If you like steak, make sure to read this!
I rarely eat beef, but last night I made one of the best steaks I have ever tasted! I should have taken pictures!
This all started because I wanted to I try a tenderizing technique I've been hearing about lately. But what I used to tenderize the meat might surprise you: puréed fresh pineapple!
But this technique seems to be all the rage lately, so I wanted to give it a shot. The reason why pineapple tenderizes is because it has natural enzymes in it that help break down proteins and it tenderizes meat. All you have to do is cut up a pineapple and purée it in a blender with a bit of water to create a thick pulp to marinate the meat in.
It's important to note that the pineapple doesn't flavour the meat
in any way, but it is extremely effective at tenderizing. However, you have to be careful with how long you marinate the meat in the pineapple pureé. It generally it only takes 1-3 hours to fully tenderize the meat, but it depends on what cut of meat it is (i.e. how tough it is) and how thick it is. Just check it every half an hour or every hour. You don't want to marinade it too long, because the meat WILL become too tender and the fibers in the meat will actually begin to separate! After tenderizing, the meat will also turn more pale in colour, but again, this doesn't affect the flavour whatsoever.
I intentionally used eye of round, which is a tough cut of meat to see how effective tenderizing it with pineapple would be. I cut them into 1 1/2 inch (38mm) steaks and I marinated them in the pineapple purée for a little over two hours. After the meat is tenderized, all you have to do is wash off the excess pineapple, and to stop the tenderizing process. Just make sure to pat the meat dry with a paper towel afterward.
I then seasoned them with course sea salt, fresh ground pepper and garlic powder. I also made a small batch of garlic butter to baste the steaks as they cooked on the grill. I just minced some fresh garlic and lightly sautéed them in oil, and then added butter right when the garlic was fully cooked. I then set aside the garlic butter in a small bowl to be used during grilling.
I grill with charcoal and you'll want plenty of heat to cook your steaks properly. The idea is to get a good deep golden brown crust on the outside of the steak and have the inside done however you like it. I also added a foil pouch of cherrywood chips to smoke the steaks a bit and to give them an added dimension of flavour. What I did was I put a thick bed of coals on one sided of the grill and put less on the other side. The idea was to sear the outside of the steaks over high heat on one side of the grill, and then finish cooking them on the other side. I seared them for about 2 minutes per side over high heat to give them a good crust, and then I moved them to the other side of the grill to finish cooking them internally. Just make sure to brush the cooked sides with the garlic butter, and brush it again every time you flip it.
Despite being eye of round, which again, is a tougher cut of meat, the steaks came out very tender and juicy. There was no pineapple flavour
at all and the purée did an amazing job at tenderizing the steaks, and essentially making a tougher cut of meat into something that was more like beef tenderloin! With the way I cooked them, along with basting the steaks with garlic butter, it produced one of the tastiest steaks I have ever eaten. The pineapple purée allows you to use a much cheaper cut of meat that will come out very tender, juicy and flavourful. This was a really good experiment and I'd suggest you try it yourself!
