FINGER STEAKS

This is an old-fashioned recipe. Serve this for dinner or for an appetizer.

1 Round Steak, tenderized ( 1.5 - 2 pounds)
Salt and Pepper
1 cup flour
1/3 to 1/2 fine saltine cracker crumbs
2 eggs beaten
Shortening or vegetable oil

Cut round steak into finger-sized strips... season with salt and pepper.
Combine flour and saltine crumbs.  Dip strips in beaten egg then in the crumb mixture.

Saute in shortening or vegetable oil until brown on all sides. As the strips  finish browning, place them side by side on baking sheet with sides.

Cook at 300 for no longer than 1 hour depending on the degree of doneness you prefer.

Serve with ranch dressing or cocktail sauce.

Make the Most Tender, Flavorful Steak Recipe

This recipe comes from a WONDERFUL blog, The Steamy Kitchen Food Blog - unfortunately, I can not get the link to work so please search forher blog... you'll be glad you did.

She shares her way to make an exceptionally tender and flavorful steak.   Her recipe is below.

 So, my friends, I am offering you a very juicy secret, one that will turn an ordinary “Choice” cut of steak into a gucci “Prime” cut (And yes, I know what “Choice” and “Prime” means – it’s the marbling. The salting doesn’t affect fat content – I’m using those terms as a figure of speech and something people can relate to)
Do you know the joy of buying Choice and eating Prime? It’s like buying a Hyundai and getting a free mail-in rebate for a BMW upgrade!!!

The Steak Secret: massively salt your steaks 1 hour before cooking for every inch of thickness.

Notice that I didn’t say, “sprinkle liberally” or even “season generously.” I’m talking about literally coating your meat. It should resemble a salt lick.
Here’s two nice pieces of regular ‘ol supermarket steak. They’re about 1.25 inches thick, so I’ll let them salt for about 1.25 hours.

Season liberally with kosher salt on both sides:


And then just let it sit on your counter.
After 15 minutes, it will look like this — you can see how the meat’s water is starting to come up to the surface — and that some of the salt is still on the surface of the steak.

After 30 minutes, you’ll see more water:

After almost an hour:

And now 1.25 hours – see all that water?  You can also see that there’s still salt on the surface of the steak.

The next step is to discard the water, rinse the steak really well to rid of all the salt. Pat very dry. Very very dry with clean paper towels so that absolutely no moisture is left on the steak.
Then it’s time to cook.
Before y’all throw a hissy fit, just hear me out. I first learned of this technique from Judy Rodgers’ The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco’s Beloved Restaurant. Judy massively salts her chicken before roasting, and I’ve adapted the practice to steaks. Thanks to a couple of other books (McGee’s On Food and Cooking and Alton Brown’s I’m Just Here For the Food), and a few fellow bloggers, I have an explanation of how it works.
Oh, and if the drawings look like a 3rd grader did it, too bad….YOU try drawing with a laptop touch-pad and a glass of bourbon on the rocks.

How Salting Works

All of you who season JUST before grilling – this is what you are really doing to the meat. Did you know that? All the water comes to the surface and if you don’t pat super-dry, you’re basically STEAMING the meat. Plus, your salt just sits on the surface of the steak, leaving the interior tasteless.

Now – note that only a little of the salt gets to go back into the meat. Don’t worry – you aren’t going to be eating all that salt!

Bourbon does that to me too.

I can hear it now..BUT!!! What of all the water that stayed on the surface of the meat? Aren’t you drawing all the moisture out of the meat? Will it taste like a salt lick? (*%!*%!@#!#!!! I DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS STEAK RECIPE!!!
Pull your pants back on and keep reading…

Verification on Technique

Cook’s Illustrated January 08 issue (and you can also find it on their paid portion of their website. Just search for “Improving Cheap Roast Beef”) They salt a 4lb roast beef (big, fat, thick meat) and they are using 4 tsp kosher salt – therefore their steak recipe recommends salting for 18-24 hrs. It’s all related: thickness of meat : amount of salt : time.

Salting Steak Recipe Key Points

• Use kosher or sea salt, not table salt <– that is important. It will not work well with tiny tiny grains of table salt. Plus, table salt tastes like shit.
• Use steaks 1″ or thicker.
• Follow my timetable (below)
• If you are Harold McGee, a member of Alton Brown’s research team or Mr. Burke my high school chem teacher…..and think I’m full of B.S…. please let me know. But guys, none of this was in your books. I had to formulate, extrapolate, hypotholate and guesstulate based on your stuff. Highly mental activity.
• I know this sounds awfully like salt-curing, which dries out meat (like beef jerky). But with salt curing, you use A LOT more salt and leave it salting for A LOOOOOONG time. We’re talking about a little tiny nap here – not weeks – just enough to break down the proteins and flavor the steak throughout.
• Again, don’t worry about all that salt. Just enough of it gets absorbed into the meat. Most of it gets washed down the drain when you rinse off. Really.
• I know you’re going to ask…so I’ll answer it for you. Why not brine? You could if you really want water-logged diluted-tasting crappy steak.

