If you don't have one you can pierce with sewing needles, pins, or even paper clips if they are all sanitized. A pairing knife (the smallest knife) is a last ditch effort, as it will puncture too much meat. Mallets labeled as ``tenderizers'' just flatten the meat. Beating a rolling pin will do the same.
If you don't have one, a rolling pin or even a heavy skillet can work. Grab plastic wrap or parchment paper to cover the meat and prevent splatters. Also, choose a cutting board with a solid base for pounding.
There's quite a few other options. There's marinades, purees, plain old salt, another type of hammer (it helps the soul) and such. Buttermilk (or it's not bad cousin, milk with lemon to sour it) or Yogurt first comes to mind. It'll tenderize the meat after a good soak (2 hours is my recommended minimum).
French style rolling pin (with no handles) with chicken between sheets of waxed or parchment paper. I like this method because it applies equal pressure across the whole width of the chicken breast, not just a concentrated point like with a meat mallet.
Ideally, skirt steaks and flank steaks should be tenderized since they have much long and tight muscle fibers which make it quite hard to chew them. Using a meat tenderizer for such steaks will help you plate succulent pieces at the end of your cook.
I have a small but heavy mallet with a dense rubber head in my kitchen and it works just fine!
And if you don't have a meat mallet, a rolling pin or a heavy cast iron will do just fine. Follow for more cooking tips.
To use this method, all you'll need is your steak and a sharp fork. Simply poke the meat with the tines all over, creating tiny holes in the surface of the steak. This works to tenderize the muscle by helping to break up the tough connective tissue and fibers.
A meat tenderizer or meat pounder is a tool for mechanically tenderizing and flattening slabs of meat. Meat tenderizers come in at least three types: The first, most common, is a tool that resembles a hammer or mallet made of metal or wood with a short handle and dual heads.
A hammer requires more physical strength and power when using it. Also, it has more power, but it will leave more marks of scratches and scuffs where the hard surfaces contact. For driving wooden pieces together or hitting a chisel without damaging its tip, then a mallet is the right tool.
Most people prefer to pound their meat with a dedicated meat mallet or tenderizer, but specialized hardware isn't necessary. You can use a wine bottle. Actually, any blunt, heavy object will do—I usually use the heavy metal soup ladle I took from my grandmother's kitchen, but not everyone has one of those.
Baking Soda is an Easy Meat Tenderizer
Baking soda helps prevent ground beef from drying out, allowing those burger patties to keep their moisture and brown quicker for the most flavorful cookout. Not to mention, baking soda is the ideal ingredient for getting the most out of your Thanksgiving bird.
Findings. By the three-hour mark, the most tenderizing marinades were lemon juice, tomato sauce, orange juice, and yogurt. The buttermilk-marinated chicken was barely more tender than an unmarinated piece.
Using a meat mallet (or kitchen mallet) to pound steaks helps soften and tenderize the meat. Simply place the meat in between pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper and pound it prior to cooking. If you don't have a meat mallet, you can also use a heavy kitchen tool such as a skillet, saucepan or rolling pin.
The calcium in milk is thought to kick-start a natural enzyme in the chicken that helps it tenderize. It also breaks up the acidity and heat. (That's true for non-dairy milk, like coconut milk, too.) As an added bonus, the milk creates a creamy sauce that will keep a roast chicken even juicier.