Strange beef tenderloin

[dafluff]

So a few days ago I bought some local beef tenderloin at the supermarket. I made wonderful steak sous-vide, and they were perfect in every way. Trying to repeat my success, I bought another cut of tenderloin yesterday at the same supermarket.

Today I opened the packaging and the first hint of trouble was that it smelled a bit funny. Not rotten funny, but definitely didn't smell like fresh beef. Being stubborn, I continued to cook the steak the same way as I did a few days ago. After I took them out of the sous-vide bag, and they were a pale pink in color (whereas the ones I made before had turned a pale brown), and definitely felt rubbery.

I continued on by pan searing the steaks. The end result looked good, but tasted horrible. It was way too soft and didn't have the texture of steak. Biting into it it was more like biting into a piece of fat or like foi gras...hard to describe.

I plan on returning to the supermarket tomorrow and have a chat with the manager. However, anyone know what sort of treatment that could result in meat turning this way? I want to be to ask him directly if they treat meat, or if their supplier may have treated the meat chemically.

 

[macvert]

So a few days ago I bought some local beef tenderloin at the supermarket. I made wonderful steak sous-vide, and they were perfect in every way. Trying to repeat my success, I bought another cut of tenderloin yesterday at the same supermarket.

Today I opened the packaging and the first hint of trouble was that it smelled a bit funny. Not rotten funny, but definitely didn't smell like fresh beef. Being stubborn, I continued to cook the steak the same way as I did a few days ago. After I took them out of the sous-vide bag, and they were a pale pink in color (whereas the ones I made before had turned a pale brown), and definitely felt rubbery.

I continued on by pan searing the steaks. The end result looked good, but tasted horrible. It was way too soft and didn't have the texture of steak. Biting into it it was more like biting into a piece of fat or like foi gras...hard to describe.

I plan on returning to the supermarket tomorrow and have a chat with the manager. However, anyone know what sort of treatment that could result in meat turning this way? I want to be to ask him directly if they treat meat, or if their supplier may have treated the meat chemically.

lmao...... I'm just dying to hear the manager's response.

 

[fastpitch17]

Hope it didn't have one of those formaldehyde treatments.

 

[dafluff]

Hope it didn't have one of those formaldehyde treatments.

This is my suspicion, but I don't know how to spot meat laced with formaldehyde....hence my question.

 

[fastpitch17]

Meat would turn a greyish color I believe like the lab specimens in jars. I think you would have seen the coloration on the raw product though and not just after cooking. The meat would be more rubbery I think. Perhaps you just got a chunk of that imported buffalo they brought in. That will not be tender meat no matter how hard you try to change it. I imagine the manager will say they do nothing to their meat whats so ever. To do so would be admitting that they perhaps were breaking the law. If you have meat left, take it with you and demand your money back. If you get an argument then explain how you will have the health department test it.

 

[Anglian]

I believe the way my wife tells If formaldehyde has been used is that flies will not land on it

 

[dafluff]

So the meat manager blamed it on a new supplier, even admitting that they were wondering why the tenderloins were much bigger than usual. He thinks they may have been processed to retain more water, thus be more heavy. He offered a refund, but I didn't have the receipt anymore so I told him to forget it.

I told him not to order from that supplier again, unless he wants my next visit be with BPOM.

 

[William King]

He offered a refund, but I didn't have the receipt anymore so I told him to forget it.

That was good of him.

 

[rugby]

I stopped using a Jacquard on the local ribeye years ago after having a similar issue - the first 2 primals I bought at the L-mart were fine - the third was perhaps not quite the same but I went ahead and stabbed away at it. 54.5C for 2 hours - I opened the bag and it was somewhat "funky" - What I learned from that cook was I needed to always sear the outside of the local products beforehand and stop using the Jacquard on the whole cuts - only individual portions (less risk). I won't even use the freshly bleached Jacquard on import stuff since it already turns out great. Something else uncovered here was that some local meat groups will actually inject micron sized fibre into the primals - I had a salesperson come to my house to deliver a first ever order from them and she presented their range of products - there was a display case of fibres ranging from 2-5-30u+ of rice/wheat bran fibres that groups are injecting into the steaks for additional water retention - I believe the increase was up to 35% before noticeable. Apologies for the ramble - its late in the day but was glad to hear of someone else running sousvide in Jakarta.
Cheers.

 

[dafluff]

glad to hear of someone else running sousvide in Jakarta.
Cheers.

I'm actually in Bali

But sous vide is now my favorite way of preparing steak. So many advantages: completely precise and even cooking, flexible timing, less messy, etc...

 

[rugby]

I'm actually in Bali

Dammit