There’s nothing like sitting down to a delicious steak dinner – especially if the meat is tender.
But with so many ways to tenderize a steak, which has the best results?
Guga from the popular YouTube channel “Guga Foods” decided to try and figure it out. He set up an experiment putting three different tenderizing methods to the test. In the end, the “steak expert” was able to crown a winner!
So, if you’re ready to swap out chewy steaks for ones that are tender – you don’t want to miss the results.
Let’s start with the meat.
In the video, Guga slices up a beautiful-looking loin. He explains:
“To ensure there’s no difference between steaks I’m cutting them out from one entire loin.”
He takes four of the New York strip steaks for the experiment, then packs up the rest. (No tenderizing method is used on the fourth piece.)
Method #1 – Pineapple
Guga blends up a fresh pineapple and pours it over the first steak. He says:
“…I’m going to be using the enzymes from my fresh pineapple to see how tenderized the steak will be.”
Method # 2 – Rock Salt
Let’s just say that Guga doesn’t skimp on the salt. He covers his next steak with one cup of it.
Method # 3 – Jaccard Meat Tenderizer
For the final method, Guga gets out a handy kitchen tool from the company “Jaccard,” which allows him to easily tenderize the meat. On their website it explains:
“Razor sharp double edge knives effortlessly cut through the connective tissue in meat that can cause it to be tough.”
He waits for one hour.
After the two steaks covered in salt and pineapple sit for an hour, Guga then rinses them off completely.
He sprinkles on some seasoning.
All four steaks are then seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
(If you didn’t know, Guga also runs “Sous Vide Everything,” another amazing food channel!)
It’s time to get cooking!
Guga uses his Weber Kettle grill for the experiment, and also the “reverse sear” cooking method. He explains:
“I’m first cooking the steaks at 550 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes, then searing it off.” (sear for 1 min each side)
The boys sit down to try them out.
Guga’s nephew, Angel, joins him for the tenderizing experiment. And lucky for him, it involves taste-testing all four of the mouth-watering steaks!
They start with the plain steak that hasn’t been tenderized. It tastes good, but is lacking tenderness.
Guga and his nephew move on to the other steaks.
One by one they try the pieces of meat – going in order of salt, pineapple, and lastly the Jaccard tenderizer.
The salt made the steak more tender than the regular one. But when they move on to the meat tenderized with pineapple, you can tell right away that it’s going to be a winner! Even before Guga takes a bite, he points out that the fat is just falling off.
They love the pineapple-method steak.
The moment Angel takes a bite he says, “We don’t have to do anything else. We could stop right there.”
According to Angel, it doesn’t taste like actual pineapple, but it has a very slight sweetness. It’s also super tender! Then they move on to the Jaccard steak and Guga calls it “fantastic.”
Ready for the final results?
Although each of the steaks was flavorful and delicious – the judges announce which they thought was most tender.
Going from there they awarded second prize to salt, third to the Jaccur tenderizer, and fourth prize to the regular steak.
Be sure to check out the video below to see the full experiment and their reactions!
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