Cooking thin sliced frying steak...

BrandNewDay

Pretani wrote: »

BrandNewDay, I think you inadvertently answered your initial question, however were you on about chicken or beaf steaks? I like lard too, it's got more flavour, I was brought up on it.

Sorry! I'm talking about beef steaks. I've seen them called "Quick Fry Steaks" or something to that effect. They're often on special offer at Asda. For some reason, breaded and fried steak is often called "Chicken Fried Steak" in America. I guess because it's fried like chicken usually is. But, it is beef. A lot of restaurants will call it "Country Fried Steak" to avoid the confusion.

Pink.

Hi Brandnewday,

Your post has confused me, sorry....I'm easily confused.

Are you asking a question about cooking quick fry steaks or offering a solution?

Pink

BrandNewDay

Pink-winged wrote: »

Hi Brandnewday,

Your post has confused me, sorry....I'm easily confused.

Are you asking a question about cooking quick fry steaks or offering a solution?

Pink

Both! If someone could tell me how to cook them so that they are tender, I would appreciate it. I would like to make a steak sandwich with onions, but whenever I try to cook them, they get much too tough.

However, I have found one way of cooking them - pounding them with a tenderizer, then breading and frying them - that keeps them from getting tough. It's very tasty. But, I'd like to know how other people cook theirs.

Pink.

BrandNewDay wrote: »

Both! If someone could tell me how to cook them so that they are tender, I would appreciate it. I would like to make a steak sandwich with onions, but whenever I try to cook them, they get much too tough.

However, I have found one way of cooking them - pounding them with a tenderizer, then breading and frying them - that keeps them from getting tough. It's very tasty. But, I'd like to know how other people cook theirs.

I think the clue is in the name. They need to be cooked very quickly so that the steak is cooked rare to medium rather than well done. Depending on how many you are cooking for you may need to do it in batches so that it fries rather than steams in it's own juices.

To make a peppered steak baguette I slice the steak and preheat the pan until it's very hot. Flash fry the steak without oil or lard then remove it from the pan and keep warm. Fry onions and mushrooms in a little oil. Add seasoning (salt, mixed herbs, loads of black pepper) a little wine and a little cream and simmer until thickened. Pop the steak back into the pan until it's heated through and serve in warm salad filled baguettes.

Pink

Pretani

It really depends on what type of meat it is. As PW says the name suggests it should be cooked quick, but if that doesn't make the steak tender, it's probably due to the type of meat. If quick cooking doesn't make it tender, then the only option is to cook it slow (less heat) until the fatty parts of the meat release (usually takes over 30mins)

Pitlanepiglet

I've got some of these in the freezer, must use them up! OH cooks them too long and they are horrible! The key is to just flash fry them, I do them for around a minute on each side I think, (I guess they are the original "minute" steaks - am I showing my age? )

One option might be to marinade them in wine or some other liquid to make sure they are really plumped up, I might do this as mine have been in the freezer for a little while. Then flash fly them.

Stephen_Leak

I use them in stir fries. As the slices are cut so thin, it makes it dead easy to cut them into really thin strips.

STIR FRIED BEEF IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

250g of beef
½ a bunch of spring onions
112g (½ a 225g tin) of bamboo shoots
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
120g sachet of black bean sauce

METHOD

Cut the beef into very thin strips. Wash the spring onions, cut off the root ends and leaves, peel off and discard any dried up or slimy outer leaves, then chop into 1cm (½ inch) pieces. Open the tin of bamboo shoots and drain off the liquid.

Put the oil into a frying pan or wok on a medium heat. Add the beef. Fry for about 1 minute until cooked. Stir frequently to stop it sticking. Add the spring onions. Continue to fry for another minute. Stir frequently to stop it sticking. Add the bamboo shoots and black bean sauce. Continue to fry for another minute. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use pork instead of the beef. Add 112g (½ a 225g tin) of water chestnuts. Add ½ a sweet pepper, cut into slices (see below). Serve with boiled rice or noodles.

TIPS

HOW TO CUT A ROUND SWEET PEPPER INTO STRAIGHT SLICES

Cut the top and bottom off but don’t throw them away. Remove and discard the middle bit with the seeds. Make a cut down the pepper. Open it out. The round pepper is now a rectangular pepper. Cut into slices. Cut the stalk out of the top end and then chop it and the bottom end into tiny pieces. Add the chopped pepper to the dish.

BrandNewDay

I am so glad I posted this! I see these on offer all the time and, not being able to afford any other beef than mince, I am eager to find ways to use these.

For that matter: what do you all do with beef medallions? I also see those on offer, although I don't think they're usually a very good price. And, the one time I bought them, they were really, really tough. I suspect the thing to do with them is bake them real slow in an oven dish or slow cooker full of some sort of sauce or gravy?

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, BND :beer: I've found and older thread with suggestions on how to get frying steak tender, so I'll add this one so that you can browse the ideas there

Penny. x

northern_star

Last week I bought what I thought was a bargain - 2 packs of 'frying' steak reduced to £1.20 a pack as on the sell by date. Each pack divided into 4 portions, which I promptly froze. Fast-forward to yesterday and we had some of this for dinner and it was soooo tough. DS, DD and I battled through most of our portions but OH couldn't manage his (the dog did tho' ). I have 4 more portions in the freezer which I don't want to waste. Can I simply change the cooking method and braise/stew it slowly? will the length of cooking time tenderise it? Or am I stuck with expensive dog meat? I thought about cooking it and adding it to pasties but that could be a lot of work for the result of pasties with inedible contents. I don't know if the different 'cuts' of meat ie 'frying steak', 'braising steak' only lend themselves to that method of cooking. Any help or ideas would be gratefully recieved.

ps. I don't have a slow cooker.