Nathaniel Prugh

I’ve Raised the Steaks

Serves 2-4

Step by Step Instructions

The steak I used in this recipe was a top sirloin, however you may use whatever cut you please.
I recommend dry rubbing or marinating your steak prior to cooking, it will enhance the flavor of
your steak, and help to tenderize it. Marinades are more effective in tenderizing a steak than dry
rubs are because the liquids in the marinades seep into the meat along with the salt to more
thoroughly break down muscle tissue. For this reason I suggest using marinades for lean beef if
you want more tenderization, and dry rubs for steaks that are already tender cuts.
● Dry rub or marinade you steak. An excellent dry rub could include salt, pepper, paprika,
garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne. Add any other ingredients you enjoy. Make
sure you let the dry rub sit for at least a few hours.
● Marinades can include many ingredients, some ingredients I like to add are: ​soy sauce,
lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, pepper, and salt. When you marinade
your steak, let it sit for at least 2 hours to overnight. Too much time marinating will
deteriorate the meat.
I dry rubbed my top sirloin overnight, and as it is a more lean cut, I did not see the need to
marinade it. Both of the styles of grilling will yield a medium-rare/medium steak.

For a very tender steak:

1. At this point you will have a steak that has been dry rubbed or marinated. Turn your grill
on, you could use one or both burners, and set it to the lowest setting. Allow the grill to
heat up to around 250-300 degrees Fahrenheit and put the steak on the grill. Make sure
the grill doesn’t go too high, and try to keep it below 400 degrees.

2. Allow the steak to cook on one side for roughly fifteen minutes, and feel free to move it
around the grill to hotter or cooler parts, just don’t move it too much in order to avoid
losing too much of the juices inside the steak.

3. Once you flip it, allow for another 12-15 minutes to cook and then remove from the heat.
Allow the steak to rest for five minutes before cutting into it. This step is crucial, because
the last five minutes lets the steak finish cooking. Enjoy!
For a flavorful and juicy steak:

1. For a steak that is less tender, but more flavorful and juicy, crank the grill up, and allow it
to get to about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t be worried if the temperature goes beyond
400 degrees. If you think the grill is too hot, open the lid to allow heat to escape.

2. Once you put the steak on, close the grill and allow it to cook for three minutes.

3. Rotate the steak 90 degrees, this gives the steak grill marks. Let the steak cook for
another 2-3 minutes.

4. Flip the steak, cooking for another three minutes.

5. Proceed to rotate the steak 90 degrees just like you did on the other side, and let cook
for another 2-3 minutes. After removing from the grill remember to let the meat rest for
five minutes!

Experiment: What I Tried

My independant and dependant variables were all qualitative. One independent variable
was aging the steak to see if it increased tenderness and flavor(the dependant variable), and
the other independent variable was grilling styles. The dependant variable remained the same
for the grilling styles as well. I wanted to see if aging or grill style yielded the best results for a
very tender steak.

Many steak recipes call for a brine or marinade to increase the flavor and tenderness of
a steak. While this is certainly helpful to the flavor of the steak, I suggest taking extra steps in
the cooking process itself to increase tenderness. There are a few ways to tenderize your steak,
and it ultimately depends on what cut of meat
you have. I attempted to do a dry aging process
in my refrigerator with a cut of meat that was
already quite tender. The thought process behind
this was that because refrigerating the meat
would make it more tender, then I could take an
already tender steak and make it even more
tender. I wrapped the steak in cheesecloth in
order to prevent excessive moisture loss and
refrigerated the steak for 48 hours. I also left a
second steak in its package and also refrigerated
it. I was hoping that the cheesecloth would
prevent a large amount of moisture from leaving
the steak, and what I found was that this steak
did not benefit from the dry aging process. The loss of moisture shrivels the fat and removes
most of the moisture from the meat. This makes the meat more rigid and tough, opposed to the
marbled fat and tender meat of the steak I left in the package. If you want a steak with less
moisture, wrap it in cheesecloth and leave it in the refrigerator for about 24 hours.

Overall, the steak that was left in the package was enjoyed more than the steak that was
wrapped in cheesecloth. The lack of moisture ultimately killed the flavor and tenderness for this
steak. In the graph below, the graph below, the blue bar represents steak A, which was the dry
aged steak, and the red bar represents steak B, which was left in it’s package and not dry aged.
Clearly you can see that steak B was much
more tender and full of flavor.

Now moving on to my grilling tests.

The steaks that were grill tested were

enjoyed much more than the ones that were
the subject of the dry aging test. I figured
that dry aging is not necessary at all, and
losing moisture is something that you do not
want to happen to your steaks. The test with
the steaks that were dry rubbed was a test
for how different styles of grilling affect tenderness, flavor, and moisture. Steak A was grilled low
and slow, and steak B was grilled at a higher temperature and for a shorter amount of time. The
graph shows that every taste tester for the two steaks found that steak A was more tender, yet
did not hold its flavor as well as steak B did. Steak B had more flavor and moisture, but was also
less tender than than Steak A. The different grilling styles should be chosen based on what you
like in a steak.
Science: Why This Works

Imagine the most tender steak you’ve ever had. Maybe it was at a steakhouse or it was
slow cooked in a smoker at an outdoor cooking event. Chances are that the most tender steak
you had was handled by experienced cooks that know how to cook any cut of meat. The
restaurant industry will often dry age their meat in a refrigerator of about 40 degrees Fahrenheit
for up to 30 days. This method works particularly well with tougher cuts of meat that contain
more collagen, which is a protein that holds muscles and muscle tissue together. Cuts of meat
that are more lean and contain less fat typically have the most collagen. Chuck cuts, sirloin tip
side steak, and top round steak are a few examples of lean cuts of beef. The cooking process
for lean and fatty cuts of beef are very different. In a lean cut if beef, you want to increase the
tenderizing process because lean cuts contain much more collagen that is ultimately harder to
chew and cut. Fatty cuts of meat require less tenderizing because there is less collagen and
therefore less tough tissue holding muscles together. I would suggest using dry aging on tough
cuts of meat that have a lot of moisture, because you will lose moisture during this process.

The reason why the steak that was grilled longer contained less juice and flavor was
because the slow grilling process allowed for the juices to exit the steak. The quick grilling
process quickly toughened the outside of the steak making sure the juices inside couldn’t
escape. Under lower temperatures, collagen actually turns into gelatin instead of becoming
tougher like it would exposed to high temperatures. This is evident as my steak that was cooked
under high temperatures developed a wonderful crust, whereas the steak cooked under lower
temperatures did not.

Personal Commentary:

My recipe can be altered and changed depending on what you enjoy in a steak. Maybe
you prefer bold flavors as opposed to super tender meat, so go with high temperatures on your
grill. If you want very tender steak, marinade it and try the low and slow technique. This recipe
ultimately serves as a framework for how you can develop your own method to grill your steak. I
discovered that instead of doing preparation such as dry aging, dry rubs and marination is much
better for both flavor and tenderness. In general, the part of the process that makes the most
difference is the part where the steaks hits the grill.

Things you could try with steaks and beef in general include: Steaks with tender meat
and moisture should be in a marinade for at least eight hours and then slapped on a low
temperature grill for a while. Try putting the flame to the lowest setting and putting the steak on
the cooler part of the grill. For meat that needs more moisture and tenderizing, use a crockpot
and submerge the meat in water or broth. The chuck is an excellent cut that is perfect for low
temperature and slow cooking, especially in a crockpot with plenty of water or broth. The chuck
is naturally a cut with a high amount of collagen and does not hold a lot of moisture.