Steak Tacos

Ingredients:
1 1/2lbs sirloin steak
Marinade-
1/2 cup orange juice
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Tacos-
10 (8 inch) flour tortillas
shredded Monterey jack cheese
lettuce
tomato
Guacamole

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a medium bowl combine orange juice, oil, lime juice, cider vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. Add steak and toss in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
Step 2: Heat an outdoor grill to high heat. Remove steak (reserving the marinade) and place onto the grill. Grill steak for 3-4 minutes per side and brush with the reserved marinade occasionally while grilling. Remove from the grill and slice into thin strips.
Step 3: Place a bit of guacamole onto the bottom of each flour tortilla. Top with steak strips, cheese, lettuce and tomato.
(Makes 5 Servings)

make the most tender, flavorful steak recipe

the steak secret: massively salt your steaks 1 hour before cooking for every inch of thickness.

Notice that I didn’t say, “sprinkle liberally” or even “season generously.” I’m talking about literally coating your meat. It should resemble a salt lick.

Here’s two nice pieces of regular ‘ol supermarket steak. They’re about 1.25 inches thick, so I’ll let them salt for about 1.25 hours.

Season liberally with kosher salt on both sides:

And then just let it sit on your counter.

After 15 minutes, it will look like this — you can see how the meat’s water is starting to come up to the surface — and that some of the salt is still on the surface of the steak.

After 30 minutes, you’ll see more water:

After almost an hour:

And now 1.25 hours – see all that water?  You can also see that there’s still salt on the surface of the steak.

The next step is to discard the water, rinse the steak really well to rid of all the salt. Pat very dry. Very very dry with clean paper towels so that absolutely no moisture is left on the steak.

Then it’s time to cook.

how salting works

All of you who season JUST before grilling – this is what you are really doing to the meat. Did you know that? All the water comes to the surface and if you don’t pat super-dry, you’re basically STEAMING the meat. Plus, your salt just sits on the surface of the steak, leaving the interior tasteless.

Now – note that only a little of the salt gets to go back into the meat. Don’t worry – you aren’t going to be eating all that salt!

What of all the water that stayed on the surface of the meat? Aren’t you drawing all the moisture out of the meat? 

verification on technique

Cook’s Illustrated January 08 issue (and you can also find it on their paid portion of their website. Just search for “Improving Cheap Roast Beef”) They salt a 4lb roast beef (big, fat, thick meat) and they are using 4 tsp kosher salt – therefore their steak recipe recommends salting for 18-24 hrs. It’s all related: thickness of meat : amount of salt : time.

salting steak recipe key points

• Use kosher or sea salt, not table salt <– that is important. It will not work well with tiny tiny grains of table salt. Plus, table salt tastes like shit.
• Use steaks 1″ or thicker.
• Follow my timetable (below)
• If you are Harold McGee, a member of Alton Brown’s research team or Mr. Burke my high school chem teacher…..and think I’m full of B.S…. please let me know. But guys, none of this was in your books. I had to formulate, extrapolate, hypotholate and guesstulate based on your stuff. Highly mental activity.
• I know this sounds awfully like salt-curing, which dries out meat (like beef jerky). But with salt curing, you use A LOT more salt and leave it salting for A LOOOOOONG time. We’re talking about a little tiny nap here – not weeks – just enough to break down the proteins and flavor the steak throughout.
• Again, don’t worry about all that salt. Just enough of it gets absorbed into the meat. Most of it gets washed down the drain when you rinse off. Really.
• I know you’re going to ask…so I’ll answer it for you. Why not brine? You could if you really want water-logged diluted-tasting crappy steak.

I understand that this method will cause chaos, confusion and controversy in your household. But I encourage you to experiment: try adding spices, crushed garlic and rosemary sprigs to the salt, which will then act like Christina Aguilera dragging its entourage of flavors with it into the meat. If confusion in the household becomes unbearable, just whack’em with the hunk of salted steak..

Chinese Pepper Steak

 The best part about this dish is the delicious tasting sauce, a mixture of soy sauce, wine, water, sugar, corn starch and oil

Ingredients:1 pound flank steak (sliced)
Marinade:
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry or rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoon corn starch
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Vegetables:
2 teaspoons ginger root (chopped or grated)
2 scallions (chopped)
2  tablespoons vegetable oil (for cooking)1 large Onion (sliced)
2 green bell peppers (sliced)
4 garlic cloves (chopped)
1 8oz can of sliced mushrooms (drained) or fresh sliced mushrooms

Cooking Instructions:
 Step 1: Marinate your sliced steak for about 20 minutes to a half hour.
Step 2: Add oil to your pan (I use a wok). Add garlic, ginger, and scallions. Stir fry for about 30 seconds.
Step 3: Now take a slotted spoon, add half of the steak, and stir fry for 3 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Repeat with the remaining half. (note- you need to reserve the marinade, as it is used to make the delicious sauce at the end.)

Step 4: Add oil and stir fry mushrooms, onion, and pepper for 2 minutes.
Step 5: Push vegetables to the sides of your pan. Pour marinade into the center and stir fry until thickened and bubbly.    Step 6: Blend in vegetables, add steak and heat thoroughly. Serve on top of white rice.