Example of the Meat Tenderizer in Action

A meat tenderizer or meat pounder is a tool for mechanically tenderizing and flattening slabs of

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

. Meat tenderizers come in at least three types: * The first, most common, is a tool that resembles a

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

mallet A mallet is a tool used for imparting force on another object, often made of rubber or sometimes wood, that is smaller than a maul or beetle, and usually has a relatively large head. General overview The term is descriptive of the ...

made of metal or wood with a short handle and dual heads. One face of the tool is usually flat while the other has rows of pyramid-shaped protrusions. * The second form resembles a potato masher with a short handle and a large metal face that is either smooth or adorned with the same pyramid-shaped protrusions as found in the first form. * The third form is a blade tenderizer that has a series of blades or nails that are designed to puncture the meat and cut into the fibers of the muscle. Tenderizing meat with the mallet softens the fibers, making the meat easier to chew and to digest. It is useful when preparing particularly tough cuts of

steak A steak is a cut of meat sliced across muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally Grilling, grilled or Pan frying, fried, and can be diced or cooked in sauce. Steaks are most commonly cut from cattle (beefsteak), but can also ...

, and works well when broiling or

frying Frying is the cooking of food in cooking oil, oil or another fat. Similar to sautéing, pan-fried foods are generally turned over once or twice during cooking to make sure that the food is evenly cooked, using tongs or a spatula, whilst sautéed ...

the meat. It is also used to "pound out" dishes such as chicken-fried steak, palomilla, and

schnitzel Schnitzel () is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, Chicken as foo ...

, to make them wider and thinner.

References

{{cooking-tool-stub Food preparation utensils

See also

References