Does cooking steak pieces for a long time make them tough?

[yummymctummy]

I'm making a curry and I'm using steak pieces to throw into it. I always slow cook my beef joints and they are so tender and fall apart so naturally I thought this would happen my steak pieces but they seems to be tough? What have I done wrong lol 😆

What kind of steak?

Did you brown it before slow cooking?

Depends on the what sort of steak it was. Some need cooking slower like shin or brisket but if you're using a sirloin steak or something like that they need cooking quickly so not ideal for a curry.

Also bring the beef up to the boil slowly from cold. Never plunge it in to hot stock or sauce.

More to the point - steak in a curry??? 😱

I sear it very quickly in its own fat,to lock in the flavour/moisture before adding spices etc. I find that works very well even for cheapest steak.

If you bought 'stewing steak' in the supermarket, they are way way too lean. It really annoys me that they sell this stuff for casseroles etc.

The only way we have managed to find nice meat at a supermarket to do in curries/slow cooking is to buy a big steak, much more expensive but more fatty so more tender. I put it in the slow cooker whole and just let it fall apart.

Yes I cooked in oil first

Probably needs more time , I made a big casserole of boeuf bourgignon yesterday , had 4 lbs of steak in some tiny pieces from supermarket stewing steak packs some larger chunks I cut from a thick steak - at the 90 mins mark the meat was still seized and tough , another hour and it was falling apart beautifully

Yes, different cuts of meat require different cooking time/styles.

depending on which part of the animal the meat comes from, it will have a different fat content and fibre structure, so cooking low and slow will result in tender meat for some things, or flash frying a strip steak.

What sort of steak?

Stewing steak? Fillet steak?

There’s also optimum points of cooking, so braising beef for 2.5hrs can be better than 4 hours for some reason.

i saw an interesting clip about it on a cookery science programme