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Step 1
The trick to having really tender boiled meat is to cook it at a VERY low heat at first. A few bubbles rising to the surface every few seconds is perfect.
If the meat boils immediately then the meat will be tough no matter HOW long you cook it! -
Step 2
AFTER the meat has simmered for perhaps 45 minutes to an hour, then you can let the stew boil as briskly as you like, and the meat will soon be tender enough to cut it with a fork!
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Step 3
Now, a great many people like to brown the stew meat before they boil it, and if the stew meat is cut up before browning it will tend to cook through while you are browning it. The heat is high enough to not only cook the meat but to toughen it.
I avoid this by buying my stew meat in the form of a steak, and I brown the steak BEFORE it is cut up. This tends to leave the steak raw and cool on the inside. I then cut it up into small pieces, and I stew it gently for an hour. IF I boil it then it will soon become tender enough to cut with a spoon. -
Step 4
This method of gentle heat for the first hour also works well with pot roast, and if you bake your roasts at 300 degrees instead of 350 the roast will be much more tender.
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Step 5
A chemist once explained tough stew to me: a protein molecule is shaped like a spiral. The trick to having a tender stew is to make the protein molecules RELAX their spiral shape, after which the meat can be boiled until it is tender.
If, however, you heat raw meat quickly, the spiral shape hardens and no amount of cooking will ever make it tender.
Since learning this, I have been blessed with tender stew meat, tender pot roast, and tender roast beef.
