This month, our resident home butcher STEVE BAIN shows two methods for tenderising schnitzel.
Topside steak, sliced from the topside ‘roast’, is one of the preferred options from which to make schnitzel.
The topside roast is a mild flavoured, slightly tough cut of meat that comes from a beef hind quarter. Often used in stews, topside can be used as a steak for schnitzel if sliced thinly across the grain and then tenderised.
There are two typical strategies to the mechanical tenderising, one being to pound it with a meat hammer to make the steak thinner, the other is to break the fibres using a fork.
The fork method surprises a lot of people, so when Lynn asked for some schnitzel steaks, I thought I would demonstrate the simple method of using a fork to break the fibres in the meat to give a more tender feel in the mouth when chewing.
METHOD
Step 1: Start with a lump of topside meat, such as this topside roast. The required tools include a large knife, a meat hammer (aka meat tenderiser) and/or a fork.
Step 2: Slice a thin steak across the grain to give you a steak with short muscle fibres with a good mouth feel.
Step 3: I have sliced three steaks in order to show some of the options for the home butcher to use tenderising tools that you probably already have in your kitchen.
Step 4: A closer view of the three topside steaks.
Step 5: Taking one of the steaks, pound it with the ‘rough’ side of the meat tenderiser. This breaks some of the fibres and flattens out the steak into a thinner and wider piece of meat.
Step 6: In this photo you can see how much bigger the steak on the right becomes after pounding with the meat hammer. The steak with the fork in it is in the process of being tenderised by sticking a fork into the steak to just break the surface. Keep jabbing the fork into the steak to break it up (but don’t shred it).
Step 7: Do this forking on both sides of the steak.
Step 8: If you desire a smaller piece (which you may serve multiples of), or a smaller serving, the larger piece (from the larger muscle in the topside group) can be sectioned off. This is a good idea as there is less likelihood of getting a tough bit of gristle.
Step 9: Using this smaller piece as an example, if you just want to thin out the steak, then pound it with the smooth side of the meat hammer.
Step 10: You may also fork this smaller piece in the same manner as shown earlier.
Step 11: Three schnitzel options depending on your personal preference. Incidentally, the trimmed off piece can be cut into chunks and slow cooked in stew.