November
2009
Basic Principles For A Good Steak Tips Marinade
A lot of people believe that marinating a piece of meat that starts out tough will help make it tender. Unfortunately, this is not true a lot of the time. Many marinades are great at improving the flavor of your steak; they will generally not work so well at tenderizing. Let us look at how the various marinades are made, and how they work.
There are three basic methods of making a marinade, depending on the main ingredient. They can all have unpleasant side effects if you do not use them correctly. For instance, an acid marinade that is too potent will actually toughen that steak. Enzymatic marinades that are left on too long or used in large amounts could turn a good steak into mush, and dairy marinades do not work well with all kinds of cuisine.
One family of marinades relies on vinegar, wine, citrus and similar acids to denature proteins. This will unwind the proteins in the steak you are cooking. Once they run into other unwound proteins, they will bind back together. This happens when we heat proteins, as well. Water molecules start out trapped in this new mesh of proteins, creating a really tender steak. However, if the marinade is highly acidic, the bonds will tighten and the liquid will be squeezed out, actually toughening the tissues. That is bad news.
Because of this, a marinade that is mildly acidic is usually a better choice than one that is extremely sour. A good marinade should be there mostly for flavor, and will tenderize best if relatively week. Stronger marinades are good for tightly grained meats, but those meats are not usually put on the grill.
Enzyme marinades actually have the ability to break down animal tissue, including muscle fiber and connective tissue. Many fruits contain enzymes that can break down protein, but papaya and pineapple are probably the most common. Overuse them, and they will create a mushy, unappealing piece of meat. The same thing happens if you use them too long. This kind of activity is present in commercial meat tenderizers, too.
The last type of ribeye steak marinade recipe options is that based on dairy products, usually mildly acidic ones. These include buttermilk and yoghurt, both of which are used in India to marinate tough goat and lamb, and which are used in the US to make fried chicken better.
Steaks in this kind of marinade can be interesting, but you may need to adjust your cooking methods, since this is a little unusual. Curry flavors in your marinade may turn up a good result on the grill, however.
Marinades do not have to be complicated, and if you know the kind of results to expect from your ingredients, you will have no problem getting a great end product every time. Take a little while to investigate the different varieties of marinades to find the one that is likely to go best with your steak. The results might surprise you.
When you are choosing steaks for a special event, it is natural to wonder what is the best cut of steak. You can ask your butcher, if you have one. You can also research online and find what you are looking for. Try EasySteakMarinades.net for a wealth of information on steak.
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