How to tenderize meat

#1

I am day 2 on carnivore diet.I will eat meat almost exclusively.The problem is I cant afford the expensive soft cuts of meat so I need effective way to make the meat tender.

I dont want to take supplements,I want to get all vitamin c from meat.All my life,I was eating these stiff meats,as result I overcooked them always.
Its not like I dont like medium rare type of meat,its that you need to cook it very long to break down the collagen so it doesnt feel like chewing tire.

Basically I can either eat tire,or overcoocked meat without vitamin c.So I come here to ask for advice how to soften the meat so I can cook it shorter amount of time to preserve heat unstable nutrients.

I read on internet that I can brine/marinade it in either very salty or acidic solution or use enzymes like papain or bromelain.
I never saw those tenderizing enzymes in my country but I can buy from another country.I would prefer it I could use just salt or apple cider vinegar since that is common item in our household.

I also got pressure cooker.How much vitamin C gets destroyed if meat is 1 hour in pressure cooker on low heat? Pressure cooker is so awesome becose it breaks down those tendon collagen into jelly real fast,but I worry I will get heat unstable nutrient deficiency,any thoughts?

#2

using an instantpot is a great way to make tougher cuts of meat delicious and buttery soft and relatively fast.

#3

I have no hesitation in using the pressure cooker whatsoever. It’s been used for decades across several generations around the globe. I love using my instant pot pressure cooker feature for tougher meats. It’s perfect!

#4

I fear that even shorter cooking time in pressure cooker will destroy too much vitamin C.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

I wouldn’t worry about it. Get fat-adapted first, whatever it takes, and then you won’t need to eat as much, and you might be able to afford cuts of meat that are at least a step or two up from where you are. When your satiety signaling really kicks in, you’ll find yourself being more-satisfied with less food, as long as you’re getting enough fat.

#6

Do you have good science behind this? It’s all about balance.

(Terence Dean) #7

You can tenderize meat with a hammer, not the kind you use to build a house but a meat-tenderizing kind. Or you can make yourself a marinade and leave the meat to soak in it over night. I like to use my barbecue because it flames a lot with the fat I have dripping off it, plus my wife does not appreciate me filling the kitchen with smoke! I love throwing a slab of duck fat onto my grill, and getting the burners as hot as possible. This gives me the best cook, lovely brown cooked on the outside and still slightly pink inside. Once you’re done, throw it in the oven on 100 to rest for 5 minutes! That really makes a difference to how tender that steak will be. Don’t go straight from the fire to your plate! Hope this helps.

(Steve) #8

Sous vide. There’s a wide range of appliances available for various budgets. Anova likely has a sale this weekend (seems they do every long weekend / holiday) :slight_smile: So you should be able to get their bluetooth version really cheap! They’ve also started shipping their Nano - even cheaper, lower capacity (in terms of how big of a vessel you can use and how quickly it will heat).
You can just use a really cheap walmart cooler for your vessel. Just use a hole saw to cut an opening in it.
You can make really cheap cuts very tender by cooking them for longer times at lower temperatures.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #9

Seconded. Sous Vide and time will tenderize anything.

(Terence Dean) #10

Sous Vide if you want your meat looking like chocolate mousse, I prefer Caveman style, which is clubbing it to death, and throw the damn thing on the fire I’m starving.

(Steve) #11

Huh??? Sous vide can produce the best rare or medium rare steak you’ve ever had. Hell, if people like it even rarer, they could cook it for an hour at their desired level of doneness just so it’s actually warm rather than cold, like a typical bleu steak.

If you tried sous vide and it wasn’t done the way YOU want it, then there were errors made (most common mistake is people sear too long at the end).

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #12

That’s all good for ribeyes and tenderloin. Rare chuck that is tender can only be achieved with sous vide, jacquarding, or similar mechanical tenderization.

All you cavemen eating Pittsburgh blue ribeyes seem to think cows are ribeye from nose to tail.

#13

Doing Carnivore, I’d be more worried about getting the meat into yourself than a possible Vit C issue, supplement it in if you need to and don’t worry about that unless you have a real reason to fear that.

(Terence Dean) #14

I’ve never studied a cow close enough to work out where my meat comes from, sorry but for me it doesn’t matter whether its rump, porterhouse, or fillet it gets the same treatment on my Barbecue. Thump, wallop, slosh, and burn! In my neighborhood, you’d get strange looks from the tribe if you did anything else with it and never be trusted with the cooking again. :stuck_out_tongue:

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #15

Whatever works.

I highly recommend getting to know whole animal taxonomy, but whatever.

#16

Thank you all for tips! This Sous Vide technique looks great.Do you know any electric pot that steams,slow cooks (crock pot),Sous Vide? If it also pressure cooked,that would be awesome,I have 200e budget.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #17

Tasty One Top will do everything but the pressure, but would work nicely with a traditional P-cooker.

InstantPot supposedly will hold Sous Vide temps on some models, but I don’t trust them.

#18

Mom’s best kept secret meat tenderizer…COFFEE! I marinade steak and roast in coffee, olive oil, garlic, sea salt, and minced dried onions. Cook on the grill, crock pot, IP…juicy and tender every single time!

(RL) #19

Salt it thoroughly and let it sit awhile at room temp. The salt will help break down some muscle tissue and soften it up.

(Jason Moyer) #20

wet or dry brine…