When someone is cooking, it involves a heck of a lot more than just boiling some water.
Some of the things you do to the food must take place before it is even being cooked. One of the things that fall into this category is tenderizing.
People will tenderize all types of meat, which includes sirloin steak. In this article, we will go into what pork chops and tenderizing are before finally going into the top three ways to tenderize your meat.
By the end of the article, you will be an expert at tenderizing sirloin steak.
Contents
What Is Sirloin Steak?
Before we get into anything else, you should first know what sirloin steak is. Well, sirloin steak is a type of cut.
It comes from the rear part of the cow and comes in several different cuts, which include top sirloin butt, bottom sirloin butt, and tenderloin/butt tender.
Depending on the type of cut you get, it can be awfully expensive. Also, some of the cuts are leaner than the other, so you will want to check into the exact type of sirloin steak cut you are getting.
What Is Tenderizing?
If you decide to tenderize your meat, you first need to understand what it even is. Basically, by tenderizing your meat, you are destroying the connective tissue and making it easier for you to cut and chew.
Now, some people prefer to have meat that is chewy on the tough side. No shame in that! However, for those who do not want to eat tough meat, you can tenderize it.
Hey, nothing wrong with wanting the meat to fall off and melt into your mouth!
How to Tenderize Sirloin Steak
There are a couple of ways to tenderize meat. We’ve narrowed down the top three ways to tenderize sirloin steak, which include using a mallet, marinating it, and finally, braising it.
Meat Mallet
One of the classic ways to tenderize sirloin steak is by using a meat mallet. All you have to do is hit the steak repeatedly with the mallet. Sounds pretty simple, huh? Well, if you want to do this, you must:
- Place out a cutting board or some other safe surface where you can lay your meat. If you want, you can wrap the meat in something like plastic or wrap paper so it doesn’t splash everywhere, but this part is optional.
- You can either use the flat side of the mallet or the spiked. Spiked works better for steak, so consider using that side.
- Start hitting the meat on one side. Flip it over and then repeat the process. You do not want to hit it too hard because this will ruin the steak. The point is to hit it hard enough to just break up the connective tissue.
- Once you are satisfied it is tender enough, take it out of the paper (if used) and then start to cook it.
In a matter of no time, you will have some delicious sirloin steak on your hands, in your mouth, and eventually in your belly!
Marinating
Using a marinade is a great way to tenderize the meat. You do this by using some time of acid to break down the connective tissue.
Common marinades are wine, vinegar, lemon juice, and beer, to just name a few options out there.
To marinade your sirloin steak, do the following:
- First, put your sirloin in some kind of container of your choice, and then add whatever marinade you prefer to use.
- Make sure that each side of the steak has had a chance to soak in the marinade.
- The next step is pretty simple. All you have to do is put the steak in the fridge. It should rest for a minimum of thirty minutes and a maximum of 24 hours. The ideal time is around 8 hours, so try to aim for something around there.
- Once it’s done marinating, take it out of the fridge and container. Now you can finally start cooking that delicious piece of sirloin!
We know it takes longer to tenderize your steak with the marinating method but think of the number of flavors that are going to seep into your meat!
It’ll be a great treat for not only your guests but also your taste buds.
Braising
Finally, we are onto our final method of tenderizing sirloin steak, which you can do by braising it.
When you are braising meat, it means you are browning meat in oil before cooking it in a small amount of liquid. To braise your cube steak, do the following:
- To start the braising process, you need to heat the oil in a pan at about medium heat. If you are using an oven, put it in at 350.
- Once the oil is hot, put the steak in the pan and sear both sides of it until it’s browned.
- Take out the meat and then add whatever you desire next. Broth, beef stock, veggies, etc. Then you can put the meat back in.
- Lower the heat to low or 175 if you are using an oven, and let it cook for a few hours. The length of time depends, so just make sure to keep an eye on it so you don’t end up overcooking it or something.
This method is just as effective as the other two we mentioned. Go with whatever your little heart desires.
If braising the meat is what it prefers, then go ahead and braise a sirloin steak! It’ll turn out well.
Final Thoughts
And there you go, all you sirloin steak lovers out there! You will see that tenderizing is a great way for people to get the most out of the meat and make it very tasty.
It might take a while, but soon you will be tenderizing with the best of them.
You might also be interested in the following:
- How to Tenderize Steak?
- How Do You Tenderize Chicken?
- How Do You Tenderize Stew Meat?
- How Do You Tenderize Skirt Steak?
- How Do You Tenderize Ribeye Steak?
- How Do You Tenderize Pork Chops?
- How Do You Tenderize Flank Steak?
- How Do You Tenderize Cube Steak?
I have been smoking and grilling meat from an early age and enjoy sharing my knowledge and expertise through the hundreds of articles I have written about BBQ. I hope to make everyone’s BBQ journey that little bit easier.