How to Tenderize a Steak

Most people love steak but not everybody knows how to tenderize it properly, for the best results. Tenderizing a steak is very easy and it is worth doing, in order to ensure your steak is juicy, tender, and delicious.

If you are using a good cut like Filet Mignon, the steak will not need tenderizing. If you are using a cheaper cut like New York strip or sirloin steak, it probably will.

A meat mallet has a spiked side and a flat side. With steak, you should first use the spiked side. This breaks down the tough fibers. The flat side gives the meat a good texture. If you do not have a meat mallet, you can use a fork and make tiny holes all over the steak. This obviously entails more work than using the mallet.

With some meats, you should never use the spiked side. If you are flattening a chicken breast, for example, you should only use the flat side because the spiked side will rip it apart.

Another way of tenderizing a steak is to score it. This means you should make crisscross diamond patterns, one inch apart, on both sides of the steak. Do not forget the sides, else the steak will curl up. Each of these methods is good but it depends on what type of steak you are using, how thick it is and how you are going to cook it.

The best way to know how to tenderize a steak to perfection if you are new to cooking steak is to find a good steak recipe and follow the instructions in it.

Using Easy Steak Marinades

Another way to tenderize steak is to use a steak marinade recipe. Combine your chosen steak marinade ingredients with the meat and leave it for a couple of hours. You can do this in addition to using the meat mallet or instead of it.

The acidic ingredients in the steak marinade help to break down the fibers in the meat, which is what makes it tender and succulent. Wine, pineapple, lime, lemon or papaya juice or any kind of vinegar will all have this effect on the steak.

You can get salt-based tenderizers from the grocery store, which works in a similar way, but homemade steak marinade recipes give the steak a great flavor so it is nice to make your own.

Careful with the Cooking Time

Remember that overcooked steak is dry and tough. No matter how much you used the meat mallet or whether you used the best steak marinade recipe in the world, overcooked steak is not something that you can rescue, so watch it carefully and do not overcook it!

It is easier to give an undercooked steak another few minutes in the pan or on the grill than do anything about overcooked meat. Always let your steak rest for five or ten minutes after cooking it. The juices will redistribute themselves and the steak will be extra juicy and tender.

There are lots of different marinated steak recipes that you can try. Steak is the perfect choice if you want to make a special dinner and using a meat mallet as well as easy steak marinades means that your steaks should come out flavorful, tender and juicy every time.

Easy Steak Marinades Help Make a Truly Mouthwatering Meal - EasySteakMarinades.net

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Steak That Will Shame the Steakhouse

Steakhouses often make great steaks, but is there a secret formula? Can you make a better steak? You bet your beef you can!

Let me tell you a little story about how I began my mission to cook the perfect steak. I had picked up some great quality steaks from Costco, and had a couple of friends over. I left the steak on the grill and came inside for what I thought'd be a couple of minutes. Engrossed in a conversation, it became more like 4 or 5 minutes. I went outside to check on the steaks, only to find that the fat drippings had ignited and so the steak was totally surrounded by flames. I turned it over, let it cook for a minute or so, and brought it inside, thinking it's a lost cause... what a waste of money. When we cut into that seemingly charred and burnt steak, we saw some wonderfully pinkish meat that looked incredibly juicy. I put that piece of steak in my mouth, and if my mouth ever felt alive, that was it. That was by far, clearly, the absolute best steak I ever had in my life.

Cook Steak

Ever since then, I've been on the trail to finding the secret to cooking a steak perfectly. Here's what's I've found.

*Get the best quality steak you can. Restaurants serve a grade of steak above what you can get in typical grocery stores, but Costco sells this too.

*Get really thick steaks. Since we're using extreme heat, we don't want to overcook the inside of the steak, so an inch and a half at the least!

*Season your steak with Montreal steak spice.

*Heavily salt and pepper your steak. Salt really brings the flavour of the meat out, and don't worry about oversalting - in every bite, you'll have the inside part of the steak to balance the salt on the crust.

