So, Joyful Abode is all about my trials and errors into the domestic domain. Mostly I’ve had successes, but every now and then I make ugly carrot cake muffins or something.
Tonight, WE (the man and I) made another error. It wasn’t the green bean casserole, which was fantastic and delicious…
It was the steak. We got a ton of bottom round steak because it was on sale, and we seriously shop sales now. Well, last time we made it it was pretty tasty, but a bit overdone. We thought we’d just grill it for less time, and it would be better this time. Right? Wrong.
The flavor was good… but I guess bottom round steak wasn’t meant to be rare, or something. The texture was kind of weird… I guess because it’s a pretty tough piece of meat in general.
So… what can we do with the steaks in our freezer? We have a ton of them, so we’ll need lots of good ideas and recipes. What on earth do you do with a thin tough-ish piece of meat? Stew? Fajitas? Anything? Anyone?… Help?
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
[...] the experimentations with this meat, I found that salting it (sprinkling liberally with kosher salt and letting it sit [...]
[...] everyone’s suggestions on what to do with bottom round steaks, we decided to make fajitas. It was a much better use of the meat than the ERROR steak. I cut the [...]
I saw this and thought of this post. Interesting salt tip.
[...] posted about my ERROR steak before, and mub asked me for the recipe for my (success) Green Bean Casserole. So here it [...]
Mub, I’ll put up the recipe in a couple days. Sorry I overlooked that part of your comment!
yayanana… maybe get a crock pot cookbook and try some of the things in it.
Stroganoff would be really good! And beef barley stew..mmmm…love it.
PS. I bought a crock pot – I just can’t get the hang of making anything useful in it besides appetizer meatballs and chili.
If you cut it in thin strips when it is semi frozen, and fry it up quickly, still rarish, it makes good stroganoff and beef barley soup. It’s got a lot of flavor, and the thin slicing seems to eliminate the chewy-ness that it has in hunk form.
SLOW COOKER, SLOW COOKER, SLOW COOKER!!!!
It makes the beef so tender, you can cut it with a fork, I swear!!!
I don’t know — I feel like the belly ones are better for fajitas… flank steak is more typical, also cut against the grain…
Thanks for the ideas everyone! I will definitely check out that website, Jessica. EmmaH… I bet it would be great in a stew with some sort of dumplings!! Great idea.
I thought of fajitas too, Jenn… I need to get some peppers and onions and flour tortillas!!!
ANND… I really really really need to get this crock pot. I don’t have a crock pot, so that stuff is out for now…
Jenn… REALLY? I’m so excited! YAY! I adore that apron you made. I can’t wait to cook in it.
And FYI: You won the giveaway!
… and then I realized that someone above me said the exact same thing.
I agree with the braising part, too… but that goes for any meat you put in the crock pot. It helps seal in the juices so the meat stays tender.
Marinate! I use tough cute of meat for fajitas – I just marinate the meat for a couple hours, cook in a very hot pan and cut against the grain so it’s more tender.
And that Swiss steak sounds good too!
Anything involving a crock pot!
I’d say stews or casseroles. And then you have another excuse to make dumplings
My mother uses bottom round to make Swiss steak. I don’t know what’s Swiss about it, but it’s delicious.
First she seasons the steak and then dredges it in flour. Then she browns the pieces of steak in a little oil. When they’re all brown, she layers the steak in a large roasting pan with a sliced onion and a couple of cans of tomatoes. Sometimes she uses a can of whole tomatoes along with a can of crushed so that it makes a nice thick sauce. If you’re inclined, you can add a little Worcestershire sauce to the tomatoes for added flavor. She covers the whole mess and shoves it into the oven (low heat) for a few hours while she vegetates with a book. It’s positively delicious served with mashed potatoes OR mac n cheese and your choice of green veg. If I’m lucky, she’ll fry okra for me.
Geez. Now I’m hungry. I’ll have to settle for oatmeal.
I get all my beef info from http://www.txbeef.org. I figure the Texas Beef Council knows what they are talking about, even if their website can be hard to navigate. You are correct that the bottom round is best suited to moist heat methods — since the “round” is the top of that back leg, it gets used a lot, so it’s tough (unlike the cow’s back, which are the sirlon, shortloin, and ribs, or the belly, which are the flank and plate). Check out the recipes on that website — they may have something good.
I think it’d work well in the crockpot… I think you can braise so that it would be more tender also.
That green bean casserole has me salivating! Have you posted a recipe for it?