In article 7>,
Wayne Boatwright > wrote:

> On Sun 15 Mar 2009 05:17:32p, jmcquown told us...
>
> > "Sqwertz" > wrote in message

> >> It's a Sirloin Tip, which is important to differentiate it between,
> >> say, a "Top Sirloin".

> > I always wonder about the chain restaurants that chime "Grilled
> > Sirloin!" It's a pretty tough cut of beef; one can hope they marinated
> > or brined it for a while before cooking it.


> I wouldn't walk across the street to eat a "sirloin steak". Various cuts
> of sirloin are good when braised, others when slow roasted, etc. But
> grilled? Tough as shoe leather.

I've always assumed, based on my experience, that when a restaurant
lists "sirloin" that it is always top sirloin. If it's sirloin tip or
something else, I didn't think they could just call it "sirloin".

Today is my wife's birthday, and our tradition in the family is the
birthday person gets to request a special dinner. My wife wanted pan
fried top sirloin with baked potatoes. So I went to the store this
afternoon. They had some nice Harris Ranch top sirloin for US$4.99 a
pound. I bought some mushrooms to slice and saute in butter, and some
zucchini to saute in olive oil. We already had potatoes, which I nuked.
I got four steaks, an inch or less thick, as the boys were home. I
nuked the potatoes, as my wife likes them that way, and started the
squash and mushrooms. I heated a fry pan, threw in some olive oil, and
cooked the steaks about 3 minutes on a side. I ate the smallest, which
was pink in the middle. The other three steaks were larger, and had
more pink. My steak was tender, juicy and flavorful. It was nothing
like shoe leather. I do like tri tip, but it needs to be pretty darn
pink, and cut both thin and across the grain. Even then it is chewy.
This top sirloin just wasn't chewy. It was tender.

So I'm bewildered by the two comments above. I have to wonder if they
are referring to top sirloin at all. Now, the store I went to had all
those fancy cuts of beef also, but they were twice as much per pound, at
least, and had excess fat besides the bone.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA