Pineapple Marinade and Larding

OK folks, I'm looking at ways of making some of the tougher cuts of meat, be that venison or beef, more tender.

The old fashioned way for both was to "lard" the meat. Since grass fed beef prior to using corn in the feed-lot came into vogue, and venison, tended to be rather lean, it could also be rather tough. So they would add strips of fat using a tool called a "larding needle" into the meat in some cases. This was also used for other meats...

A curious way of dressing a Hare
First, Lard the hare, then ...1755

Chickens a la braise
Take two chickens, lard them, season them with mace, pepper and salt ; 1769

Larded Scotch Callops, browned
Cut little thin slices off a leg of veal, as many as you choose. Cut off the skin and fat. Season them with Mace, Nutmeg, and Salt. Lard them with fine fat bacon.... 1769

Neck of Mutton, Larded
Take off the underbone of a neck of veal, leave only part of the long bones on ; trim it neat, lard it,...1808

So we see in several different cooking books over many years, hare, fowl, and red meat larded. I have tried this using strips of thick bacon fat in beef and venison, and it worked well to keep the meat moist, especially the venison, but not necessarily more "tender".

Then the other day I saw how using a pineapple, pureed including the skin, used the pineapple enzymes to break down fibers in the meat and thus tenderized it. Eye of The Round roast was cut into steaks about 2" thick and submerged in pineapple puree for two hours. They ended up with pretty tasty and tender steaks, when they removed the meat, rinsed off all the pineapple, and broiled the steaks on a grill. So I am thinking of trying this on small steaks cut from a venison back strap. Although I think I will marinate them for less than two hours as they will be smaller than the beef roast that I saw done that way.

Anybody out there try larding or even the pineapple method?

LD

I've used a leading needle with moderate success. Leading works as intended, but as you said, does not tenderize, other than that one doesn't increase toughness by having the meat dry out.
I haven't used pineapple but I have used papaya. Just the papaya enzyme is sold as a chewable tablet to stop heart burn and help digest protein, works great. Before I knew this I had friends who would lay bacon across a turkey prior to roasting then add a mixture of orange juice (very little), papaya juice and preserves, and roast the bird. Repeatedly basting with a mixture of the fruit juice/preserves and pan drippings. Those were the most tender and moist turkeys I've ever eaten. Workers great with wild birds. Now I know the how and why.
I hate orange juice, so next time I try it, I'll use pineapple and papaya.

I tried Jugged hare from Jas_Townsend's

But with Jackrabbit (Notorious for tough & Stringy) Took forever but I took it to work and fed it to 7 or 8 people they all thought it was chicken/turkey stew. Can't see why it wouldn't work fine on other tough cuts.

Yep jugging was the "slow cooker" of the 18th century.

Some of what I'm looking at is broiling steaks over a fire using less time than jugging.

LD

I brine turkeys for hours with ice water, O.J. and salt. Comes out fantastic!
I may have to try it with steaks before grilling over a mesquite fire.
Just don't have the time to lard it on most days.

Ames said:

I brine turkeys for hours with ice water, O.J. and salt. Comes out fantastic!

Click to expand...

Store bought or wild?

LD

Loyalist Dave said:

Store bought or wild?

LD

Click to expand...

Wild O.J. is so much tastier.

Store. My life wont allow me to hunt spring turkey. Its all work in the spring after no work in the winter.
Fall turkey.............don't want to mess up my deer season by blasting birds where I hunt the deer.
Prefer to keep the woods peaceful until November.

Ah well I'm pretty sure give them about 8 weeks and they will have settled into a routine...probably only need 5 weeks. I doubt that blasting a turkey in April or the first week of May will inhibit the deer from walking into your ambush in November. IF it did then my state and others would cancel the "early" muzzle loader season which is 5 weeks from "regular gun" opening day.

My experiment was also tried on two lean pieces of pork.
It does work.
It has to be fresh pineapple, not canned.
You can use the outer layer, you don't have to sacrifice the entire berry. So you can use a pineapple tool, and the parts that aren't made into circles, you then after eating the "good" part, puree and use the remainder including the outer layer to tenderize the meat.
The beef didn't brown up as it would had it not been treated, but the pork did brown where the fat was present

LD

Loyalist Dave said:

It has to be fresh pineapple, not canned.
You can use the outer layer, you don't have to sacrifice the entire berry. So you can use a pineapple tool, and the parts that aren't made into circles, you then after eating the "good" part, puree and use the remainder including the outer layer to tenderize the meat.
LD

Click to expand...

Pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain.
The skin and stem contain the most bromelain.
Bromelain breaks down protein chains, tenderizing meat.
Bromelain is a proteolytic enzyme.
Proteolytic enzymes are also found in,

• Papaya
• Kiwifruit
• Ginger
• Asparagus
• Sauerkraut
• Kimchi
• Yogurt
• Kefir