Re: Tenderizing tough cuts of meat

[Guest guest]

Chuck is my favorite cut of beef/bison! We slow cook it in the crock

pot or oven - 8 hours at 200/250 with a tight cover and it's the

best! You can cook it with onions, carrots and potatoes or not, or

cover it in horseradish for variety, which is also very good. It

gets sweet with the long cooking and adds a mustardy bite of

bitterness to the meat.

>

> For those of you who may have changed the type of meat you buy

because

> of the financial shenanigans in our country (and around the world),

> like buying chuck steak instead of the more expensive cuts like

> ribeye, new york, porterhouse, etc., here are a couple of tips for

> making those cuts much more tasty.

>

> 1. The tough cuts make great raw meat dishes. Whenever I eat steak

> tartar (and sometimes carpaccio) I always use something other than

one

> of the traditional steak cuts. Round and top sirloin are much

tastier

> raw IMO than tenderloin or even the new york cut, but especially

> tenderloin. I also find that the meat from the short ribs is

excellent

> raw. So if you have never done so before now might be the time to

dive

> into the chapter from Nourishing Traditions on raw meat appetizers.

>

> 2. I found this great tip for tenderizing tough cuts of steak.

> ______

>

> " One of the problems I had living in Europe was that the cuts of

meat

> there were much less tender. Often the meat was like chewing

cardboard

> except stringy. I looked for tips on tenderizing meat and it often

> required long term marinating or a great deal of effort with little

> result. But one suggestion I discovered was too simple to be

believed

> until I experimented with it and found it worked.

>

> " It is simple. When you have a tougher, or cheaper, grade of meat

and

> want to tenderize it for cooking you use salt. Now most said to take

> sea salt or kosher salt but I found that really cheap boxes of salt

> for making ice cream worked fine. You just need the really large

grain

> salt. About 30 minutes before you are going to cook it you cover one

> side of the meat with this salt. Try to cover as much of it as you

> can. And then pop it back in the fridge and let it sit. When the 30

> minutes is up take it out and rinse the salt off under water. Then

pat

> the meat dry and cook as normally would. The large grain won't

flavor

> the meat where small grain salt will. But it does tenderize it. And

> the salt is quite cheap. One large box costs me about 75 cents and

it

> sufficient for quite a few pieces of meat. Leaving it on longer than

> 30 minutes can start to cause the meat to taste salty. But this

really

> does tenderize meat. And sometimes you don't want to stew the meat.

> I've had cheaper cuts taste a lot more expensive this way. By the

way,

> this doesn't work well with roasts but that I address differently. "

>

> http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2178

> ______

>

>

> --

> " Wartime brings the ideal of the State out into very clear relief,

and

> reveals attitudes and tendencies that were hidden. In times of peace

> the sense of the State flags in a republic that is not militarized.

> For war is essentially the health of the State. "

>

> ~ Randolph Bourne, 1919

>

[Guest guest]

I love my 48 blade Jaccard Meat Tenderizer

--- In , <slethnobotanist@...>

wrote:

>

> For those of you who may have changed the type of meat you buy because

> of the financial shenanigans in our country (and around the world),

> like buying chuck steak instead of the more expensive cuts like

> ribeye, new york, porterhouse, etc., here are a couple of tips for

> making those cuts much more tasty.

>

> 1. The tough cuts make great raw meat dishes. Whenever I eat steak

> tartar (and sometimes carpaccio) I always use something other than one

> of the traditional steak cuts. Round and top sirloin are much tastier

> raw IMO than tenderloin or even the new york cut, but especially

> tenderloin. I also find that the meat from the short ribs is excellent

> raw. So if you have never done so before now might be the time to dive

> into the chapter from Nourishing Traditions on raw meat appetizers.

>

> 2. I found this great tip for tenderizing tough cuts of steak.

> ______

>

> " One of the problems I had living in Europe was that the cuts of meat

> there were much less tender. Often the meat was like chewing cardboard

> except stringy. I looked for tips on tenderizing meat and it often

> required long term marinating or a great deal of effort with little

> result. But one suggestion I discovered was too simple to be believed

> until I experimented with it and found it worked.

>

> " It is simple. When you have a tougher, or cheaper, grade of meat and

> want to tenderize it for cooking you use salt. Now most said to take

> sea salt or kosher salt but I found that really cheap boxes of salt

> for making ice cream worked fine. You just need the really large grain

> salt. About 30 minutes before you are going to cook it you cover one

> side of the meat with this salt. Try to cover as much of it as you

> can. And then pop it back in the fridge and let it sit. When the 30

> minutes is up take it out and rinse the salt off under water. Then pat

> the meat dry and cook as normally would. The large grain won't flavor

> the meat where small grain salt will. But it does tenderize it. And

> the salt is quite cheap. One large box costs me about 75 cents and it

> sufficient for quite a few pieces of meat. Leaving it on longer than

> 30 minutes can start to cause the meat to taste salty. But this really

> does tenderize meat. And sometimes you don't want to stew the meat.

