Steaks tips are very common in the New England area. They are available in every pizza joint as well as most non-chain restaurants. For those of you that do not live in New England let me explain what a steak tip is.
A steak tip is a small chunk of sirloin beef that is typically marinated, grilled and served with either salad, rice, or fries. Size varies but generally they are cut small enough that you can eat them in 1 to 2 bites. They come from the “Bottom Flap” cut which is the bottom of the sirloin, down near where the stomach meets the hind quarter. It looks a lot like a skirt steak but thicker. The bottom flap is heavily grained and has decent marbling. The heavy grain is what helps the marinade. It creates more surface area for the marinade to act on.
My local markets charge anywhere from $9 to $15 per pound for marinated steak tips. The exact same cut, un-trimmed and wet packed is available at my local big box store for anywhere from $6 to $8 per pound so if your willing to do some butchering and tenderizing you can save yourself some money! Consider buying the beef at the big box store when it is on sale for $5.50lbs, trim it up, tenderize it and freeze in meal size portions and you can have affordable steak tips all summer long!
Link to the video on how to do this is at the bottom.
Here are the steps to tender tips!
1 – Buy USDA choice beef bottom flap at your local big box store
2 – Open bag in a sink, lots of liquid will come out!
3 – Pull the first piece off the top of the pile
4 – Use a boning, or thin blade knife to trim all visible fat, silver skin, and sinew.
5 – Use a Jaccard meat tenderizer across the grain on both sides of beef.
6 – Repeat on the rest of the meat in the bag.
7 – Cut into 2 inch wide strips across the grain
8 – Freeze in family size portions
9 – Marinade is your choice. Usually for 24 hours.
10 – DO NOT cut the strips into bite size portions, grill them as a full strip, then cut them after you pull them off the grill. This makes grilling much easier.
11 – Enjoy!
Link to video Steak Tip Trimming
Link to Jaccard Tenderizer: Meat Tenderizer
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