Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Best way to Tenderize???

<br>What do you guys do to tenderize tough cuts of meat?
<br>I have heard of using orange juice but don't know the procedure.
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<br>Any ideas???

Generaly I use the tough cuts in stew, chili, and sausage. I have also used the following to marinate and tendrize meat. Milk, coke, pepsi, lemon juice, lime juce, orange juce, (any critrus juice will work). I also maranate fish filets in lemon or lime juice mixed with ice watter before frying them. It firms up the fish. I have maranated strong tasting fish ( white bass and striper ) in coke before breading and frying it. It takes away some of the strong "fishy" taste.
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Oh, just put the meat in a glass dish, pour the juice over the meat and let it set in the fridge over night. Don't use a metal container it reacts with the acids in the juce and will leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Littlebit, All the ways that PDS mentioned will work, some impart an added flavor some do not. Papaya juice is also a good tenderizer. My self I go about it just a bit differently, tough meats get either ground as PDS suggusts and made into sausage of chili meat or other things that require ground meat. Or I put the meat into a pressure cooker and cook until done this makes the meat really tender. Dishes like Swiss steak and chimichanga (shredded meat) for tacos are easy to make. Even a tough old phesant in a pressure cooker with a few aromatics and vegies makes a great meal.
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<br>Bullwnkl.

Not much I can add. Pressure cookers work wonders even if only used for a few minutes to precook tough cuts before you do something else with them. Any body besides me use salsa as a marinade? That works too and is good for strong tasting fish.
<br>BCR

Count me as another salsa user. I generally let them sit for about 2-3 days in the stuff and then slap them on the grill on foil, smother with the salsa, and grill low and slow.
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Hey Boggy, what don't you Texas guys put salsa on? You know real fish straight out of the cold North Pacific only needs to be sliced thin and eaten fresh, you don't even need to cook it.
<br>You guys got an good recipes for salsa. Not too much tomato just plenty flavor and good heat.
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<br>Bullwnkl.

You don't really need to cook eggs before you eat them either but I had rather
<br>To be honest with you I don't have a salsa recipe I have a lot but there is a local brand that makes it better than I can and cheaper too. I can get it before they put in the preservative to bottle an sell it.
<br>BCR

Yeah a raw egg in a glass of milk ain't bad, so whats your point gotta mix it up a bit though.
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<br>Bullwnkl.

We don't put salsa on bread pudding. Everything else though is fair game.

PDS, fish shouldn't smell 'fishy' if it has been properly treated. When a fish is caught it should be bled out immediately then put on ice. Those who put the fish on a stringer in the water are just accelerating the process of decomposition. When possible the fish should then be washed, slimed in cold water, towel dried, chilled and eaten or frozen. All of this process should be done with the utmost dilligence. Well treated fish should be almost odorless. Shellfish and crab are very hard to keep from smelling and should also be treated this way. If fish/shellfish begins to get that ammonia smell I find that a dip in cold water and lemon juice destroys the odor. The secret is cold and clean.pak

Pac, your advise is sound and should be followed by all. Except with shrimp if they sell of ammonia especially imported fresh water prawns, THROW THEM OUT DO NOT CONSUME, as shrimp decompose the ammonia smell is given off at the same time a toxin that attacks your mussels is forming this toxin can and will constrict airways and cause swelling and severe itching. I have first hand knowledge of this from cleaning shrimp that had started to go over to the dark side. {spoil} the toxin is similar to a bee sting and can be treated with antihistamines. Fresh shrimp are best. If you see a slight green tinge in color of cod or turbot, sometimes passed off as halibut, do not purchase it's going bad. Fresh fish should smell like the ocean, of course if you have never been to the ocean how would you know? Take a vacation and go to the ocean so you can take a wiff. You will never forget that smell. thaks for the advise PAC
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<br>Bullwnkl.
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Didn't know that about shrimp, thanks. My favorite is side stripe followed by spots. My favorite shellfish is gulf of Alaska scallops.pak

Bullwnkl
<br>That green tint you see in those fish is not a sign of going bad, they look like that the instant they come out of the water... has to do with their diet, those found around rocky bottoms eat more variety and develop that tint. I find it makes for far better tasting fish!
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<br>Of course if you can smell it and see the tint, it is just tinted fish going bad!
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<br>Have you eatten the rock greenling before? Blue meat that turns white when cooked? Very good eating!
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<br>PAK
<br>Got to agree with you on the AK scallops, the best shellfish going! And I love it all. My crab fishing friends in Kodiak had a terrible season last month, so we aren't going to get our usual pile of crab :-(
<br>art

