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ShadowCatboy posted:Now some of you may also have heard about the salt-tenderizing method. Basically, sprinkle a ton of salt over your steaks, wait a couple hours, rinse, then sear. I didn't like this method too much either: my steaks came out tasty flavorwise, but there was a textural change that I really didn't like. What happened was that my steaks hadn't simply become tenderized, they'd become a little bit cured, like ham. While ham is delicious, my steak had lost some of that natural raw quality that I liked so much. For cheap cuts, I swear by this salt-tenderizing method. Science turns a $3 manager's special into something amazing! You can even layer herbs on top of the salt and get some of that essence into the steak when the meat relaxes (or not, if you prefer a steak that tastes like beef  ).But a couple hours in the salt is too long. I let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes, rinse off everything, dry well, and then sear. I get a great crust that way. Longer and I suspect it would be like cured meat, like you say. Might even fall apart, depending on the cut. I don't claim to be a steak expert or anything, but I've had great luck with this method. However, I've only ever used it on sirloins and some cuts that are largely considered inferior. Never tried it on a ribeye or anything like that.   Forgive the poor camera-phone picture, I hope it's clear enough to convey the idea. This was steak for Father's Day, prepared using the salt method and then cooked on the grill. Great crust, nice and tender inside. If the cut looks odd, that's because these were chuck steaks (  ). They were dirt cheap and fatty, but after the salt-tenderizing method they had the tenderness and flavor of a far superior cut. My dad's kind of a steak snob, so this was basically to prove a point that any cut, done correctly, can be good. It was very satisfying to see him clear his plate.
Spookyelectric fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Jun 11, 2013 |
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Jun 11, 2013 17:23
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No Wave posted:I don't really buy that seasoning half an hour in advance really tenderizes the steak all that much. I would be very interested in your a/b testing the two steaks. Half an hour isn't really enough time, and that method should - from what I can tell - actually end up drying out your steak more than anything (because half an hour isn't quite enough time for the liquid wrung out by the salt to get re-absorbed). What I might do one evening, then, is try cooking several small steaks by different methods and then compare them, side-by-side, to see which method had more influence on the flavor/tenderness. For scientific purposes, of course.
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Jun 12, 2013 00:38
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