Well, to my dismay I found practically nothing. Most people posted on their blog that they would try to re-cook it a different way to tenderize it. If you have been cooking for any length of time at all, you will know this won't work. Once it's done, it's done. All you can hope to do now is find a way to use the meat that is palatable.
Now I will interject a note here. I did find 1 or 2 comments on how to use the leftover meat. Some said that you could slice it thin against the grain and make meat sandwiches. That does help somewhat, but my kids won't eat chewy meat and if you can imagine taking a bit into that meat sandwich and when you pull your mouthful away from the sandwich, the bread, tomatoes, etc stays in your mouth but the tough meat just yanks itself back into the sandwich. You know what I mean. My kids won't touch that. I won't either.
A suggestion to cube it and use it in stew will work with some meats, but if the cubes are too tough to grind between your teeth, you can imagine the empty soup bowls being handed back to you with all the discarded meat remaining in the bowl. Not a success.
Well I will tell you what my dad used to do with leftover tough or dried-out roast. He had a meat grinder. You know, one of those that clamped to the side of the table and you put the food down into the hopper and then you turned the handle while the food was forced past a cork-screw shaped blade and came out the other end in tiny little pieces resembling fine-crumb cooked hamburger. It would all fall down into a strategically-placed bowl on the table. Then, he would run a dill pickle or two through the meat grinder. The dill pickle would then get stirred into the meat, and mayonnaise added to make a nice sandwich spread consistency.
I remember this so tasty and we just loved it in our sandwiches. I think I have an old meat grinder somewhere in the basement...but the truth is, it's so much easier to do it with a food processor and still works great. Most people don't have one of those old meat grinders anyway.
So here's what you do: Take the meat and cube it into chunks for ease of processing. Drop them in and process into it's small tiny shreds of meat. You choose how much to process, but don't go overboard and process it into powder.
There is a lot more you can do with it than just make meat sandwich filling. If you do want sandwich filling, only chop enough pickles to make what you can use right away. Don't process your pickles; they will turn to water. Just mince with a knife. Then add the mayo.
If you have a lot of meat shreds after processing, separate into 1/2-cup or 1-cup baggies and freeze some. Here is a list of ideas of what you can do with this transformed-to-lovely, already-cooked meat:
- sandwich spread
- taco meat
- add to casseroles
- add to soups/stews
- add to spaghetti sauce
- add to chili
- make into hash
- add bbq sauce for beef on a bun
- make a beef pie
- use your imagination
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5 comments:
Thankyou so much for this. I too made a roast beef dinner today and the meat was really tough, i was debating on cutting or should i say Sawing it up for my dog, but like you, hate wasting food, and the dill pickle and mayo sarnies sound lovely, so i think i am going to try this tomorrow :)
Hey, I am glad to have been able to help! We practically grew up on these; it was my Dad's idea. Love them.
If you don't want the meat ground:
Slice it thin, against the grain, stack the slices, slice again into cords. Soak in warm water 10 minutes, drain. Mix generous amount of meat tenderizer (strength will vary with brand, but follow directions) and stir it around the drained strips thoroughly. Let strips sit in a warm place in a damp bowl for an hour or two.
If you leave it long enough, it will even soften to the texture of mush. It worked for me once, when I had a really tough cheap cut of beef. Best to slice thin and tenderize before cooking.
But it's easier to just slice it thin and simmer it in a soup long-time: from noon until dinner, say.
This is a great idea, and one I have never tried! Who says you can't teach an old chef new tricks?
I have used the soup idea, and I like that. I have also added thin strips of leftover tough meat to beans cooking all day in the crock pot.
Thanks again for your great new tip. Feedback is much appreciated.
Use the Roast. Just about everyone loves a good pot roast, and here's another way you can reuse the meat by making roast beef patties. Put the leftover roast pieces in your food processor. Add breadcrumbs, some of the broth from the roast, some chopped onions, salt, pepper, or other spices as you desire. Mince the ingredient in the food processor and -voila!-you now have your own homemade roast beef patties. Just fry them up in a pan and you have delicious beef patties that are perfect for a patty melt or burger.
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