I think you guys are talking about saltwater fish. I was thinking about fresh water fish. And perhaps my use of the word "fishy" was not a good choice. I mainly go after crappie, catfish, and bass. There is a huge difference in the flavor ( not smell ) of those fish. The best southern fresh water fish for eating ( my opinion ) are bream, folllowed by crappie. I also like catfish though my family will not eat it if I have crappie ( which I usually do ). Bass ( black, white and striped ) all have a stronger, less delicate flavor. I have tried a lot of different things to make bass more palateable. Lots of ketchup, coke / pepsi marinade, mustard marinade, Raggu sauce, citrus juice, you name it I think I have tried it. ( even salsa ) I still don't really like the flavor of bass. I'll eat it at big fish fry's ( if I've had enough beer first ). I won't eat catfish at a restrauant either. It just does not taste as good as the catfish I catch, care for, and cook at home. I'm talking about the difference in the flavor of different fish here not the taste or smell of "spoiled" fish. When I fish for crappie I throw back the small ones and the fish I keep go into the ice chest as soon as I get them off of the hook. I think you are right about the stringer, at least concerning crappie and trout, they do seam to start to decompose as soon as you put one on it.

Sitka, getting good bottom fish around here is a seasonal thing it is either fresh or frozen the green tint was something that I thought went with the slimy texture and strong smell. We usualy don't catch turbot around here. I learned something new.
<br>As a kid in Sitka we caught a lot of greenling off of the old gravel dock in front of our home. My dad didn't think they were any good. My neighbors took all I could catch.
<br>Bottom fishin in Puget sound has been destroyed by the draggers, the state opened up commercial licences and now ther are no fish left. Sport fishing is limited to two fish a day. On the coast it has been 15 fish for years. We have some of the best fisheries management to be found anywheres...NOT. Salmon runs are poor, steelhead in the river by home are all but gone.
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<br>Bullwnkl.

Sitka, 12 years ago a friend of mine lived in Kodiak. One time he and I pulled his crab pots, just outside the harbor, and we got a dozen 10-12lb king crab. This was routine for him but was really special for me. We took the crab to his house cooked and ate all we could then froze the rest. I then absconded with the rest as I packed for the flight home . I think the crab are pretty well gone around there now.pak

pak
<br>Twenty years ago, when I first started hanging out around Kodiak we could go to any number of shallow bays and rake up huge king crabs in quantity, and sea otters were rare.
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<br>Now the otters are everywhere, and there are no shallow crabs and few in the deep, for that matter! After the Exxon Valdez the otter numbers took a serious dive and because they had over-grazed the beaches and bottoms, they have not come back to their previous numbers. Lots of speculation among the biologists that something is eating the otters, too. They are really skittish these days, the die-off has not been accompanied by found carcasses, and basic major shifts are taking place due to cyclic water temps being on the rise, which might be giving big predators problems.
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<br>My friends on Kodiak had promised us a bunch of tanners from the opener last month... most did not get enough for a meal, let alone a paycheck! Bums me out!
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<br>Bullwnkl
<br>It is a shame what they have done to Puget Sound. A friend grew up on one of the San Juans and tells of catching big lingcod off their dock; no more. Have you read "A River Lost" yet? An even-handed view of what has become of the Columbia, it is. I reccommend it quite highly.
<br>art

PDS Yeah, they are mostly talking about salt water stuff. You and me are about the only fresh water boys talking. You are right just about on your fish. Ain't it a shame that they can't get blue gills and red ears to weigh five pounds.
<br>On the catfish well. there is cat fish and then there is catfish. The stuff you get in restraunts is all commercial raised and channel cat. Channel cat ain't too hot any way and you know that one over about eight pounds you can't eat unless you are hungry. Commercial feeding takes all the taste out of them too. Best catfish to eat there is are Ops. Don't matter how big they get they are good. Humpies below fifteen pounds are good too and followed way down there by channels.
<br>BCR

James, when it comes to tenderizing tough meat. I've never had any luck with marinades. I do it the way my Grandmother did! I beat the c--p out of it, with one of those sharp toothed hammers.
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<br>And then fast cook, in the hottest cast iron skillet with butter.
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<br>Sometimes causes sever smoking problem throughout the house.
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<br>Phil