Tenderizing Your Steak

As part of my pledge to widen my repertoire of grilling options, I decided to make steak and chicken for the 4th of July.  I was looking for ways to prepare both, and I came across a method for tenderizing steak that works even on cheaper, sometimes tougher, cuts of beef.  I found it at the food blog Steamy Kitchen, on this page.  You can go there to read her full description of what to do, including diagrams, and why it works.  In a nutshell, here it is:

• Your cut of steak should be 1" thick or more.
• Liberally salt your steak 1 hour before cooking for every inch of thickness.  For a 1" thick steak, you'll leave the salt on for an hour.  For a 1.25" steak, you'll leave it on for 1 1/4 hours, and so on.
• Once the time is up, rinse all of the salt off and pat the steak dry.
• Prepare as planned - grill, broil, etc.

Why does it work?  Salting the meat just before you grill brings out the moisture and causes it to basically be steamed.  It also doesn't allow the salt to really penetrate to give you good flavor.

If you salt ahead of time, it draws out excess moisture, but this doesn't leave your steak dry.  The salt is drawn into the meat and breaks down the protein cells, causing them to become more tender and mix in with the fat cells.

Apparently this can also work wonders with chicken and roasts, although I haven't yet tried that.  But I did try it for the 4th of July with my steaks, and they came out tender and flavorful.  Jaden at Steamy Kitchen also notes that you can add other items during the salting process to pull some of that flavor into the meat.  I used garlic powder, and there is definitely a mild garlic taste to the meat.  Kinda wishing I had added more!