> I've had cheaper cuts taste a lot more expensive this way. By the way,

> this doesn't work well with roasts but that I address differently. "

>

> http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2178

> ______

>

>

> --

> " Wartime brings the ideal of the State out into very clear relief, and

> reveals attitudes and tendencies that were hidden. In times of peace

> the sense of the State flags in a republic that is not militarized.

> For war is essentially the health of the State. "

>

> ~ Randolph Bourne, 1919

>

[Guest guest]

Ice cream salt isn't food grade, it can be contaminated with heavy metals.

Opt instead for Morton pickling salt (the green box) or something

similar...

-Lana

" There is nothing more useful than sun and salt. " - Latin proverb

On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 1:51 AM, <slethnobotanist@...> wrote:

> but I found that really cheap boxes of salt

> for making ice cream worked fine.

[Guest guest]

Well except Morton's has flow agents, whiteners, and other additives -

Redmond RealSalt or Celtic or Himalayan would be healthier choices -

especially as they also have trace minerals. Around here the

bulk/healthfood stores sell large bags of natural salts by the pound

for reasonable prices. Not as cheap as rock salt, but it is

healthier.

>

> > but I found that really cheap boxes of salt

> > for making ice cream worked fine.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Actually, the green box is coarse and doesn't have any additives. That's

why I mentioned it.

-Lana

" There is nothing more useful than sun and salt. " - Latin proverb

On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 11:19 AM, haecklers <haecklers@...> wrote:

> Well except Morton's has flow agents, whiteners, and other additives -

> Redmond RealSalt or Celtic or Himalayan would be healthier choices -

> especially as they also have trace minerals. Around here the

> bulk/healthfood stores sell large bags of natural salts by the pound

> for reasonable prices. Not as cheap as rock salt, but it is

> healthier.

>

>

> >

> > Ice cream salt isn't food grade, it can be contaminated with heavy

> metals.

> > Opt instead for Morton pickling salt (the green box) or something

> > similar...

> > -Lana

>

[Guest guest]

Sounds yummy, and while I rarely eat meat anymore that has been cooked

that long, I do enjoy chuck steak cooked that way. But I was thinking

more along the lines of those who wanted to enjoy the less tender cuts

of meat as a steak or an appetizer like tartar or carpaccio.

On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 5:38 AM, haecklers <haecklers@...> wrote:

> Chuck is my favorite cut of beef/bison! We slow cook it in the crock

> pot or oven - 8 hours at 200/250 with a tight cover and it's the

> best! You can cook it with onions, carrots and potatoes or not, or

> cover it in horseradish for variety, which is also very good. It

> gets sweet with the long cooking and adds a mustardy bite of

> bitterness to the meat.

[Guest guest]

Your best bet for cheap salt is kosher salt. To be certified kosher, it

has to be free of additives, and so is ostensibly sodium chloride only.

It also has a great crystalline structure for culinary surface

applications, and since it's cheap, it can flow freely in to discarded

sink-full meat brines. I've never fermented with it. It's so cheap you

can pour it on your steps when they ice over and you forget the other

stuff at the store. It's not value added like sea salt, obviously.

I've been known to put papaya tabs in a pepper grinder. For awhile they

sugar coated and dry- cured beef at my husband's work. Removed the

sugar, and dusted the meat with shittake mushroom powder. Divine and

fork tender. They also make a rock salt roasted chicken which is quite

tender, and the chicken is packed with the salt as previously mentioned.

He did a lovely tartare this new year's eve, chopped by hand with two

knives for the ideal texture, so he said.

We eat copious chuck here, as it is the cheapest cut with the most fat.

The Argentinians, who grass-feed their beef, believe we are wimps for

complaining about the extra chewyness, and don't want wimpy meat. Test

the chuck as it cooks. It will go from tough to tender, and back to

tough again if you cook it too long.

Desh

____________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

A meat jaccard is a beautiful thing. Tough meat to tender in seconds.

Nanette

Re: Tenderizing tough cuts of meat

Chuck is my favorite cut of beef/bison! We slow cook it in the crock

pot or oven - 8 hours at 200/250 with a tight cover and it's the

best! You can cook it with onions, carrots and potatoes or not, or

cover it in horseradish for variety, which is also very good. It

gets sweet with the long cooking and adds a mustardy bite of

bitterness to the meat.

>

> For those of you who may have changed the type of meat you buy

because

> of the financial shenanigans in our country (and around the world),

> like buying chuck steak instead of the more expensive cuts like

> ribeye, new york, porterhouse, etc., here are a couple of tips for

> making those cuts much more tasty.

