How to Make Tough Mutton and Beef Tender

Few things are more frustrating than spending two hours on a mutton qorma and finding the meat still chewy. Tough meat in Pakistani cooking almost always comes down to a handful of causes, and once you know them, you can fix most of them before you start cooking.

Choose the right cut for the dish

Not every cut suits every dish. Fast-cooked dishes need tender cuts, and slow-cooked dishes need cuts with more connective tissue, which melts into gelatine over hours and makes the gravy rich.

Dish	Good cuts
Karahi, tikka, BBQ	Leg, rib chops, undercut (tenderloin)
Qorma, aloo gosht, salan	Shoulder, mixed bone-in pieces
Nihari, haleem, paya	Shank, neck, trotters
Kebabs	Mince with some fat

Using shank in a quick karahi gives you tough meat; using tenderloin in nihari wastes money and makes stringy meat. Match the cut to the cooking time.

Let fresh meat rest

Meat from a freshly slaughtered animal, common at Eid ul Adha, goes stiff for several hours as rigor mortis sets in. Cook it during that time and it can be tough however long you simmer it. Kaleji is the traditional exception, but for other cuts, refrigerate the meat for at least 24 hours before cooking. It relaxes and becomes far more tender.

Marinate

A marinade softens the surface of the meat and seasons it.

• Yogurt tenderises gently. Use it for qorma, tikka and chops.
• Raw papaya contains papain, an enzyme that breaks down muscle fibres. It’s very effective, so measure it: about 1½ tablespoons of paste per kilo, for up to 12 hours. Too much turns meat mushy. It’s the reason street-style Bihari boti is so soft.
• Lemon juice or vinegar adds tang but toughens the surface if overused, so pair it with yogurt or oil.

Cook slowly and covered

High heat tightens meat fibres. Long, gentle cooking dissolves the connective tissue that makes meat chewy. For qorma and salan, once the masala is cooked and the meat has browned, add a little water, cover tightly and keep the heat low enough that the pot just bubbles. Check every 15–20 minutes and add a splash of hot water if it’s drying out.

Rough timings on the stove:

• Chicken: 25–35 minutes
• Young mutton: 60–90 minutes
• Older mutton: 90–120 minutes
• Beef: 1½–2½ hours
• Nihari or paya: 5–8 hours

Use a pressure cooker

A pressure cooker cuts these times by about two-thirds and reliably softens even tough meat. For a qorma or aloo gosht, brown the meat in the masala first, then add water and pressure cook: about 20–25 minutes for mutton, or 30–40 for beef, depending on your cooker. Then open it and cook uncovered to reduce the gravy and finish the bhunai. Our pressure cooker guide has more detail.

Don’t add salt too late, or acid too early

Salt added at the start of cooking seasons the meat through and doesn’t toughen it. But tomatoes and lemon added before the meat has softened can slow the tenderising, especially for beef. In many recipes, the meat is cooked until nearly tender before the sour ingredients go in.

Fixing meat that’s still tough

If you’ve reached the end of the cooking time and the meat is still chewy, the answer is almost always more time. Add a cup of hot water, cover and cook on low for another 20–30 minutes, then reduce the gravy again. If you’re in a hurry, transfer everything to a pressure cooker for 10 minutes.

Cutting matters too

Cut meat across the grain, so the muscle fibres are short. This matters most for boti, tikka and anything cut into strips. Fibres running the length of each piece make it chewy, however well it’s cooked.

With the right cut, enough time and gentle heat, even inexpensive meat becomes tender. Try it on aloo gosht, which is very forgiving, before moving on to mutton qorma or nihari.