Done with the Steaks? Now Learn How to Clean the Meat Tenderizer Tool!

We love tender meat but do we know how to clean the meat tenderizer tool! What is the most loved, favored (and sometimes worshipped) for its delectable taste in the history of good food? Meat. This staple food is usually on everyone’s lookout, be it a quick morning breakfast or a much-planned dinner after a tiring day at work.

Anyway, it has been in our ancestry to love meat and feel dangerously satisfied after fulfilling our dominant predatorial instinct. What isn’t in most of our abilities, be it dominant or silent, is the will to clean after all the eating. But cleaning goes hand in hand with cooking and eating, and hence you should learn how to clean a meat tenderizer tool, an essential tool to give you the next pro steak or patty.

What is a Meat Tenderizer Tool and What Does It Do

If you had not been using tenderizer tools before but are interested now, you need to know all the chaos about the tool. But before that, did you know that there are three distinct ways you can tenderize the meat?

Be it the red meat of beef, pork, lamb, or venison; the poultry-derived turkey, chicken, or duck; or the seafood such as crab, lobster, or fish, there are methods to have them tenderized. These include:

Using a tool to tenderize the meat
Cooking in low heat to tenderize and soften the meat
Lastly, enzymatic tenderization using Papain or bromelain in tenderizer spices to do the job

The mechanical tenderizer is the concern of this article. This is faster than the other two processes and will retain the freshness of the meat without making it dry. So what about using tools to tenderize meat?

It is often thought that the quality of the meat says how tender it will be. So if your meat isn’t tender enough, blame it on where it was traced from, the cut, and everything. However, what you skip is the tenderness of the meat depends very much on how it is treated before cooking.

The manual mechanical tools in the form of tenderizers help you to pound the meat, cut through the fibers and tissues that make meat chewy and hard to have a flattened and softened result, making all the spices you add delve deep into the meat and bring out the flavors.

How to Clean a Meat Tenderizer Tool:

To clean a mallet:

First, let it sit in hot water for some time. Soaking for too long will ruin it.
Using a coarse bristle brush, clean with dish soap, let it air dry, and wipe clean.
Use a bleaching solution once a month to disinfect. If you don’t want bleach, use a combination of baking soda and lime water to disinfect.
From next time, cover the meat, if possible, with a saran wrap or maybe wax paper to save your tenderizer from getting too dirty.
Never use the dishwasher for your wooden tenderizer; it will ruin fast.

To clean a blade tenderizer:

To clean with dishwater, simply put it in the top drawer of your regular dishwasher. Refrain from using a heat dryer to dry the items later.
To clean manually, use springs, levers, or whatever there is to remove the blades. Let the hot water run through them. Using soft brushes and soap, clean the blades. Wash the rest of the tenderizer and let things air dry.

To clean the rollerblades: (you can use a similar approach for cleaning Cubers)

You have to clean it more frequently.
To start, disconnect and disassemble by breaking the machine apart with screwdrivers and Allen wrenches. Remove the cover, meat guides, rolls, and pan.
Soak these in a hot detergent solution.
Using a thin, long-handled brush, scrub the blade assembly and all accessible parts. Do not tamper with fixed parts. Clean slowly.
Rinse thoroughly, sanitize in 180F water then air-dry the items. Reassemble the parts.
You can use food-grade silicone spray or grease to coat the metal parts; that way, they won’t oxidize soon. Don’t use cooking oil.

Types of Meat Tenderizers

There are different types of meat tenderizers you will find yourself looking at. Here are the common ones you can use on uneven, thick meat to get the softness you want:

Traditional Mallet

It has been used for hundreds of years now. It can be made of wood or metal, metal being the preferable alternative. It comes in the shape of a hammer and has two faces: one with small pyramidal shapes all over, the major tenderizer, and the other side is plain and better serves as a flattener.

Blade Tenderizer

This is more rightly the modern mallet. The manually operated machine is the size of your fist, usually and has many sharp stainless steel blades that cut through the meat. Thanks to these blades, plenty of heat channels are created, which reduces cooking time and increases flavoring time.

Heavy Duty Cube Tenderizer

Just like its name, it is better suited for tough chunks of meat that are very hard and chewy, broad in shape, etc. This cuber cuts the meat into smaller cubes, more tender and suitable for treating further.

Rolling Tenderizer

It is a roller that has a handle to work with the flesh and the processing. The rollers have sharp projections, and when meat is passed through these and rolled using the handle, it gets several tiny holes that break down the meat fibers and pound the flesh at the same time.

Conclusion

You should now be clear on how to clean any meat tenderizer tool. Whichever method you choose to follow, remember to be extra careful when handling the blades or spiky rollers. Caution first, cleaning second, and you will have a good as a new tenderizer in no time.