When tenderizing beef you can use acids (like lemon juice, vinegar, wine, etc) or alkaline (like egg whites and baking soda). Traditionally, most Western cooking techniques use acids while Eastern cooking techniques use alkaline.

The traditional Chinese method of tenderizing meat for stir-fry uses egg whites and cornstarch as the texture improving components. Egg whites chemically tenderize the meat while the cornstarch adds the silky mouthfeel we associate with Chinese takeout.

Baking soda can be used in place of egg whites but it is less forgiving (because it's more potent).

Try these ratios for a start and adjust as you see fit:

• 1 tbsp cornstarch, 2 egg whites, 1 tbsp oil per 1 pound of meat. Marinade for roughly 30 minutes.
• 2 tbsp baking soda and enough water to coat the meat per 1 pound of meat. Soak for roughly 15 minutes. Rinse off the baking soda before flavoring/cooking.

What flavors you combine with the tenderization methods are up to you.

You don't need 101 different recipes. You just need a few solid frameworks to play with.

Take rice dishes for example.

Add ground beef to rice and suddenly you've got:

• Beef stir-fry over rice
• Beef fried rice
• Beefy rice dressing
• Ground beef curry
• Beef and rice stuffed peppers
• Beef and liver dirty rice

And then each of these six dishes has at least 3-4 variations.

Ground beef curry could be a creamy curry (Thai style with coconut milk or Indian style with cow's milk), buttery stock-based curry, tangy tomato-based curry, etc.

Rice dressing could be in the Cajun style with a veggie base of onion, celery, and bell pepper or it could be West African with a spice-tomato base. Or you can do your own thing, throwing whatever flavors you want into a pot/skillet/baking dish with rice and ground beef for a simple one dish meal.

You could probably come up with 101 ways just with rice.

Broth is liquid in which meat is simmered for a short time (less than 2 hours). It is usually seasoned (with salt) and may include veggie trimmings (onion, celery, carrot) in the liquid and other aromatics (pepper, garlic, etc).

Broth is thin and watery compared to stock.

Stock is liquid in which bones, and sometimes meat, are simmered for at least several hours. It is usually unseasoned.

Stock is thicker and richer compared to broth, but not as flavorful because it lacks the veggies and aromatics.

“Bone broth” is confusing because it’s actually more stock-like (because it’s bone-based and cooks for an extended period). 

But bone broth is sometimes seasoned, may have veggies, and often includes aromatics…which makes it broth-like. 

The longer cooking time on bone broth concentrates more amino acids, vitamins, and minerals in the liquid. 

(Side note: this is one reason you want high-quality bones for bone broth…that same long cooking time that gets the good stuff out of the bones, will get the bad stuff).

Here's an easy recipe for bone broth.

Ingredients

1. Knucklebones with exposed marrow (or any other bones with connective tissue and some meat bits)
2. Water

Process

1. Optionally* roast the bones in a 400F oven until slightly browned and fat is beginning to render
2. Put bones (and any drippings from the optional first step) into a pot with water
3. Simmer gently (not a rolling boil) for 24-48 hours
4. Strain out bones and other bits and store in the fridge for up to a few days or freezer for some months.

That’s it! Super simple. Set it and forget it (except you won’t because it will wake you up at 3 am because it smells so good).

*Roasting the bones first will create a richer flavor and darker color in your bone broth. You’ll capture some of the goodness of the Maillard reaction.