>

> 1. The tough cuts make great raw meat dishes. Whenever I eat steak

> tartar (and sometimes carpaccio) I always use something other than

one

> of the traditional steak cuts. Round and top sirloin are much

tastier

> raw IMO than tenderloin or even the new york cut, but especially

> tenderloin. I also find that the meat from the short ribs is

excellent

> raw. So if you have never done so before now might be the time to

dive

> into the chapter from Nourishing Traditions on raw meat appetizers.

>

> 2. I found this great tip for tenderizing tough cuts of steak.

> ______

>

> " One of the problems I had living in Europe was that the cuts of

meat

> there were much less tender. Often the meat was like chewing

cardboard

> except stringy. I looked for tips on tenderizing meat and it often

> required long term marinating or a great deal of effort with little

> result. But one suggestion I discovered was too simple to be

believed

> until I experimented with it and found it worked.

>

> " It is simple. When you have a tougher, or cheaper, grade of meat

and

> want to tenderize it for cooking you use salt. Now most said to take

> sea salt or kosher salt but I found that really cheap boxes of salt

> for making ice cream worked fine. You just need the really large

grain

> salt. About 30 minutes before you are going to cook it you cover one

> side of the meat with this salt. Try to cover as much of it as you

> can. And then pop it back in the fridge and let it sit. When the 30

> minutes is up take it out and rinse the salt off under water. Then

pat

> the meat dry and cook as normally would. The large grain won't

flavor

> the meat where small grain salt will. But it does tenderize it. And

> the salt is quite cheap. One large box costs me about 75 cents and

it

> sufficient for quite a few pieces of meat. Leaving it on longer than

> 30 minutes can start to cause the meat to taste salty. But this

really

> does tenderize meat. And sometimes you don't want to stew the meat.

> I've had cheaper cuts taste a lot more expensive this way. By the

way,

> this doesn't work well with roasts but that I address differently. "

>

> http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.2178

> ______

>

>

> --

> " Wartime brings the ideal of the State out into very clear relief,

and

> reveals attitudes and tendencies that were hidden. In times of peace

> the sense of the State flags in a republic that is not militarized.

> For war is essentially the health of the State. "

>

> ~ Randolph Bourne, 1919

>

[Guest guest]

>

> A meat jaccard is a beautiful thing. Tough meat to tender in

> seconds.

I have the Deni 16 blade jaccard, and I don't think it does anything

to tenderize meat, and on top of that, it's a pain to clean. I ended

up buying a cheap mallet type tenderizer with a spiky side and a

smooth side, and I'm delighted with it. I'm now hunting deer on my

property, and the spiky side of the mallet does a great job on the

venison steaks.

[Guest guest]

Lana,

> Ice cream salt isn't food grade, it can be contaminated with heavy metals.

> Opt instead for Morton pickling salt (the green box) or something

> similar...

I just use coarse sea salt.

--

" Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired

signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are

not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is

not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers,

the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children…. Under the

cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of

iron. "

~ Dwight Eisenhower

[Guest guest]

Desh,

> I've been known to put papaya tabs in a pepper grinder. For awhile they

> sugar coated and dry- cured beef at my husband's work. Removed the

> sugar, and dusted the meat with shittake mushroom powder. Divine and

> fork tender.

Could you explain this more? What are papaya tabs? How do you avoid

the mushiness that is sometimes caused by tenderizing with papaya and

pineapple?

> They also make a rock salt roasted chicken which is quite

> tender, and the chicken is packed with the salt as previously mentioned.

> He did a lovely tartare this new year's eve, chopped by hand with two

> knives for the ideal texture, so he said.

Ahhh yes, the only way to go when making tartar :-)

> We eat copious chuck here, as it is the cheapest cut with the most fat.

> The Argentinians, who grass-feed their beef, believe we are wimps for

> complaining about the extra chewyness, and don't want wimpy meat.

Yeah I have heard them say our beef tastes aged and almost rotten,

which makes sense since it is aged.

--

" Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired

signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are

not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is

not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers,

the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children…. Under the

cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of

iron. "

~ Dwight Eisenhower

[Guest guest]

That works too! Although, not as budget friendly (which is the

reasoning for the original ice cream salt recommendation). Sea salt is by

far tastier than any option out there. I'm totally addicted to the Grain

and Salt society's...

-Lana

" There is nothing more useful than sun and salt. " - Latin proverb

On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 6:13 PM, <slethnobotanist@...> wrote:

> Lana,

>

> > Ice cream salt isn't food grade, it can be contaminated with heavy

> metals.

> > Opt instead for Morton pickling salt (the green box) or something

> > similar...

>

> I just use coarse sea salt.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

nak-

papaya enzyme supps from the health food store in a small hand grinder.

mushy didn't matter, since the meat was for a neophyte chewer and man

with a toothache.

desh

____________________________________________________________

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