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First method: dry marinating the meat with sea salt for an hour.

Second method: cooking the meat with low heat using 80 degrees Celsius (electric oven) for 30-40 minutes.

The cut looks like the one on the right:

enter image description here

I used these two methods today (one followed by the other), and my steak was still tough and chewy.

What could be the reason?

Note: It's a sirloin steak.

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    How big is this steak? Do you mean like a regular 'steak & chips' rump/sirloin etc. single portion, or a larger cut? Also, can we assume these 'two methods' are actually just two steps in a single method. You did one followed by the other.
    – Tetsujin
    Jan 29 at 13:27
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    A picture of the raw steak would help. What cut? Was it marbled with fat or lean? Often it's not how you treat it, but the steak itself.
    – moscafj
    Jan 29 at 13:36
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    It’s difficult to tell what cut a steak is from by looks, especially after it’s cooked. If the steak has its fibers going mostly in one direction, you want to make sure to cut across it, so each slice is lots of tiny little fibers, but that’s not always possible if you have a cut that’s from multiple muscles that aren’t all aligned.
    – Joe
    Jan 29 at 15:23
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    What cut? Also was it dny aged by chance? I will say it looks a little thin for reverse sear which it seems was your second method. It's possible the steak dried out too much because it was too thin. As for dry brining 60 minutes might not be enough time for the juices to make their way back into the steak. You might get moisture loss in that case. All this is shooting in the dark though without knowing the cut. If this was brisket that would be the immediate answer!
    – Peter Moore
    Jan 29 at 16:22
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    Also I can't get past this - is the yellow stuff just fat under weird lighting conditions? Or did you do something to it to give it that color? It looks like one of Guga's experiments. :D
    – Peter Moore
    Jan 29 at 16:27

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You have a couple of things working against you for tenderness. First, grass-fed beef is often less tender that beef fed on grains. Second, the sirloin is not the most tender cut regardless of what the cow eats. Third, it appears that you are slicing with the grain. Advice for tenderizing grass-fed beef includes mechanical tenderization (a mallet to break down fibers) or acidic marinades. Slicing against the grain cuts long fibers into pieces that are easier to chew. So, if you are satisfied with your attempts at tenderization, you may want to try grain fed beef....but certainly try to slice against the grain.

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  • Thanks for the suggestion. I'm having a hard time seeing the grain. I can't see any lines.
    – alexchenco
    Jan 31 at 16:38

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