Cooking Meati Cuts: Marinades, pan temperatures, and stew techniques

A few important details for chefs getting creative with meati™ cuts in kitchens at home and work.

When it comes to getting creative in the kitchen, one of meati™ cutlets’ and steaks’ greatest strengths are their versatility. Depending on the product, you can bake it, grill it, sauté it, or throw it in an air fryer. Meati cuts also offer the perfect platform for all kinds of creative seasonings and marinades — you can capture the flavor profiles of Indian, Mexican, Southeast Asian, or any other cuisine without a hitch.

While meati cutlets and steaks are a flexible fare that can accommodate all kinds of culinary artistry, they are also a new category of food with some special attributes worth chatting about. For that just-right mouthfeel and flavor, keep these considerations front and center.

Mind Your Marinades

Meati products absorb flavors incredibly well. Give our Classic Cutlet and Classic Steak as little as 15 minutes and up to two hours in a marinade, and it should be good to go. Just 20 minutes or so often produces a great result. Bear in mind, the characteristics of your marinade matter here:

Viscous marinades — think barbecue sauce — won’t be absorbed as quickly. These could likely work well for longer immersion periods. As viscosity goes down, so should the marination duration.
The more acidic the marinade , the faster it will be absorbed. Citrus juices, for example, will get into meati cuts quickly.
Fatty marinades — those using olive oil, for example — work well and fall somewhere in the middle range of how long meati products should be immersed in them.
Salt in all marinades will be readily picked up by meati cuts. If you want to play it safe, you can always add salt after your dish is prepared with little if any impact on the overall eating experience.

Cooking Tricks

The Crispy Cutlet, with its delicious breading, should go in an oven or air fryer. Easy. That cooking process, animal-based meat or not, doesn’t present any notable surprises. Other approaches need a bit more examination:

When pan-searing meati products, start by getting your pan and oil of choice to a medium heat level. Cook your cut to a light brown color it and get the inside temperature to 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Crank up the flames (or electric coils) only at the very end to achieve caramelization. This differs a bit from how you might approach animal-based meat, which typically entails starting with a very hot pan. How do you know if you’ve reached medium heat? Look for a slight, rippling shimmer to your oil. But watch out for smoking oil — that means it is much too hot.
Braising, poaching, steaming, and other wet cooking techniques that use liquid to convey heat take a delicate touch when meati cuts are involved. This is the same reasoning that applies to marinades: Our cutlets and steaks absorb flavors and liquids extremely well, so popping them into a simmering stew and letting them sit may get in the way of delivering the ideal mouthfeel. Instead, cook your meati cuts first and then add them into a stew or soup toward the very end of its preparation. This will provide the best texture without compromising on flavor.

Before You Slice

If you’ve cooked a steak, you’re used to waiting 15 to 20 minutes after it is ready before breaking out your knife. With chicken, you might wait three to five minutes. With meati cutlets? Aim for about five minutes. That’s all the time they need for their flavors and juices to settle so they don’t race away with that first slice.

Have Fun