Try marinated Round Steak for you Memorial Day BBQ

Enjoy a healthy BBQ in honor of our deceased service men and women

Our Memorial Day Special on Round Steaks
For Memorial Day we are offering a great special on mechanically tenderized Round Steak. Typically, Round Steak, which comes from the thigh area of the beef, is the toughest cut of steak available. Because of that, we choose to have our round steaks mechanically tenderized by running them through a machine that consists of 2 rollers with numerous, small, sharp-edged blades.

Because our Round Steaks are mechanically tenderized, you can grill them as they are, but we also like to marinate them for even greater tenderness and flavor. You can vary the flavors of your chosen marinades to suit everyone's palates.

Marinating

Marinating can be as simple as using a bottle of your favorite Italian salad dressing, or as complex as a vinegar reduction sauce. It's your choice!

The three main components of any marinade: Fat, acid, and flavor

Marinades have three primary functions;

• To tenderize
• To keep meat from drying out
• To impart flavor

Tenderize with acid
In order to tenderize, marinades have as their base some form of acid. Oftentimes that acid is some kind of vinegar, which can also impart specific flavors

Keep the meat moist
To keep meat from drying out in the cooking process, most marinades contain some kind of oil or fat. The French also often use melted butter or cream to keep the meat moist. Our favorite oils include;

• Olive oil
• Almond oil
• Avocado oil
• Peanut oil
• Sunflower oil

Limitless flavors
The sky is the limit when it comes to flavoring marinade. One of my favorite flavorings is simply fresh garlic, chopped extra fine in a base of olive oil and vinegar.

Some other flavorings you might want to consider include: herbs such as Rosemary or Thyme, Tamari or Soy sauce (though the more we find out about the hazard of soy products, the more we try to stay away from them), tomato - which can also serve as the acid base, Ginger, wine, and the list goes on.

Some ingredients do double duty
As I mentioned before, some ingredients can serve a double function. There are so many different and wonderful types of vinegars that can be used for the acid base, and impart a fabulous flavor into your marinade, like Balsamic Vinegar.

Tomato is a great flavor, loved by most, that can also serve as the acid base. Toasted Sesame oil provides a delectable flavor, as well as serving as the oil moistening agent. Various citrus fruits and pineapple can also function as both flavor and acid.

Vary the choices for your guests When you have a large crowd to feed, you can whip up a number of different marinades, or simply use your favorite, non-cream based salad dressing to offer a variety of different flavors. Some of our favorite salad dressings to use as marinade include:

• Annie's Shitake-Sesame Vinaigrette
• Raspberry Vinaigrette
• Newman's Italian Dressing
• Caesar's Dressing

Serve a lot of people for less than $3.00 / serving while satisfying everyone's tastes
Our Round Steaks are vacuum sealed in individual packages, each weighing approximately one pound, and include no bones and very little fat. For those with hearty appetites one steak can serve two people, and for the more dainty eaters one steak can easily serve three.

Since the steaks are only one pound each, you can easily do three different types of marinade for six people, offering delicious, varied entrees.

Below we have included our very basic oil, vinegar, and garlic marinade:

Basic oil and vinegar marinade For the toughest cut of meat.
Name:	Basic oil and vinegar marinade
Description:	Our easiest and most basic steak marinade
Ingredients:	1 Cup Red wine vinegar 1/4 Cup Olive oil 2 Cloves garlic, chopped extra fine Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:	Combine all ingredients in a flat glass or ceramic container Lay Mechanically Tenderized Round Steak in marinade making sure both sides of steak are completely coated Let steak marinate for at least an hour, but it's even better for 24 hours in the refrigerator Grill or pan fry steaks until done
Created By:	Cathy McNeil