How meat tenderizers work?

Most often people think how chicken can taste so soft and tender when they go in a good restaurant to dine. What is the secret behind the tenderness of chicken? Is it a chemical or any natural secret ingredient that chefs use in the kitchen while making chicken dishes which makes it soft and tender.

The answer is yes, there are some secret ingredients which are used while making some meat dishes. These secret ingredients are called as meat tenderizers. The way enzymes in the human body help you digest food, tenderizers acts enzymatically to break down the rubber-like elastic fibers that make less tender cuts of meat hard to swallow. These elastic fibers, which hold the strands of muscle tissue in meat together, are made up a protein called collagen, the same protein from which gelatin is derived from. Papain found in papaya is the most common tenderizer which is used in Indian cuisine. For this the papaya is blended to a smooth paste and then the paste is applied to the meat and the marinated meat is kept overnight which helps the meat to become tender when cooked. Bromelain, found in pineapple is also common anti-collagen enzymes used in many of the tenderizing powders you can buy in the grocery store. Also there are few others like kachri powder, vinegar, beer, kiwi, salt, etc. which can also be used as tenderizers.