Can you tenderize a tough as nails steak with a simple BOOM?

Watch Adam and Jamie eat their way through another meaty myth! How will they get that shoe leather edible?

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MythMod

There was an error. The chef that was a guest taster was not the only American to win the Japanese Iron Chef competition. Bobby Flay also won it.

ok... so each steak can not act as its own contorl... if the marbling is what they're trying to contorl, then the consecutive steak slice will have the same marbling.... not the cut next to it. No?

Maybe instead of the dryer, they should try a rock tumbler.

My only issue is that, while their methods might, yes, have made the meat more tender, I still don't think I would want to eat it, afterwards...especially the ones that came out of the dryer. They looked basically like they'd already been chewed up and spit out.

mlane00: Well, I don't think that will be a problem since they averaged all their control steaks, so a lot of marbling on one steak would offset a little marbling on the other. But I'm sure you know how averaging works.


But I do have a concern about the myth. I know....I'm sorry, but would the the angle that you cut the meat at be a factor? Don't you eat steak from top to bottom and not side to side?

There are a range of tissue permeabilizing techniques (heating and/or immersion in detergents, enzymes, etc.) used in histology. Could any of these be considered non-harmful enough to be viable as meat-tenderizing agents?

i should point out that my opinion is perhaps disadvantaged by my being vegetarian... sorry guys.

Thanks bigkevsexyman. I missed that.

So when does the 'Mythbusters Ballistic Steak House" open?

quote:

Originally posted by meeklo:
There was an error. The chef that was a guest taster was not the only American to win the Japanese Iron Chef competition. Bobby Flay also won it.

Thats not totally accurate.
Yes, Bobby Flay did defeat Morimoto, but it was on a "reunion" show after the original series was through.

and the first "reunion" show took place in New York. so really, all we can say is Flay defeated an Iron Chef from the original Japanese version of the show, but it was not "on" that show.

:]

How you prepare a steak also has a lot to do with it's toughness or tenderness. When you grill or pan fry a steak, you carmelize the outside of the steak, sure, but you end up creating a band of tough meat around a mostly-raw/rare interior.

America's Test Kitchen (the chef's answer to Mythbusters, except they don't blow food up) recently did a test on the best way to panfry a steak like you've done, and the answer to panfry the stripsteaks like you used were to (1) cook them FIRST in a 275degree oven for about 35 minutes, (2) THEN panfry the steak on each side for 2-4 minutes or until the proper level of doneness was reached.

This method made for a medium rare inside, well-cooked outside of the steak. And it even looked edible, compared to some of YOUR samples.

So if blowing up a steak makes it more tender what would explosive decompression do?

If you guys ever redo this myth, I'll come over from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and promise to eat all the samples. Only not those which have been done by agressive chemicals... :-P

No, but you guys did not make a "normally" tenderized control when using the device to measure the tenderness right? So we still don't know how it holds up against the other methods. We know the none tenderized version. And the extremely tenderized version, but not the normal tenderized version.

I'll expect the redo on my plate in the morning.

Thanks!

quote:

So when does the 'Mythbusters Ballistic Steak House" open?

Wink

They're still working on the combination liability waiver/menu

quote:

Originally posted by alynn:
My only issue is that, while their methods might, yes, have made the meat more tender, I still don't think I would want to eat it, afterwards...especially the ones that came out of the dryer. They looked basically like they'd already been chewed up and spit out.

Yeah, it looked more like a hamburger than a steak to me. Steak really should not fall apart with the slightest of touches. Sure it's tender, but is it steak?

I think this myth was good (trying to avoid using the phrase "well done" in a no-pun-intended situation) They were good on their technique it's just that they didn't go over some of the other effects of grilling the steak. Like what BigEddieCalzone pointed out.

I think this myth can be revisited. It is the scientist's right to reexamine and retest their hypothesis.

I think you guys should have called this one plausible rather than confirmed. The issue (offered in fun and the spirit of inquiry, not as a complaint – love the show) smacks of the age-old question: “if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it really make a sound?”

Yes, your controlled, objective test using USDA methods demonstrated a difference in tenderness as measured by the amount of force necessary to push a blade through pieces of uniformly cooked and sized bits meat (great job by the way). But the question remains, can someone eating the meat tell the difference by chewing it? It’s plausible that they can, but you didn’t test that. In other words, if you can't tell the difference, is it really more tender, despite what the force gauge says?

I think it’s a reasonable question to ask because what’s the point of trying to tenderize meat (by whatever mundane or extreme method you choose) if the results of your efforts are imperceptible to the human mouth?

In the event that you ever decide on a revisit, I think you can put this myth to bed for good by subjecting the meat to a “chew-off,” so to speak, after you have cooked and measured the tenderness of the treated and controlled samples using the USDA methods.

Done this way you have an objective measure of tenderness against which to compare the different measures of tenderizing the meat, as well as the sensory perceptions of the consumer. You can test differences within a method (is a treated piece rated more tender than its corresponding control) and between methods (is explosive-treated meat more tender than cannon-fired meat).

The flavor and fragrance industry routinely conducts sensory tests; your research staff should be able to find an industry insider to advise on how to conduct the taste tests.

Keep up the great work guys!

Well, y’all really blew it since tenderizing meat with explosives is not a myth. With a little research you should have found a number of U.S. patents (6168814, 6146262, 6224476) as well as a number of company’s that use the technique of suspending meat in water and using explosives to crate shock waves to tenderize any meat. One patent even has the trash can with a steel plate at the bottom to help reflect the shock waves back into the meat.

Never the less, it is always fun to see stuff blown up.

mdobb,

During the episode, they did explain that there was actually a set "protocol" for tenderizing meat with explosives.

The myth wasn't "Has anyone tried this" but whether or not it worked. Just because someone holds a patent on something doesn't mean that it works.

The one patent that you describe is EXACTLY what they did on the show.

Sooo.... why did they blow it?

MythMod