Meat tenderizers

[antdad]

The tenderizing meat mallet has been a kitchen staple for as long as I can remember but as with some cuts of beef (rump) I like the taste but not necessarily the texture/tenderness without having to turn it into a pancake if I choose to cook to cook it quickly.

Do any members have any experience of the following and do they actually work?

http://www.amazon.com/Deni-MT45-Meat-Tenderizer-Blade/dp/B002R0FRHC

[mbhank]

Yes, It is known as the Jacard Tenderizer and you will frequently see it being used by professional chefs. I have one and always use it on steaks and chops. It does work.

This may be heresy, but I miss the old Adolph's Salt Free Meat tenderizer of yore. I have been unable to find one like it ever since Adolph's stopped making it years ago. Anyone?

[jrshaul]

I'm curious - what's your preferred method of using chemical meat tenderizer on different pieces of meat?

Edited July 1, 2011 by jrshaul (log)

[toolprincess]

Yes, It is known as the Jacard Tenderizer and you will frequently see it being used by professional chefs. I have one and always use it on steaks and chops. It does work.

This may be heresy, but I miss the old Adolph's Salt Free Meat tenderizer of yore. I have been unable to find one like it ever since Adolph's stopped making it years ago. Anyone?

What? they stopped making it? I have a shaker of it at home...not sure I might have purchased it a few years ago. Adolph's is the BEST!

[runwestierun]

I love the Jaccard and use often, it works better than anything. If you are thinking of purchasing one, the Jaccard brand is much better than the knockoffs (the "crappards"). Also, I much prefer the one that has a removable cassette of blades for super easy cleanup. This one's my favorite

http://www.amazon.com/Jaccard-45-Knife-Meat-Tenderizer/dp/B000A3I3G0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309545710&sr=8-1

The blue button slides to the side and the blade cassette pops out. There is a good thread on the Jaccard here:

[mbhank]

This may be heresy, but I miss the old Adolph's Salt Free Meat tenderizer of yore. I have been unable to find one like it ever since Adolph's stopped making it years ago. Anyone?

What? they stopped making it? I have a shaker of it at home...not sure I might have purchased it a few years ago. Adolph's is the BEST!

They discontinued it years ago. Like you, I had a jar of it that I had for years until it ran out. I used it on nearly every cut of meat. The one they have now has salt in it and, although I'm on a salt restricted diet, I'm tempted to try it.

Edited July 1, 2011 by heidih
Fix quote tags (log)

[ermintrude]

Could they have used one of these on the meat?

[dcarch]

Could they have used one of these on the meat?

 

Not a chance. Those machines can never tenderize meat. They only make meat more chewable. Meat fibers will be just as tough.

 

dcarch

[ermintrude]

Not a chance. Those machines can never tenderize meat. They only make meat more chewable. Meat fibers will be just as tough.

 

dcarch

I did a trial with some stewing steak, one I did nothing with,the other I used the jaccard on then cooked both sous viide at 60C for 4 hours with a small of gorgonzola in each bag, the jaccarded steak was preferable and softer than the non jaccarded steak. Interestingly the small amount, and I mean a smear, of blue cheese really brought out the beef flavor and was eaten even by a guest who will not eat any form of cheese.

Edited September 2, 2014 by ermintrude (log)

[dcarch]

I did a trial with some stewing steak, one I did nothing with,the other I used the jaccard on then cooked both sous viide at 60C for 4 hours with a small of gorgonzola in each bag, the jaccarded steak was preferable and softer than the non jaccarded steak. Interestingly the small, and I mean a smear of blue cheese really brough out the beef flavor and was eaten even by a guest who will not eat any form of cheese.

 

Jaccarding may make the meat more flavorful. It allows better seasoning penetration. It also allows more juice to leak out from the meat.

 

You also hear that cross cutting the meat in thin slices against the grain will make the meat more tender. No it does not. Again it will make the meat more chewable, it does nothing to make the meat tender.

 

dcarch

[Martin Fisher]

Jaccarding may make the meat more flavorful. It allows better seasoning penetration. It also allows more juice to leak out from the meat.

 

You also hear that cross cutting the meat in thin slices against the grain will make the meat more tender. No it does not. Again it will make the meat more chewable, it does nothing to make the meat tender.

 

dcarch

 

Some allege that the severing of muscle fibers inhibits contraction which is perceived as improved tenderness.

[KennethT]

Jaccarding may make the meat more flavorful. It allows better seasoning penetration. It also allows more juice to leak out from the meat.

 

 

dcarch

I've rea studies that show the opposite (and have confirmed this with side by side steak tests) - jaccarding actually caused the meat to release less juice during cooking. The apparent cause is that by severing the muscle fibers, they can't contract as much, and squeeze out as much juice. My tests confirmed it over multiple trials - I've taken strip steak, divided them, and jaccarded one half and left the other untouched. They went into separate bags, but into the same water bath for the same amount of time. The non-jaccarded bags always had more juice in them, and back when I had time to do this stuff, the percent weight loss was also statistically significant.. - if I remember, it was about a 10% difference.

[dcarch]

I've rea studies that show the opposite (and have confirmed this with side by side steak tests) - jaccarding actually caused the meat to release less juice during cooking. The apparent cause is that by severing the muscle fibers, they can't contract as much, and squeeze out as much juice. My tests confirmed it over multiple trials - I've taken strip steak, divided them, and jaccarded one half and left the other untouched. They went into separate bags, but into the same water bath for the same amount of time. The non-jaccarded bags always had more juice in them, and back when I had time to do this stuff, the percent weight loss was also statistically significant.. - if I remember, it was about a 10% difference.

 

You can be 100% correct. 

 

It occured to me that those times I had done jaccarding, I did it on semi-frozen meat. What I saw probably was not juice from the meat, but melted ice.

 

Interesting.

 

dcarch

[paulraphael]

If you jaccard, just remember to adjust your cooking times to pasteurize all the way to the center, since the pierced meat can no longer be considered sterile on the inside.

 

Re: baking soda ... it's an interesting idea, but there's no way that any kind of presoak penetrates more than a millimeter or two in 15 minutes. It's a surface treatment.