Absence of Mallet - Substitution for Meat Tenderizer

It’s a nice Saturday or Sunday late afternoon and you have grand visions of cooking up a nice thin Schnitzel, Swiss Steak, or even a stuffed Chicken breast or Kiev. All common themes here involve pounding the living daylights out of the meat. There is just one problem after you bring the meat home from the supermarket; you don’t possess a meat mallet. Uh oh, now what?? Don’t give in to despair and order a pizza just yet, there are several alternatives to tenderizing meat without a meat mallet. Here are my top five substitutions for meat mallets:
1.       Rolling Pin – This is my standby meat mallet. I often will use this to pound out chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, and round steak. Simply place the meat between two pieces of wax paper and place on the counter. Give the meat a good working over until desired thickness. Despite the use of wax paper, remember to give the rolling pin a good sterile cleaning afterwards as the wax paper eventually rips and will contaminate the pin upon contact with the raw meat.
2.       Iron Skillet – this behemoth frying pan weighs a ton, so it is the ideal “hammer” to lower the boom on the meat. Don’t get too crazy when pounding the meat with a skillet or the meat will get way to thin and rip apart and be a mess.
3.       Two by Four wood scrap – There is a reason lot of us pack rats like to hang on to those smaller lumber scraps, especially 2” x 4” stud pieces. These pieces of lumber are just dense enough to become the ideal meat tenderizer. Just remember to place the meat in a thick storage bag such and pound away. Clean the 2 x 4 if necessary and store away for later use.
4.       Rubber Mallet – I try not to use this, but a garage or basement workshop mallet will work for pounding meat when there are no alternatives. Keep the meat covered and pound the meat out evenly. Give the chicken or steak some good pokes with the fork to pierce the flesh.
5.       The Ten Pound Canned Good – Those that buy large volume canned goods that are in the large ten pound cans (for example stewed tomatoes, chili sauce, etc) have a great heavy weight at their disposal. This large can will work to flatten meat so long as the meat is protected and does not cross contaminate the side of the can.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 24, 2011 at 6:34 AM

    Lol, that's my kind of post! Very amusing. You might like my blog too, which isn't ethnic food, more desperate food, but still gives rise to some interesting recipes http://vegetariancoeliac.blogspot.com Jen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VinnySeptember 16, 2016 at 12:59 AM

      That is some macgyver thnkin right there hahaha

      Delete
  2. VinnySeptember 16, 2016 at 12:59 AM

    Hahaha thats some macgyver tight there hahaha

    ReplyDelete

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