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Confusion About Tenderizing a Steak

11 years ago

Hi. I'm of the school of thought that when you cook beef, you never ever poke a hole in it because the juices that you want flow out the holes you make. However, I also have one of those metal tenderizers with only God knows how many super sharp needles that puncture a steak. Is there not just one culinary school of thought on this? Won't using the tenderizer to enable a juicy marinated steak be self-defeating and cause you to lose your juices? Thanks!

Rick

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Comments (6)

sushipup1
11 years ago
I think we are talking about different cut of meat. You'd never use that implement on a nice cut of steak in the first place. Only on some old shoe leather. ;-p
rvs053063
Original Author
11 years ago
Okay, so maybe that is the difference. Does it really work on a cheap steak? What do you consider shoe leather?
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lindac
11 years ago
First of all that poke a hole in a steak warning is nonsense....had a link last week showing a test where steaks were pierced when cooking and weighed and showed no difference in weight to un poked steaks.
You might use Jaccard on something like a piece of round to cut the tough fibers before cooking.
donna_in_sask
11 years ago
I don't buy steak that needs to be tenderized. Learned my lesson the hard way, we wasted a lot more when the meat was tough and chewy. Imo, it's worth it to buy the choicer grades, and eat less of it.
arley_gw
11 years ago
I just ordered one of those Jaccard tenderizers (Amazon, around $21). In the video at the link Alton Brown shows how he uses one to make country fried steak.

I also expect that this gizmo will make a marinade more effective. One of the first experiments I'm gonna do is to take some cheap piece of meat, do the Jaccard deal on it, and allow it to marinate in a marinade with Patak's curry paste in it, then pressure cook it and see what happens.

Here is a link that might be useful: AB uses a Jaccard tenderizer
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
11 years ago
"---I just ordered one of those Jaccard tenderizers (Amazon, around $21).---"

Wait until I show you my absolutely insane jaccard tool! :-)

I often feel that there is a need to distinguish between tenderizing and making food more chewable.

Pounding meat and jaccarding meat make the meat more chewable, they do not make the meat more tender.

Using long cooking time and tenderizers can tenderize meat.
The reason for making tough cuts of meat is because they tend to be very flavorful. Jaccarding/pounding meat to make Swiss Steaks and Chicken Fried Steaks are delicious.

Long cooking tenderized Short ribs is amazing.

dcarch

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