prepared chicken this way at home, you’ve probably eaten velveted chicken at your favorite Chinese restaurant. Velveting is a straightforward technique that involves coating the meat pieces with a cornstarch marinade, typically a slurry of cornstarch and a flavorful liquid like soy sauce, oyster sauce, or a combination of sauces. The meat is then pre-cooked, quickly and gently. This moment of par-cooking allows the coating of starch to absorb moisture from the poaching liquid and the meat’s juices, forming a soft—some might say “velvety”—layer. The starches gelatinize and encase the meat, effectively protecting it from the next cooking, which is probably over the scorching high heat of a wok. The chicken stays tender and moist despite the smoky singe of wok hei.
Make Better a Stir Fry by Velveting Your Meat