Help! I sliced my flank steak along the grain, is there a way to still have tender meat?
I don't know how to cook beef, I'm really not a meat eater; however, I prepared a recipe from memory and I was in a rush and I thought I remembered reading to slice the meat along the grain...I was wrong. I see articles all over the internet about how to slice it correctly, but I don't see any articles about what to do to salvage your meat when its sliced incorrectly.
Right now my meat has been marinating for about 16 hours and I have 8 more hours to go. Is there anything I can do to this meat to guarantee that it'll still be tender, even though I sliced it wrong? I am making Hunan beef by the way. Thank you in advance for your responses.
Best Answer
I will shamelessly steal @Jolenealaska's thunder and recommend velveting your meat as a means to protect against overcooking. This is a great method to bring meats just up to temperature, and is a very traditional preparation for stir-frys. Should work nicely with your Hunan Beef.
Pictures about "Help! I sliced my flank steak along the grain, is there a way to still have tender meat?"
How do you make flank steak less tough?
So before putting a piece of flank, hanger, or skirt steak in your mouth, the goal should be to shorten those muscle fibers as much as possible with the help of a sharp knife. If you cut with your knife parallel to the grain, you end up with long muscle fibers that are tough for your teeth to break through.What happens if you cut flank steak with the grain?
If you do cut with the grain of the steak, you will often find the meat more gamey and tougher to chew. The reason? It is because the long muscle fibers remain intact and haven't been cut. Cutting against the grain breaks up the muscle fibers making the steak much more tender.Science: How to Slice Steak and Make Cheap Beef Cuts (like Flank Steak) Tender with Only Your Knife
More answers regarding help! I sliced my flank steak along the grain, is there a way to still have tender meat?
Answer 2
Marinading should help a great deal, especially a good long marinade. The only other thing you can do is make sure not to overcook the beef. Cutting against the grain doesn't guarantee tenderness any more than any other method will, it just helps, so don't worry too much.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Helena Lopes, Maxi Gagliano, David Guerrero, Peter Tägtström