In the parlance of barbecue vocabulary most everyone understands the more known terms. But there is one term in the barbecue vernacular seems to get lost in the barbecuing universe and that is the barbecue rub. Just what is a barbecue rub? Everyone knows all about barbecue sauce and barbecue grills but ask the average guy on the street about a barbecue rub and he may just stare blankly back at you. A barbecue rub can make a good piece of meat a great piece of meat simply by adding an explosion of taste that isn’t found in unseasoned meat. Of course many people argue that the skill of the cook has a lot to do with the final outcome and there is a lot of truth to that. There are people who just can’t cut it at the barbecue and then there are those who are true masters at their craft. But the really good cooks know the secret of creating an excellent grilling experience lies not only in how they cook the food, but also the seasonings they use to bring out the flavor. If a master griller can up the ante with a simple rub, imagine the ego boost even the most inept cook can receive by successfully employing a rub the next time they make a barbecue attempt. Of course we still haven’t answered the original question, what is a barbecue rub? Very simply it is a mixture of herbs and spices that are rubbed, by hand, into the meat before it is placed on the grill. The great thing about a rub is it can be made up of any combination of seasonings, allowing the chef the opportunity to pick and choose what goes best with the particular food choice he has made. Spicy, sweet, hot or mild it can be whatever you want it to be. Making a successful rub may take some trial and error. Pin-pointing the exact ingredients in the proper amounts can take some time, but don’t spend time fretting over minor details. Just mix some stuff together and see how it works out. Before long you will have your own secret ingredient that will have friends and family salivating for your famous barbecue gatherings. If you are having a hard time making your own rub you can always buy a pre-made barbecue rub at just about any grocery store, just pour it out of its original container into a sealable glass jar and no one will be the wiser. With the approach of barbecue season it may be time to add the barbecue rub into your repertoire of grilling knowledge. And before long the smell of barbecues grilling steaks, burger, chicken and other mouth watering foods will start to drift across neighborhoods everywhere. Why not add your own distinctive aroma to the mix with a barbecue rub that will have everyone talking.
Andrew Bicknell is a barbeque aficionado with a website about barbequing. For more tips and trick about making a barbecue rub visit his web site Backyard Barbeque.
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Filed under Recipe by on May 28th, 2010. Comment. 
Lots of people believe that a tough piece of meat will be made tender by a good marinade, so they buy cheaper grades than they should. Unfortunately, that is not really the case. Good meat has to start out as good meat, and while many marinades taste great, they do not tenderize all that much. Let us look at three major categories of marinade and see how they work.
Marinades come in three basic types – acidic, enzymatic, and dairy. Acidic marinades that are too strong can make your food tough, while enzymatic marinades at an overly high strength will turn many steaks to mush. Dairy marinades can improve the tenderness of meat, but they are not necessarily suited to certain kinds of cooking.
Acid marinades are among the most common in Western cooking, and use vinegar, wine and citrus to denature the proteins in the meat, unwinding them and tangling them back together. The same general process occurs when we heat food. This mesh of proteins will trap water initially, and the steak will be more tender. However, highly acidic marinades will tighten those bonds further, forcing out the water and making the food tougher.
Milder acid marinades are preferable to really strong ones, since they allow us to add plenty of flavor without the danger of tightening the meat and toughening it. Meats that start out with a closer grain, including flank steak, will do okay in a stronger acidic marinade, but they are also tougher to being with.
Enzyme marinades actually have the ability to break down animal tissue, including muscle fiber and connective tissue. Many fruits contain enzymes that can break down protein, but papaya and pineapple are probably the most common. Overuse them, and they will create a mushy, unappealing piece of meat. The same thing happens if you use them too long. This kind of activity is present in commercial meat tenderizers, too.
The last category of easy steak marinades is based on mildly acidic dairy products, like yogurt or buttermilk. These are commonly used in India for goat and lamb, as well as for southern fried chicken.
Steaks can be interesting in this kind of marinade, but you may need to look at how you are cooking them, since this is not the most common type of marinade used for them. Try curry flavors along with your marinade for a good result.
Marinades do not have to be complicated, and if you know the kind of results to expect from your ingredients, you will have no problem getting a great end product every time. Take a little while to investigate the different varieties of marinades to find the one that is likely to go best with your steak. The results might surprise you.
Knowing the different types of marinades makes it easy and fun to make great steak every time you set out to make great steak. Just like there are different types of steak, there are different types of marinades and using the right marinade with the right cut of meat is a must but if you pair these two together properly, the results will be well worth the time and effort it takes to learn these tricks.
Looking for quality steak recipes and tips that will improve an already great steak? When you need to know how to make a great steak tips marinade you want to find out all the secrets to produce a great steak. But where do you get this information? These secrets can be found at http://www.EasySteakMarinades.net for advice informative articles and terrific recipes that you will love.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/food-and-beverage-articles/so-what-are-the-principles-for-easy-steak-marinades-1446711.html
Filed under Recipe, Techniques by on Nov 11th, 2009. Comment.
The natural tenderizing process for sirloin steak as well as many others produces dry aged beef. Usually, the beef whether a sirloin tip roast or not, is aged from two weeks to just over three weeks in a very expensive process. But if you are a fan of dry aged beef, it is definitely worth every penny. And for those that are true lovers of this kind of aging process, they will travel far and wide to find a restaurant that serves this kind of beef. They will also scour the internet to discover the best beef aged with this process that they can find.
The cut of beef is placed in a temperature that is closely controlled along with the humidity. The moisture in the beef, whether it’s a sirloin steak, porterhouse or whatever, is evaporated which concentrates the flavor in the steak. When that happens, the sirloin tip roast or other cut of beef has natural enzymes that break the tissue down and creates a tenderer cut of meat. After the dry aged beef process is over, the butcher now has to trim the crust off the meat that has built up and that is why this smaller piece of meat is more expensive than a normally aged sirloin steak, T-bone or whatever.
Since dry aged beef has a much stronger flavor than wet aged, many people grow to love it so much that they refuse to eat anything but that. And the longer the meat is aged, the stronger the flavor will be. For example, a sirloin steak that is dry aged for 3 weeks will have a stronger beef flavor than one that is aged for two weeks. The same with sirloin tip roast or any other cut of beef. (10)
Amongst true steak lovers and those that will not eat anything but dry aged beef, there is no question that this method of aging is superior to anything else. But there is a debate. Many think that perhaps dry aged beef is over-rated and is actually much too gamey to the taste. Of course, if you’ve ever had this kind of sirloin steak, you might never go back and soon become a believer then you will also only want your steak aged in this fashion. Beef is definitely not all created equal.
For more resources regarding Sirloin Tip Steak or even about Filet Mignon Cut and especially about Buy New York Strip Steak please review these pages.
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Filed under Source by on Nov 10th, 2009. Comment.
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