For many years, Herb & Honey-Marinated Filet Mignon reigned supreme as my favorite “special occasion” meal. But as I just noted in my Highs and Lows post, I recently found an equally tender, equally mouth-watering, far less expensive option: sirloin.
I should mention however, that it takes a little extra muscle-power, a good meat tenderizer, and a lot of patience to get a sirloin steak looking, feeling and tasting like filet. There’s a reason sirloin is about six times less expensive than filet mignon.
When I made Mock Mignon (aka Honey and Herb Marinated Sirloin Steak) a few weeks back for my daughter and her fiance, I asked them if they could pop out and pick up a meat tenderizer since I was missing mine. I sent them to Williams-Sonoma. And they came back with the Holy Grail of Mallets. I’d never seen anything like it (and I was a bit wary of the torture-device-looking spikes), but man oh man did it whip that sirloin into filet shape. I highly recommend it and while the $30 price tag shocked me at first, it’s now my not-so-secret weapon when it comes to transforming a cheap cut of meat into a tender little slice of heaven.
Amazon.com offers another great option, the Norpro Professional Meat Tenderizer, which is an absolute steal for $5. In general, spring for steel and the bigger the spikes, the better.
Good tools are worth some extra expense for sure. The trick is to not fall for the “gadgets” and figure out how to make something do more than one thing. I love my egg slicer and just turn the egg the other way around and slice again for quick egg salad. My sister uses her pastry cutter to quickly chop hard boiled eggs. We’re both happy.
I have the very same tenderizer and I love it. It’s the best one I’ve ever owned! It’s worth every penny!