The Key Ingredient for TENDER and Flavorful Steaks in 2024 – Onion Business (2024)

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The Key Ingredient for TENDER and Flavorful Steaks in 2024 – Onion Business? ›

As onion producers, buyers, and distributors embark on the journey of 2024, the spotlight on onions in the culinary world is an encouraging sign. With onions being hailed as the key ingredient for tenderizing and enhancing the flavor of steaks, the demand for quality onions is expected to rise.

When we are dealing with potentially tough cuts of beef, we will oftentimes utilize marinades with higher levels of acids like lemon juice, vinegar, or buttermilk. These marinades will help break down the muscle fibers to make them easier to cook and tenderize.

Whether hosting a holiday cookout, serving up some stir-fry or tackling game meats, baking soda is the go-to meat tenderizer to help make your steak, chicken or turkey silkier, juicier and yummier.

Onions: the key to tender meat

Food Director Amira Geory backs this trick, saying: “Adding raw onion to marinades not only adds flavour, but it also tenderises the meat. “I find that the finer the onion is, the better it works, so sometimes I actually grate the onion.

Keep a box handy for one of our favorite recent culinary discoveries: using baking soda to tenderize meat. Tenderizing meat not only makes it easier to cut, chew, and enjoy but also allows you to transform a leaner or more budget-friendly cut of protein into something that tastes much richer and juicier.

Marinate with Acid

Not only does a tenderizing steak marinade imbue aromatic flavour, but the acidic ingredients in it also denature connective proteins in the meat. Regular or apple cider vinegar, wine or beer, lemon or lime juice, buttermilk or yogurt contain tenderizing acids.

Once the beef arrives at Texas Roadhouse, meat cutters guide it through an in-house aging process. Although there are plenty of techniques for perfecting tender steak, aging the cuts in a controlled and salty environment helps break down tough muscle fibers, resulting in a richer, more succulent, final product.

Steak Tenderizing Method: Pounding with a Meat Mallet

You'll want to use a meat mallet that has a coarse side on the end (not the flat side) before pounding the steak with a good amount of force. You don't want to do it so hard that you're completely flattening the meat.

Force: Pounding, Massaging, Cutting, and More

Mallets and meat pounders, for example, can be used to hammer steaks and thin slices of meat; the heavy force from banging the meat breaks up the connective tissue and collagen around the muscle fibers, causing the muscle fibers to separate and the meat to be more tender.

What is the key to a juicy steak? ›

Rest the steak:

A good rule of thumb is to rest the steak for at least as long as you cooked it. This will allow the fibres to relax, and you're steak will be juicier and more tender for it. Rest on a slightly warm plate or wooden board.

Acidic ingredients like vinegar, lemon juice, yogurt and wine weaken collagen and protein in meat. Once the proteins are broken by acid, one loose protein can bond with another and trap liquid in the meat, making it juicy and tender. Yay!

The calcium-rich properties of milk react with enzymes in the meat to gently soften the proteins. Whole milk (not reduced fat), buttermilk, and yogurt all get the job done – with a special nod to buttermilk and yogurt for their optimal tenderizing acidity levels.

In any case, two Texas Roadhouse employees shared in a cooking segment on WBRC that the restaurant's steaks are aged for ample time, from about two weeks for tenderloins and up to 25 days for all other cuts. This allows the meat plenty of time to reach its peak tenderness and flavor profile.

However, every great steakhouse seasons the steaks they cook. Typically a steak is seasoned with coarse ground black pepper, sea or kosher salt, garlic, and some type of signature spice. In addition to the seasoning most steakhouse's use a marinade, butter, or some type of baste or finishing liquid.

Prime beef is primarily served at restaurants, has abundant marbling, and is made from young beef cattle. The marbling makes Prime steaks flavorful and more tender than the leaner Choice and Select cuts that you find at the grocery store. On top of sourcing Prime meats, restaurants also often feature dry-aged steaks.

The primary allure of adding butter to steak is the unparalleled flavor it introduces. Butter has a rich, creamy taste that, when melted over the hot surface of a perfectly cooked steak, creates a symphony of flavors.