When building a budget, one of the first things to go is overly expensive cuts of meat. While couponing can help you afford the occasional Omaha Steak, there’s always going to come a time when you have to make due with what you have. Luckily for you, a cheap steak doesn’t have to taste like a cheap steak! With a few tricks, your lack-luster cut can become as tender as a filet mignon, all without breaking the bank. To keep your bank account and your taste buds happy, check out our guide below on how to tenderize your cut of steak with something as simple as kosher salt.
Working with Salt
While it may seem counterintuitive to some, one of the most efficient ways to tenderize your meat is with salt. Although most associate salt with a drying effect, it will actually work to bring out the juices which are otherwise trapped in your meat. Salt works to dissolve muscle fibers within your cut of meat, which will then force protein-rich filament to swell. While it may seem like a lesson from your high school chemistry class, the end result is simple: Salt will work to trap the fat molecules and savory juice into your once cheap-tasting steak.
When you’re choosing a salt to tenderize your steak with, it’s important that you use a salt with a coarse grain. Table salt will not work to tenderize your meat and can often ruin your cut. Experts recommend sticking to something far more coarse, such as kosher salt or possibly coarse sea salt.
Tenderizing Your Steak
Now that we understand why salt is so effective at tenderizing the steak, we can finally get to the best part: Turning that cheap cut into filet mignon quality! Once you have your salt ready, all you’ll need to gather is a baking sheet or pan to prepare the steak in.
After that, just follow these simple instructions:
Coat the surface with salt.
This is going to seem scary for those health nuts out there, but it’s important to know that you will not be ingesting all of the salt you put on your steak. The salt simply works to bring out the flavor. Once you have your steak in the pan, cover it with your kosher salt.
Let the steak sit.
After you’ve added salt, you’ll need to let your steak sit untouched at room temperature. While this is more of an art than a science, the general consensus is you’ll want to let sit an hour for every inch of thickness you have. For example, a two-inch steak should sit for two hours. You’ll start to notice that the salt is dissolving, bringing the steak’s juice to the surface and at the end of the two hours, your steak should be sitting in a pool of liquid.
Rinse and dry your steak.
This is incredibly important as if it’s not dried enough, your steak will not cook properly. Rinse your stead completely in running water, removing any leftover salt. Once it’s rinsed, you’ll need to dry it completely with a paper towel. At this point, you may notice that your steak is darker than when you started — that’s perfectly normal!
Business as usual.
From this point on, you’ll want to cook the steak as you normally would. If you add salt traditionally during the cooking process, it’s important to leave that out when using this method of tenderizing.
Bon Appetit!
Buying an affordable cut of beef doesn’t mean you have to settle for a cheaper steak. With just a few simple tricks, you’ll be able to cook like the pros and all without breaking the bank.
Remember when you use salt for tenderizing your meat that you choose a coarse grain salt, and always remember to dry your meat fully before cooking. Otherwise, you may be steaming the steak instead of actually cooking it on your grill.
Now that you know how to tenderize your steak properly, let us know how it worked out!
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