Beef and Pork marinade BBQ Help

Mister Bushice · Post by **Mister Bushice** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 5:02 am

I've got chicken and pork ribs down pat, I have no problem with them.

However certain cuts of beef like london broil, NY steak, and pork chops or country style ribs I am not at all happy with the results. The meat comes out too tough sometimes. It's unpredictable. I've tried various marinades for 20 minutes to 6 hours, but nothing has yet softened the meat to my liking.

I'm not talking about the top priced meats. Those are fairly easy. I mean the ones that may have more fat tissue in them and they need some tenderizing.

I will take your answers on the air, provided it is tomorrow.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 7:50 am

A NY steak, if it's a deece grade of meat shouldn't need any marinade. Just season before cooking, burn it on the outside and you're in there.

London broil is one of my favorites because you can usually find it pretty cheap but if fixed right is very tasty. It can be somewhat tough, and that's why you slice it thin in a diagonal direction, across the grain. The marinade that's always worked for me:

a pile of minced garlic
about a teaspoon salt
a little ground black pepper

mix with:
75% red wine vinegar
25% salad oil,

enough to fill one of those Good Seasons salad dressing cruets.

Marinade in a ziplock bag, at least overnight, 48 hours is better.

Remove from fridge at least an hour before cooking. Grill on high heat, it shouldn't flare up because there's probably almost no fat on it, until rare in the center and well seared on the outside. Let it rest for 10 or 15 minutes before serving (make a salad while you wait).

Last time I fixed it I replaced about half the vinegar with soy sauce, skipped the salt and added a few dashes of dark sesame oil. It came out with a sort of tangy teriaki flavor. Really nice. Served with stir fried sugar snap peas with shiitake mushrooms over rice.

Mister Bushice · Post by **Mister Bushice** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:30 pm

Thanks, I'll try that.

Thats one down. Now how about pork? Sometimes I get chops of good quality and they come out tender, but its a crap shoot, especially the thicker ones. The white meat on the outside part of the chop is always tougher than the darker meat closer to the bone on the other side.

Mikey · Post by **Mikey** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 12:52 am

Believe it or not an excellent all-round marinade is Wishbone Italian dressing. You can get 50 gal drum size bottles at Sam's for pretty cheap and it works well on just about anything you care to marinade. Try it on pork chops and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

While you're at it cut up some onions, red and yellow peppers, zucchini. Throw them in a bowl with some shrooms and marinate in the Wishbone too. Put the pieces on some metal skewers or just straight on the grill next to the chops.

Variable · Post by **Variable** » Sat Jun 04, 2005 5:04 pm

Like Mikey said, just about any vinegar-based salad dressings work well as a marinade. You can also use a tomato-based vinegar dressing like Catalina as BBQ sauce for chicken.

Any type of citrus marinade will also work well with pork chops.

If you decide to use soy sauce in a marinade, be sure to taste it first to make sure it's not too salty. Otherwise if you toss it in the fridge overnight, you could use it for a catcher's mitt in the morning.

Also, to make meat more tender, searing (as Mikey said) holds in the juices, but you also need to make sure you don't cook it too long on one side. Overcooking is the quickest way to shoe leather meat.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 12:03 am

http://www.headcountry.com/

damn good for BBQ chicken. website has some good info as well....but more w.r.t. BBQ.

overcooking on the grill is easy to do once you flip. grill time should be more on side 1 than side 2.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Sun Jun 05, 2005 12:11 am

Mister Bushice wrote:Thanks, I'll try that.

Thats one down. Now how about pork? Sometimes I get chops of good quality and they come out tender, but its a crap shoot, especially the thicker ones. The white meat on the outside part of the chop is always tougher than the darker meat closer to the bone on the other side.

pork cooks so quickly esp. chops. it's hard to do. i used to work for an italian chef who had use cook pork chop specials (we had a kind of italian red wine/brandy gravy kind of like a French bourgonion sauce)....but he had us cook the meat so it was still a little pink inside (which is a no no) but insisted by the time it would reach the table the heat in the meat would cook it tender and not dangerous. he also used to some thing with apples and pork.....i'd have to think about that more to remember...it's been a couple years.

some of the tenderest pork i've ever had was made by mexican friends of mine who would tenderize with fresh squeezed lemon juice. as they did with skirt steak for carne asada.

missjo · Post by **missjo** » Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:14 am

Try giving it a bash with a tenderising hammer
it breaks down the harder fatty tissues & lets marinade soak further into the meat

If you havent already got a tenderising hammer you can pick one up from any good kitchen utensil store
Don't by a cheap one beacause a good solid stainless steel one will last a lifetime