Reality Bug

Exploding Steak

Thursday, August 07 2008 | Comments (1)

In this episode Adam and Jamie try a few unique techniques for tenderizing steak. Then Kari, Tory and Grant find out if an angry driver uses more gas.

Adam and Jamie kick off the new season by testing a few odd tenderizing methods. The myth was that you could tenderize a steak using explosives.

Fans claimed that you put the steak in a vacuum sealed bag - to prevent contamination - put the bag in a vat of water and set off a small explosive.

In order to tenderize steak, people use a mallet or pineapple enzymes to break down the muscle fibers.

"You can't just throw a stick of dynamite on a steak," Jamie said.

The guys headed out to a big, open space in the desert. The guys decided to start right out with the experiment.

"This joins my two favorite things, red meat and high explosives," Adam
said.

The filled a plastic trash barrel with water, tossed in a steak and some explosives.

BOOM - The barrel and the steak blew to bits.

"Jamie, i think that was too much explosives," Adam said.

They decided to retry the test with a smaller charge - equivalent to a large firecracker. That time the barrel still blew apart, but the steak remained together.

They also tried a test suggest by experts - placing a metal plate at the bottom of the barrel and suspending the meat in the water.

Next, they had a professional chef, Ron from the Ritz Carlton, cook the
meat so they could taste it. They cooked four different steaks: 1. the control, 2. the firecracker steak, 3. the high explosive steak and 4. a hunk of prime beef, tenderized with pineapple juice.

Jamie, Adam and Ron then sat down to test them. They rated them by tenderness to taste and organized them by colored tags. Unfortunately, no one had the same colors in the same order and neither the prime steak nor the explosive steak were at the high end.

"This is not looking good," Adam said.

He said they didn't really have any results they could use, so it was back to the drawing board.

"I think the problem is having humans involved," Jamie said.

To try and control the experiment, they cut each steak in half, so they were tested against themselves instead of a general variable. They also decided to add in a few other tests to tenderize the meat - a dryer and firing the steak out of an air cannon into a chunk of steel.

First they tried the cannon, at a velocity of 400 miles per hour. This caused the steak to splatter into tiny pieces, some of which ended up on the ceiling. They tried again after cutting the speed by about one-third. That time the steak still popped out of the first layer of Kevlar wrapping, but remained intact inside the second layer.

They set that hunk aside and moved on to the next test - a dryer. They placed the steak inside a dryer and added a few ball bearings to help it along. They also set a chunk of dry ice over the vent to keep the meat cool. Then they left it over night. When they came back the next morning, however, the machine was off. Jamie said the motor burned out, so it may work, but is it worth losing a dryer over? Not to mention the fact that the steaks were a bit shredded.

"Four went in and two kinda' came out," Jamie said.

Next, it was time to cook the meat. They heated it on a mini-grill and cooled it to four degrees Celsius. Instead of tasting it this time, they used a USDA tester, which was basically a blade attached to a pressure gauge. Adam tested how much pressure it took to cut the steak.

Both the cannon and dryer showed significant tenderization, so it was back to the desert.

"It just takes a 40-foot air cannon," Adam said.

"And about 50 bucks worth of Kevlar," Jamie added.

After exploding the steak and barrel once again, the guys were ready for the final test.

The average control tested at 2.82 psi and the bomb-tenderized meat, 1.16.

"That's awesome," Adam said. "I love results."

MYTH CONFIRMED

Then it was off to an abandoned military neighborhood with Kari, Grant
and Tory to test if a driver who was angry used more fuel.

To control the results of the test, they used a bag filled with fuel so they could weigh it rather than trying to measure the volume in the tank - which Grant said was much less accurate.

Tory and Grant would be the drivers and Kari set up a few obstacles to test their patience. First, she had to calm them down. Tory was given a back message, his favorite snack foods and the director's cut of Bladerunner. Grant got to cuddle with puppies.

After a few hours of relaxation, the guys were ready to climb behind the wheel. Tory went first.

Neither of the guys knew what tricks Kari had up her sleeves, but they soon found out. A few minutes into the drive, an angry driver in a truck roared up behind Tory, honking his horn and swerving all over the road, before finally passing him at a stop sign. Then a very slow moving car turned in front of him. After a minute of following the car, Tory decided to pass - this did not seem like a very mellow move. Last, a pedestrian crossed in front of him at a stop sign, moving very slowly and even dropping a phone which he gingerly bent over to pick up. Then it was back to the beginning to parallel park.

They started with 2500 grams of fuel and Tory used 924 grams.

Then Grant drove the course with the same obstacles. He was doing well until he got back to the start and had to park.

"This is his ninth try at parallel parking," Tory pointed out.

Grant used 1053 grams of fuel.

For the angry driver test, sweet, innocent Kari became somewhat sadistic.

In order to make the test truly annoying, she not only modified the car, she modified the guys cheery day.

The guys were told they couldn't go to the bathroom and were unknowingly slipped laxatives. Tory also got to go to the anti-spa, where he was all but beaten and Grant, who hates fish touching him, was given a foot soak in a bucket full of goldfish. The guys were also forced to stand inside a small circle drawn on the pavement until Kari was ready to start the game.

The car was retrofitted with a few annoying addons as well: 1. Kari put stink bombs in the car, 2. slime on the dashboard, 3. an uncomfortable seat cover, 4. a cd that played random and annoying noises, 5. a melted candy bar and soda were spread on the steering wheel to make it slimy and sticky and 6. live rats were placed in the car to distract them.

"The good news is that you get to leave the circle," Kari told them.

Tory went first again. This time he missed the turn and skipped about one-third of the track, on to mention his driving was considerably more aggressive.

"You skipped about 1/3 of the track, but still used about 1/3 more gas," Kari said.

Next, it was Grant's turn. Grand drove much faster and more aggressively as well. He almost missed the turn and didn't stop for the pedestrian, who ran across the street that time. Grant also used almost 1/3 more fuel.

MYTH CONFIRMED

"That wasn't a laxative, it was a vitamin," Kari told them at the end.

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