*You have to use the highest possible temperatures you can. If you've got a charcoal grill, great, use more charcoal than you ever thought possible. If you've got a gas grill, you'll need to motivate some flames, because gas grills don't get much hotter than 500 F. So brush your steak with oil or butter, that'll drip, and cause flare-ups (we want that). Don't worry about it getting burned - that's where all the taste lies, that's how the crust will form, and that's how the inside will turn out spectacular.

*The more fire, the better. Let it blacken up on one side, then flip only once. We can't blacken the other side fully, because that will overcook the steak.

*Let the steak rest at least 2-3 minutes, then dive right in and don't wait further! The juices will overwhelm you!

Steak That Will Shame the Steakhouse

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Frugal Food - How to Cook and Enjoy Delicious Meals Without Spending a Fortune

We're all worrying about money in the current economic climate, and anything that saves some of it would be good. And we all like eating, don't we? (Size zeros need not answer that.) So, can we eat well and spend less money?

Yes, if we learn how to eat frugally.

If that sounds a bit worthy, don't worry - it doesn't mean lentils and grinding your own grain. It means using every bit of food you buy, without wasting a thing. For example, instead of using fillet steak you could try braising steak but cook it more slowly - it will be deliciously tender, and a lot cheaper.

If the notion of 'leftovers' strikes terror into your heart - and there is something dispiriting about the word - think of them as tomorrow's ingredients cooked today. A few extra potatoes and vegetables today and a lovely crunchy bubble-and-squeak tomorrow. Almost any bits and pieces can be made into soup, just simmer with some stock (from a cube is fine) and whizz or not as you like. A hot meal for pennies.

Here are some suggestions for eating frugally but very well:

Cook local food in season - fewer food miles mean better taste, and food that is in season is at its best.

Use your oven wisely - try to use all the shelves. Put some jacket potatoes in the bottom of the oven while you are baking (cakes or casseroles), for instance. Alternatively, use a slow cooker if you have one.

Don't have meat or fish every day - try beans or pulses instead. The dried ones that need overnight soaking and then boiling have the best flavour, and they are cheaper than canned varieties.

Swap ingredients - substitute cheaper ingredients for pricey ones in your favourite recipes. Don't buy ingredients that you're not going to use in any other recipe, see what's in your cupboards already! If you haven't any breadcrumbs, use crushed crackers or oatmeal instead. Or use stock instead of wine in cooking.

Make double and freeze half - then you'll have a home-made ready meal.

Choose cheaper cuts of meat - and cook them gently for longer. Shin of beef has more flavour than steak in a stew or pie, but does need several hours cooking.

Add less expensive extras - to get more portions per dish. For example, put more vegetables in stews, pies and soups. Serve dumplings with stews and Yorkshire puddings with roasts, and cook plenty of cheap seasonal vegetables as accompaniments.

Use a steamer - one of the stainless steel basket type is ideal. Simply put it over a pan of boiling water - you could be boiling potatoes in the pan and steaming some broccoli over the top.

Go for strong cheeses - such as mature farmhouse Cheddar, Stilton or Parmesan. They are more expensive than milder cheeses but their strong taste means that you need only a small amount to flavour the recipe, so they last longer.

Try a whole chicken - instead of breast/leg portions. Roast it for the first meal, then strip off the remaining meat for a casserole, and finally boil the carcass for soup (you will be able to find more meat on the bones too, after it has been boiled for a couple of hours) - three dishes instead of one.

We can eat well, feel full and still save money. What's not to like?

© Eleanor Knowles 2008

For more information about eating sensibly without spending a fortune, check out http://EatLeanNotMean.com

The book is crammed with lots of information, tips, tricks, smart facts and recipes to liven up your routine. Frugal feeding has never been so much fun, or so healthy!

Just a final thought, did you know that in the UK we throw away almost a third of the food we buy? That's food we should have eaten, but often it never gets out of the packet. Can you afford to waste that much money? No, didn't think so - don't put your cash in the bin, use yesterday's ingredients...

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