I’m probably the last to know about this little trick, but I’ll pass it on anyway since you may find yourself in a similar predicament.
My neighborhood supermarket was advertising ribeyes for $3.99 a pound. I was craving a good steak so I picked up a family pack even though the rest of my “family” was hacked that I bought the boneless variety – they being of the canine persuasion and all.
Anyway I bought it home and grilled one for dinner last night. Well, it was like eating the sole of my flip-flops, and probably not as tasty. It was so tough Rebel and Lucky Dawg couldn’t even chew it up and I’ve seen them eat a pop-sickle stick and burp with pleasure.
Here’s what you do, thanks to my new friend, Jaden Hair of Steamykitchen.com. She describes how to doctor an inferior cut of meat to make it taste like top grade prime. I tried it on a second steak just now, and it was superb. Seriously good. (Rebel and Lucky didn’t get any this time and they’re pouting in their room.)
Here’s what you do….take the steak out of the package and place it on a plate about an hour before you want to cook it. The formula is one hour for every inch of thickness. Mine was only about three-quarters of an inch so I did it for 45 minutes.
Sprinkle it liberally with kosher or sea salt. If you are used to using regular table salt, this may look like a ton of salt, but just remember that kosher and sea salt flakes are 2-3x the size of table salt.
After about 15 minutes you will begin to see water rise up out of the beef much the way a slice of eggplant does. The salt will kind of melt a bit. It’s doing something magical to the protein in the beef which I don’t fully understand…or care to be honest.
When your time is up, wash off all the salt. Now, and this is critical – dry it off completely or you will end up with steamed steak.
Cook as you usually do and you will be surprised how tender and flavorful it turns out. Being a bit cheap, this tip excites me more than than winning a door prize at the VFW potluck.
Bon Appetit, y’all.