Thai Beef- Buy a steak, marinate it... and hope for the best!

[barefoot1988]

if you eat steak regularly, the cheapest and best method is to get a sous vide machine.

i just place my cuts in the sous vide machine before work and when im back it would be ready and just need to pan saute them. perfect medium well and tender everytime and any cuts. i find local rib eye having a very strong beefy taste that i prefer over the australian beef in tops

[jaideeguy]

Hey, thanks Michael for the inspiration. like most, I've been disappointed and fooled by Thai beef and have bought a really nicely marbled piece only to get home and cook it and have it inedible. What a let down!!

I have tried the papaya method, but there is such a fine line between tender and mush that I give up on papayas, but the pear recipe worked great for me this evening and earned 5 stars from my harshest critic.....my daughter.

I made a few variations to your original recipe...........

I started with a Makro rib eye, cut about 3/4th inch and pounded the heck out of it with the top side of a heavy serrated cleaver and followed the ingredients, except added chili and ginger and a little rum and sugar, then let it marinate for 5 hrs in a bag in the fridge, then removed it and shook off most of the solids in the marinate and lightly powdered it with flour. Put a lite coat of oil in my non stick pan and fried it. Meanwhile, I reduced the marinate and added some mushrooms flour and water to make a sauce/gravy.

I'll give it a 4 star rating.........

the next time, I'll peel the pear and use shitaki mushrooms instead.

[Michaelaway]

Hey, thanks Michael for the inspiration. like most, I've been disappointed and fooled by Thai beef and have bought a really nicely marbled piece only to get home and cook it and have it inedible. What a let down!!

I have tried the papaya method, but there is such a fine line between tender and mush that I give up on papayas, but the pear recipe worked great for me this evening and earned 5 stars from my harshest critic.....my daughter.

I made a few variations to your original recipe...........

I started with a Makro rib eye, cut about 3/4th inch and pounded the heck out of it with the top side of a heavy serrated cleaver and followed the ingredients, except added chili and ginger and a little rum and sugar, then let it marinate for 5 hrs in a bag in the fridge, then removed it and shook off most of the solids in the marinate and lightly powdered it with flour. Put a lite coat of oil in my non stick pan and fried it. Meanwhile, I reduced the marinate and added some mushrooms flour and water to make a sauce/gravy.

I'll give it a 4 star rating.........

the next time, I'll peel the pear and use shitaki mushrooms instead.

Sounds great!!

[JepSoDii]

I usually buy striploin @ 325 baht a Kg.

The steak is tender enough and in general ok, but the taste is not very strong.

I have yet to find Thai rib eye steaks of acceptable quality.

You will never find one, mainly because Thai cows are only bred and fed for dairy. What you get at the slaughter house is a very ordinary looking moo moo

Don't fully agree with that. KU Beef by Kasetsart University is quite good.

Can I ask, is KU beef widely available in Chiang Mai? I'm new into town and am just now learning of "KU beef" after a search . . . I need a good steak at least once a week, but the stuff here is a travesty and I'd rather avoid paying the exorbitant prices of imported Aussie beef, and avoid the citrus marinades other people do, but am rapidly losing hope, unless this KU beef is close to the standard I am used to.

Geez, I really hope you'll tell me it's in one of the supermarkets here. <fingers crossed>

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

On the few occasions where I buy a beef steak these days from BigC, frozen from Makro, or from the local hang-it-by-the-hoof market, I whack it with one of these that I brought back from the USA. I've tried various tenderizers bottled or fresh papaya, etc. and I find that it makes the meat too mushy.

Owned a BBQ & Grill restaurant for several years. Would not even open the doors if I didn't have one of these. Generally called a "Jaccard". They work great for marinating. Also like the comment about using fresh papaya juice. Few people know that this is a natural tenderizer. Breaks down all of the muscles. Just don't leave it on the meat forever, or it will go too far and break down everything, and influence the taste in a way that you don't want. Steak....great. Papaya juice....great. Flavors melded together...not so great. You want the flavor of the beef.

When I got one of these, the first thing I tried was this:

First, I poked the heck out of one of the rib eye steaks from Makro (might be the same ones Manarak +/or Kikoman mentioned) Then, I rubbed it with olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic powder and chilled it in the fridge for an hour. After that, I popped it on a charcoal grill to cook. It was good- not USA-tender, but pretty good flavor.

olive oil for steak ???

yes

[kikoman]

I found a great steak at Makro in Nakhon Sawan , My wife did not do anything special to it, she just fried it over a slow flame in oil, sauteed some onions and Thai chili's. when the steak was done see added the Onion's and chile mixture.Was a great steak, tender a pleasure to chew.

She looks for a certain look on the cut, and a certain cut of beef, as we have tried other different cuts from the same display case that were tough but edible. She could not explain to me how she chooses the steak.but will show me the next time we go to Makro..

Cheers:

Edited September 3, 2013 by kikoman