Chuck Steak by Dana Carpender

In celebration of May Day – also my late mother’s birthday – I thought a reprint of a column regarding grilled steak would be nice.

Call me a tightwad, but I just love a bargain. So I was thrilled to pick up chuck steaks this week at under two dollars a pound. That’s almost as cheap as ground beef! Now to fire up my grill. I’ve mentioned before that a grilled steak with sliced tomatoes and a salad is my idea of Summer Food Nirvana.

But why chuck steaks? I love rib eyes, they’re my favorite cut, but they usually run upwards of eight bucks a pound. T-bones are nearly as high. Sirloin is cheaper, but hardly a budget cut, and I find sirloin a tad bland. So chuck steak is my friend.

Even some low carbers are worried about beef being less than healthful. Let’s look at the numbers.

A 6 ounce serving of beef chuck has 354 calories, and no carbohydrate. That’s 93 calories less than the same serving of rib eye, and very close to sirloin. You’ll get 27 grams of protein, 73% of your B12, 39% of your zinc, 26% of your B6, 23% of your niacin (B3), 17% of your iron, 15% of your riboflavin (B2), 13% of your potassium, 10% of your thiamine (B1), and 3% of your folacin. That’s far more B1, B2, B12, folacin, iron, and potassium than you’ll get from chicken. Your body will thank you for choosing beef from time to time!

But surely beef fat is unhealthy? Not so unhealthy as we’ve been led to believe. Beef fat is divided equally between saturates and monounsaturates. Everyone now accepts that monounsaturated fats are downright beneficial. What has been less publicized is that saturated fats vary. Half of the saturated fat in beef is stearic acid, which has a similar effect to monounsaturates on cholesterol levels – lowering HDL and raising LDL. That means that three-quarters of the fat in beef will lower LDL and raise HDL. Not quite what you’d thought, eh?

If you can get – and afford – grass-fed beef, so much the better. It’s a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, the same fat that makes salmon good for you. Indeed, grass-fed beef has a superior fatty acid profile all the way around, and has to be considered some of the healthiest of health food.

So broil a steak now and then!

Chuck is not only affordable and nutritious, but flavorful. But that flavor comes at the price of toughness. The more tender the cut, the blander it is, the tougher, the more flavorful. That’s because muscles become flavorful from exercise, which also develops connective tissue.

This is actually good news, since that connective tissue is really collagen, and very good for your health. (See my article regarding gelatin supplementation.) It’s great for your joints, your hair, your nails, your digestive tract, it even reduces stress. Still, the toughness of chuck leads many cooks to reserve this cut for pot roast. How to turn that cheap but flavorful chuck steak into a tender morsel fit for the fire pit?
Easy. Marinate your chuck steak, throw in a little meat tenderizer, and voila! A steak that’s tender enough for grilling, and more flavorful to boot.

Any sort of acidic marinade will do. You can base it on vinegar, wine, citrus juice, tomato sauce, even yogurt! (Believe it or not, yogurt is widely used to marinate meat in Middle Eastern cuisine, and yields particularly tender results.) Add some oil to hold in moisture. Use your favorite seasonings – garlic, herbs, pepper, hot sauce, even a shot of liquor if you like.

The easiest marinade is bottled salad dressing — indeed, I’ve seen labels that read “Salad dressing and marinade. Think about it — salad dressing already combines vinegar, oil, and seasonings. Italian, balsamic vinaigrette, Asian ginger vinaigrette, Greek dressing, all make great marinades. You’ll want to marinate your steak for a few hours, at least, and all day is brilliant.

Before you put your chuck into the marinade, treat it to a little meat tenderizer. Does meat tenderizer make you nervous? Does it seem weird and chemical? It’s not. It’s an enzyme from papaya, and harmless. Since most meat tenderizers contain salt, you won’t want to put more salt your marinade. And you should taste your finished steak before you salt it further.

Here’s a great basic chuck steak recipe:

Chuckwagon Steak

• 2 – 2 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck steak, 1 1/2 – 2″ thick
• 2 teaspoons meat tenderizer
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup lime juice

Sprinkle half the tenderizer evenly over one side of the chuck, and pierce the meat all over with a fork. Turn it over, and repeat on the other side, using the other teaspoon of tenderizer.

Put the meat in a big zipper-lock bag. Mix together the rest of the ingredients, and pour them over the steak. Press out the air, seal the bag, then turn it a few times to coat the whole steak. Stick the whole thing in the fridge, and let your meat marinate for at least several hours, turning it a few times.

When dinnertime rolls around (or actually a bit beforehand), get your grill going — you’ll want your charcoal to be ashed over, or your gas grill on medium or a touch higher. Just pull your steak out and grill it — about 12 minutes per side puts it at about the degree of doneness I like, but cook it to your liking, then slice it across the grain.

This steak would be great topped with guacamole. Though I confess I’m exceedingly fond of guacamole, which may influence my judgement.

(Recipe reprinted with permission from The Low-Carb Barbecue Book by Dana Carpender, 2004, Fair Winds Press)

© 2011 by Dana Carpender. Used by permission of the author. What do you think? Please send Dana your comments to Dana Carpender.