Chicken – How to pound chicken breasts without a meat tenderizer

Clingwrap works fine for me -- but I don't use a meat tenderizer -- I just use a small but fairly heavy pan (but not my cast iron, as it's not smooth on the bottom).

When I was in college, I tried a few things. I can get pretty decent results just hitting it with my cutting board. (with it between saran wrap).

Part of it might be technique -- if I'm doing chicken breast I first slice is sort of following the taper of the breast, so it's neither with or across the grain, but kinda of diagonal. You also don't want to hit straight down -- you want to angle the blows, so you're actually pushing the meat out, and not just trying to force it through the counter.

And I should mention that I've only ever pounded out poultry and pork -- I assume beef would be the same, but I have no experience to confirm or deny it.

1. Meat is pounded as a mechanical means of tenderizing by damaging the connective tissues. It also makes the meat thinner and flatter, which helps the meat cook faster and more evenly.

2. Pound tougher meats (cheaper steaks), and meats of uneven thickness (chicken breasts). Avoid pounding the bones in the meat. You don't want little pieces of bone chipping off into meal. Don't pound already tender pieces (premium cuts, dry aged steaks).

3. Think tenderize, not pulverize. You should not be making any holes in it.

If you're going to marinate, do that after pounding.
Wrapping the meat in wax paper first will help prevent a big mess. Do both sides of the meat.