Tenderize and add flavour with marinade

By: Elisabeth Harms

Marinating your beef has two purposes in the cooking process. The first is to tenderize your meat and the second is to add flavour to your final dish.

There are a couple of ways in which to tenderize your meat. Some involve how you cut and prepare the meat and sometimes a marinade can provide flavour and tenderize at the same time.

Marinating can pose a few challenges for weekday cooking. It is great to think ahead in the week and figure out what you want to cook when, but one should keep in mind that marinating takes time: it can take anywhere from four to 12 hours.

The first thing to do is to choose the most appropriate cut of meat. My personal favourite is the flank steak, as it is on the more economical side. If you are short on time, you can find flank steak pre-sliced in the meat department at the store. You can also choose an inside round, outside round, or a sirloin tip steak. These will all achieve a very similar end result.

Once you have your meat, there are a couple of different preparation techniques. You can slice it before adding the marinade, or you can marinate the steak whole. If you slice it before adding the marinade, the tenderization process will be faster. As you’ve already cut the meat, there is a greater surface area for the marinade to act on. If you choose to cut the meat beforehand, make sure to slice across the grain to help tenderization along.

If you leave the steak whole, I would recommend piercing it with a fork many times before adding the marinade. This way the marinade has an opportunity to reach the middle of the steak.

The ingredients in the marinade can play an important role in tenderizing your meat. You can’t just throw your meat together with a few things and expect to have a nice tender piece of meat at the end.

Here are a couple of ingredient tips to remember when marinating your beef:

- Cornstarch: is a great tenderizer, especially when cooking Asian food over high heat;

- Acid: can weaken tough muscle fibres when balanced with other flavours;

- Dairy: buttermilk and yogurt in particular work well in softening tough muscle fibres before cooking; and

- Beer: beer also contains enzymes which help break down muscle fibres. It can also add some interesting flavours to your final dish.

The recipe you see at the end of this article is from Canada Beef’s website. They have a wide recipe selection for marinating. It also provides you with cooking resources and information about the best way to cook something. Visit the website (www.canadabeef.ca) for more.

Balsamic-Beer Flank Steak

1 ½ lb (750 g) Flank Marinating Steak (or Inside Round, Outside Round, Sirloin Tip)

½ cup (125 mL) beer (either ale or lager) or sherry

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup (50 mL) ketchup

1 tbsp (15 mL) chili powder

2 tbsp (30 mL) balsamic vinegar

4 tsp (20 mL) grainy or Dijon mustard

½ tsp (2 mL) EACH salt and pepper

Combine beer, onion, garlic, ketchup, chili powder, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in large sealable freezer bag.

Pierce steak several times with fork; place in bag with marinade. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

Remove meat from marinade and pat dry. Grill over medium-high heat for 10 to 12 minutes, turning at least twice for medium-rare doneness 145°F (63°C); remove from heat and allow to rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, transfer marinade to small saucepan and boil for 5 minutes until slightly thickened. To serve, slice steak in thin strips across the grain and top with sauce, if desired.

Note: If you can’t get to a BBQ, a cast-iron or heavybottomed skillet will do nicely as well.

(Source: www.canadabeef.ca)