I understand that this method will cause chaos, confusion and controversy in your household. But I encourage you to experiment: try adding spices, crushed garlic and rosemary sprigs to the salt, which will then act like Christina Aguilera dragging its entourage of flavors with it into the meat. If confusion in the household becomes unbearable, just whack’em with the hunk of salted steak..

Best Steak Recipe for the Grill

By: Sean Lee  

 

I am an honest guy ... I didn’t invent this recipe, BUT I read about it in the local paper, and it sounded interesting, so I tried it. I’ve done variations on it, but going back to the basics is the best.

First, the mix:
2 parts salt
1 part confectioners sugar.

When I put them together, I grind the salt down with a tablespoon so it comes close to the consistency of the confectioners sugar. I’m guessing what happens is the salt seals in the moisture of the steak, and the sugar caramelizes around the salt to give that nice flavor. Needless to say, this is my favorite recipe for a grilled steak.

Get your grill as hot as you can, and make sure your steaks are at room temperature. Sprinkle one side of the steak with the mix and place it onto the grill. Depending on how you want your steak, just before you turn it over, sprinkle the mix on the uncooked side and flip. Always be sure to give your steaks at least five minutes to rest before digging in.


The variations I tried:
2 parts salt, 1 part brown sugar
2 parts soy, 1part confectioners sugar
2 parts salt, 1/2 part confectioners sugar, 1/2 part brown sugar.
Forget the baked/grilled potato ... get a sweet potato instead and bake or grill that. I also serve my steak with a medley of fresh mushrooms from the store sautéed in butter, and then a bit of squeezed lime topped with some coriander.
Cheers!

How to Cook A Perfect Steak

Vodka Steak Marinade

1/3 Cup  Sobieski Polish Vodka

1/4 Cup  Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice

3 Tablespoons  Dark Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Of Crushed Tellicherry Black Peppercorns

1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Sea Salt

3 Large Fresh Minced Garlic Cloves

3 Tablespoons Fresh Diced Parsley

2 Tablespoons Fresh Diced Thyme


Serving Size 6        68 Calories Per Serving     2 Grams Of Fat


I absolutely love this vodka steak marinade.

Use a  medium size glass mixing bowl - add the Sobieski Polish Vodka, fresh squeezed lime juice, dark brown sugar, crushed black peppercorns, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, garlic cloves, diced parsley, and diced thyme. Using a metal whisk, whip the ingredients together until you have an even distribution of ingredients, and all of your sea salt has fully dissolved.

Remove enough marinade and refrigerate until ready to grill the steaks ( you don't want to use the marinade the steaks were in, you could get a food borne illness.)

When I used this steak marinade, I poured it into a freezer bag along with four flank steaks, and then worked the marinade over the meat by squishing the bag around. I let the steaks marinate for twelve hours, and they came out just full of delicious flavors.

Heat the the marinade before using it to basted the steaks while grilling ...  With regard to the vodka selection, I'm a huge fan of Polish vodka, and recommend you try it if you haven't done so already.

Bourbon Steak

* 1/2 cup soy sauce
* 1/4 cup bourbon
* 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
* 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger
* 1/4 cup water
* 1 steak (1/2" thick)

Combine everything in a shallow dish.
Marinate the steaks for at least two hours.
Grill over a charcoal fire.

She Loves Wine's Japanese Steak and Veggies

1# Flank Steak or boneless round steak
Meat tenderizer
1 large red onion
1/2# fresh mushrooms
1 medium zucchini
1 cup beansprouts
1 TBSP safflower or Peanut Oil
1 tsp Accent
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP sesame seeds (Optional)

Cooked rice

Slice meat against grain, into 1/4" slices. To ensure tenderness, sprinkle meat with tenderizer. Slice onion paper thin and separate into rings. Slice mushrooms, cut zucchini into quarters lengthwise, then into slender 3" lengths. Rinse and drain beansprouts.

Heat oil until hot in wok. Add beef and stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add all remaining ingredients and cook and stir until the veggies are heated through but still crunchy. Serve over cooked rice.

Steak Oriental

This is one of my favorite grill recipes, works well for picnics and tail gate picnics.

This also makes a great marinade for kabobs.


1 8 -oz bottle Wishbone Italian Dressing
1/4 cup soy sauce (may want to use light soy)
2 TBSP brown sugar
Steak ( about 2 - 2.5 lbs)
1 large onion, sliced
1/2# mushrooms, sliced

Put steak in a zip lock bag or Tupperware container. Combine all and pour over steak to marinate for 4 hours or over night. Turn frequently.

Broil steak turning frequently and basting with remaining marinade.

Bring marinade to a boil before serving..... If you don't do this, discard it and the remaining contents. Stay food safe.