You want one where a substantial amount of the fat is present in the muscle and evenly spread throughout. It’s tasty and as the moisture evaporates out of the steak the melting fat soaks into the meat, keeping it tender and juicy.
Salt also softens meat, in part because of its effects on moisture evaporation temperature changing in the solution, but just as importantly because salt is what naturally forces muscle to relax in a living body as well as a cut of meat. That’s why body builders eat bananas, they have potassium salts.
Never made the connection, but
when I was in human anatomy class, we removed the thigh muscle from a frog, hooked it up to a seismograph, and shocked it, to track the spasm.
As the shocks went on, it would eventually cramp up. Putting saline solution (salt water) on it, would release the cramp, and you could do the experiment again.
That’s a direct example of salt making a muscle relax. I never thought to connect it to marinating meat.
Yep, a seismograph. Mine was a vertical version, but yeah, the same thing. You suspended the muscle, with a pen attached somehow (I don’t remember, it was decades ago), and when you shocked it, the muscle would spasm, and write on the rolling paper. As the spasms increased, the markings would be smaller, until it seized up, and drew a straight line. Then you’d douse the muscle with saline, and you could do it again, although the results were less dramatic on subsequent runs. It seemed like the muscle would eventually just fatigue, and not be as revivable by saline. So we only had to repeat it a few times.
And it wasn’t just one experiment, being done by the teacher in front of everybody. We all had our own seismographs, and had to kill and dissect our own frogs. It was a real hand-on class, and was one of the best high school classes I’ve ever taken. It was a college level pre-med class, and I’ve used the info I learned in that class every day throughout my entire life.
I also tend to look for a thicker cut, since you can cook it more gradually to develop a good texture throughout without overcooking, and still develop a good crust.
You also want to dry brine it, that is 12-24 hours before cooking rubbing it with salt and leaving it uncovered in the fridge
Then before cooking, let it warm up on the bench
If you have a particularly good cut, you can warm it to room temp, then put it in a mixture of salt and water (20% salt) at freezer temperatures for 20 minutes before drying it and searing it. You’ll get a perfect crust and also perfect edge to edge consistency with no bands of overcooked meat
You want one where a substantial amount of the fat is present in the muscle and evenly spread throughout. It’s tasty and as the moisture evaporates out of the steak the melting fat soaks into the meat, keeping it tender and juicy.
Salt also softens meat, in part because of its effects on moisture evaporation temperature changing in the solution, but just as importantly because salt is what naturally forces muscle to relax in a living body as well as a cut of meat. That’s why body builders eat bananas, they have potassium salts.
Never made the connection, but when I was in human anatomy class, we removed the thigh muscle from a frog, hooked it up to a seismograph, and shocked it, to track the spasm.
As the shocks went on, it would eventually cramp up. Putting saline solution (salt water) on it, would release the cramp, and you could do the experiment again.
That’s a direct example of salt making a muscle relax. I never thought to connect it to marinating meat.
How many times did you need to do this to get the point? I feel like seeing it once, gathered around the teacher, would be plenty.
Also, a seismograph?
Yep, a seismograph. Mine was a vertical version, but yeah, the same thing. You suspended the muscle, with a pen attached somehow (I don’t remember, it was decades ago), and when you shocked it, the muscle would spasm, and write on the rolling paper. As the spasms increased, the markings would be smaller, until it seized up, and drew a straight line. Then you’d douse the muscle with saline, and you could do it again, although the results were less dramatic on subsequent runs. It seemed like the muscle would eventually just fatigue, and not be as revivable by saline. So we only had to repeat it a few times.
And it wasn’t just one experiment, being done by the teacher in front of everybody. We all had our own seismographs, and had to kill and dissect our own frogs. It was a real hand-on class, and was one of the best high school classes I’ve ever taken. It was a college level pre-med class, and I’ve used the info I learned in that class every day throughout my entire life.
I bet you could make a sick marinated frog leg
Frog leg is soft like fried chicken, doesn’t really require it.
I marinate for flavor, not for soft meat.
This is the way
I also tend to look for a thicker cut, since you can cook it more gradually to develop a good texture throughout without overcooking, and still develop a good crust.
You also want to dry brine it, that is 12-24 hours before cooking rubbing it with salt and leaving it uncovered in the fridge
Then before cooking, let it warm up on the bench
If you have a particularly good cut, you can warm it to room temp, then put it in a mixture of salt and water (20% salt) at freezer temperatures for 20 minutes before drying it and searing it. You’ll get a perfect crust and also perfect edge to edge consistency with no bands of overcooked meat
Haha yeah I think you look beautiful with or without makeup babe
I think you’re beautiful with or without meat