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Sodium bicarbonate is often used as a meat tenderizer. But if you forgot to soak the meat in advance and you add it to meat that is going to be cooked in a tomato sauce will it work? Will the acidity of the tomatoes lower the ph neutralizing the bicarbonate effect?

userFromEU2
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    If it's going in a tomato sauce & you haven't already added the bicarb, just cook it longer. You only need a tenderiser on short-cook meals. – Tetsujin May 10 '23 at 15:35

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Adding bicarbonate during cooking isn't going to have the effect you want. Sodium bicarbonate is bitter and can add a slightly metallic taste if it remains unreacted with acid, when bicarb is added as a tenderizer it's rinsed off before cooking so you won't taste it. If you add enough to tenderize meat it will definitely impact the flavor. Plus, it takes time to work, longer than cooking time, so it wouldn't tenderize the meat much.

GdD
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