Strip Loins - ungraded beef

[Anna N]

OK so normally I have no problems with strip loins - not my favourite steak but can be tender and tasty if I use excellent beef (Canada Grade AAA at least). Season, slap on a hot grill and cook to very rare! Dive in.

But I was given two striploins from ungraded (but properly inspected!) beef. The person who gave them to me was totally up front about the quality and it's very obvious from looking that these are not going to benefit from my usual cooking method. They have almost zero marbling.

What can I do to them that will take into account that these are likely from a cow that wasn't raised to produce succulent steaks? A marinade? If so, which one? High in oil? High in acid? Soy sauce based? For how long? Cooking method?

They are about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Looking forward to some suggestions.

Thank you.

[Marlene]

Maybe thinly sliced and used in a stir fry? Probably a marinade as well. If using in a stir fry, a soy sauce one.

[JDYmeat]

Quote Beavis and Butthead "You can't polish a terd"

[C. sapidus]

Quote Beavis and Butthead "You can't polish a terd"

←

True, but (depending on the source) turds can make excellent compost. I would go with Marlene's suggestion - slice thinly against the grain, marinate briefly, and cook quickly in a smoking-hot pan with some combinatin of garlic, ginger, fish/soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, chiles/chile paste, and a touch of sugar. Finish with scallions, Thai basil, and/or sesame oil. Serve with rice or noodles.

Old shoes taste pretty good prepared that way.

[Naftal]

I would cook it for a very long time over a very low heat. I would probably use a slow-cooker and cook it for a minimum of 8 hours. But any low and slow method would work, at least that is my opinion.Oh! and I would set the slow-cooker to High,must not forget that.

Edited August 22, 2007 by Naftal (log)

[weinoo]

I think Marlene hit the nail on the head.

I don't think marinade will help much if you're cooking it as a steak. But, perhaps cutting into kabobs and then marinading will also add the flavor you're looking for - nothing's going to add to the lack of marbling, though.

[Carlovski]

I would cook it for a very long time over a very low heat. I would probably use a slow-cooker and cook it for a minimum of 8 hours. But any low and slow method would work, at least that is my opinion.Oh! and I  would set the slow-cooker to High,must not forget that.

←

That sounds like a recipe for shoeleather to me - slowcooking with little fat in the meat.

I second the idea to cook it quick and rare, but slice it thin. I'd either go for a Thai stlyle hot and sour beef salad or Stroganoff.

[Naftal]

I would cook it for a very long time over a very low heat. I would probably use a slow-cooker and cook it for a minimum of 8 hours. But any low and slow method would work, at least that is my opinion.Oh! and I  would set the slow-cooker to High,must not forget that.

←

That sounds like a recipe for shoeleather to me - slowcooking with little fat in the meat.

I second the idea to cook it quick and rare, but slice it thin. I'd either go for a Thai stlyle hot and sour beef salad or Stroganoff.

←

You are correct! Thank you so much! I learn something new everyday. Sometimes

it is good form me to make to make stupid remarks so that I'll learn something.

eG rocks

[rlibkind]

Buy fat. Grind beef and fat together. Hamburger.

Edited August 22, 2007 by rlibkind (log)

[melkor]

Buy fat. Grind beef and fat together. Hamburger.

←

Yup. Do what he says.

[Anna N]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I kept the fat from the trimmed steaks not just the ones that were given to me (couldn't think of why I might need that fat but obviously some of my gray matter still works!) so I have the option of grinding some of the fat with the meat from all of the strip loins and making burgers or doing a Stroganoff which had also occurred to me or a fast stir fry with some prior marination. I'll ponder these suggestions for a while.

Edited to make some sense!

Edited August 22, 2007 by Anna N (log)

[emsny]

Since they're already cut into 1.5" steaks, this might not be possible, but if you could slice them very thin against the gain (as in the stir-fry suggestions above), you might be able to manage some plausible Philadelphia-style steak sandwiches - as long as you also cook a lot of onions to provide some extra moisture.

[Shalmanese]

How would they work in a carpaccio? I'm thinking the paper thin slices might help fix the lack of marbling problem.

[Anna N]

Well we had one in Beef Stroganoff last night and it was very nice indeed. I was careful to quickly sear it in a very hot pan and to add it to the sauce just before serving. It impressed me enough that I am throwing caution to the wind and throwing the second steak on the grill tonight! I don't expect a Peter Luger experience but I believe it will be a perfectly acceptable piece of protein and certainly no worse than we used to get at the now-defunct cheapo steak places. I will season it well and sear it quickly and keep it on the very rare side. It will be just hubby and me so if it turns out to be inedible I can quickly throw together something else for our protein fix.