All the years I've been around and cooking. I've cooked a lot of food and meals, believe me. I've just found this out.
The wife brought home "strip steak" today. For those that know, "strip steak" means super, tough meat. Yup, she brought it home. Beef, no marbling, no fat streaks, she brought home shoe leather. I sliced it up in 1/4 inch slices. Here is the magic part. I mixed it with baking soda, just enough to dust everything, added a little salt and let that sit for about two hours. I tossed everything in a strainer, washed it, patted it dry and fried it up in a skillet for steak sandwiches. MY GOD! It was Fillet Mignon tender. I've never seen anything like this. To think the amount of tough beef I have eaten over the decades. This is the problem solver. Completely incredible!!!.

I don't know where you get your strip steaks,,but I buy USDA Choice New York Strip Steaks,,,and you can cut them with a spoon.

Strip loins have always been reasonably tender to me.

Not "New York strip Steak" Around here, they call garbage cuts, "Strip steak". This looked like it was off the back quarter, no fat at all. Pure muscle.

I'll take a 1 1/2" Sirloin or "London Broil" (which is not a cut of meat but the way it's cooked). Marinade it with Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper patted in all around with fresh squeezed LIME juice and refrigerate it for 4 > 7 days. Take it out to reach room temp (approx. 40 mins per pound), Grill it to med rare and you can cut it with a fork. :-)

I believe what finster is talking about is belly meat, it’s amazing what will tenderize meat.

Yep, get choice or prime. Anything below choice is not a deal at any price.

… sounds like he’s talking about skirt steak maybe?

Interesting , thanks for sharing. I’ll have to try this on a tough piece of cow

Not sure what he's talking bout but it ain't strip steaks.

Never heard of the baking soda trick.

… grind trim maybe

Yea, almost the same as a "London Broil" In fact it may be the same piece of meat only cut differently. Let's put it this way. It was $3.99/lb. .... Probably an old hoof.

"An old hoof" Hahaha

The quality of the meat is certainly important, but IMHO, it is the way ANY meat is "prepared", if necessary, and cooked. I've seen prime cut $$$ steaks / meat absolutely ruined because the person doing the cooking didn't have a clue on what to do with them . . . :-(

^^^This^^^

Yep

This is a commonly used technique in Chinese cooking, called "velveting."

Do a Google search for velveting meat.

Called flank steak here.They are about a 1/4 inch thick.
The butcher tenderizes them with those multiple knife tenderizers that stab the crap out of them,otherwize it would be like eating shoe leather.

Strip loins are what I like to grill on the BBQ.Tender and tasty,and reasonably priced.

That's called a Jaccard, the meat tenderizer with all the blades that you run over the meat.

Any tough cut will be more tender if you cut across the grain instead of with the grain. Won't be as stringy that way for sure.