How to Tenderize Beef

Some cuts of beef can be very tough, especially if you prefer your meat well done. You don't have to suffer through unwanted jaw exercise routines, though. Here are a couple tips on how to tenderize your meat and give your jaw a break!

EditSteps

EditPounding

1. Pick the right cut. Good candidates for tenderizing are:
   
   • Round steak
   • Flank steak
   • Various cuts of round (such as eye of round).
   • Skirt steak
2. Trim the fat from your cut. Leave some on for flavor, but get rid of the excess.
   
3. Chill your meat. After you've trimmed it, pop it in the freezer for about a half an hour, so it's good and cold, but not yet frozen. This will help the mallet do its job.
   
4. Use a cutting board. This is important—you're about to start whacking away with a 1 lb steel mallet, and if you slip and whack your tile counter, you can add a repair bill to the cost of your dinner.
   
5. Give it a good pounding. Pounding a steak with a mallet is a great way to tenderize. It will certainly be more tender than when you started. If you're preparing multiple cuts with this method, you can also form the cuts so they are of a uniform thickness, which makes cooking a little more manageable.
   
   • Using a mallet to tenderize works by breaking down the fibers of tough cuts, making it much easier on the jaw. You'll notice there are two sides of the typical meat mallet: one side had teeth, the other, flat. For tenderizing, use the toothy side: it breaks through and softens the muscle. The flat side is for flattening.
6. Pick a side, any side. Pound away, moving around the cut to give each part of the cut the attention it needs. Spend a little longer on the thick parts, a little less time on the thin parts.
   
   • When you've given one side a good once-over, flip it and repeat on the other side.
   • Be careful not to be overly enthusiastic with your tenderizing efforts: you don't want to break all the way through the meat. The goal here is to tenderize, not mash.

EditChemical Tenderizing

1. It's not as bad as it sounds. There are chemicals, or enzymes, in many foods that break down the muscle tissue and yield tender, delicious cuts without pounding. Some of these include:
   
   • Citrus fruits such as lemons and limes.
   • Acidic foods, such as vinegar, yogurt, and wines.
   • Enzyme-rich foods such as ginger, pineapple, and kiwi.
2. Prepare a marinade. Using any of these ingredients—by themselves or in combination— and marinate from 2 to 24 hours, depending on the strength of the marinade.
   
3. There are also commercially-available meat tenderizers you sprinkle on. These are usually enzyme-based as well.
   

EditVideo

EditTips

• Left over marinade can be fried off and reduced or thickened to form a matching sauce or gravy for the meal. Never use raw marinade however as it contains raw meat juices (may make you sick).
• Tenderizing meat breaks apart the muscle strands, making it easier to chew.
• If you do not own a meat tenderizer, you can use a small plate to make gashes in the muscle of meat. Using the edge of the plate, pound the beef first in one direction, and then in the other, making cross-wise patterns on the beef. When finished, flip the cut over and repeat the same steps on the other side.

EditWarnings

• Use caution when tenderizing meat with a meat mallet or the edge of a plate that you don't create holes in the cut of meat that you're tenderizing. These holes mean you've tenderized the meat too much. It should be thin in places, but there should be no holes.

EditSources and Citations

• Smart Kitchen

EditRelated wikiHows

• Tenderize Meat with Beer
• Cut Beef
• Understand Cuts of Beef
• Braise Beef
• Make Beef Jerky
• Make 3 Step Beef Gravy

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