Love Me Tender, Love Me Sweet - MYTH OR FACT? Zespri Kiwi Challenge

It suddenly dawned on me that all these chicks in this competition have been approaching this little factoid in a rather err, unscientific manner.  The fact that kiwifruit is a tenderizer.  True, they've all come up with fabulous recipes, that would make Jamie's olives pale in comparison.  Pity no one has come up with Kiwi & Kiwi, as in the fruit and the bird...but then again, it might be a travesty to actually eat the Kiwi bird.  Are they endangered?  Or is that the Dodo?  I guess since they are not featured widely in any menu, they must be endangered. I digress.

So, in order to see if there really WAS a difference in meat tenderized with Kiwifruit, I had to set up a more controlled environment.  Afterall, the slab of sirloin my Nemesis wolfed down like a bitch on heat could well have been a tender piece of succulent meat to begin with.

To start with, I chose a cheap cut, a topside, costing less than RM8.  I'm cheap that way.

I then marinated HALF of that slab, with kiwifruit.

The other half of the slab was left as is.

I ask Sonny Boy to sear the steaks, as is his favourite thing to do.

He opted to pan sear it with butter, and coat it with coarse pepper and salt.  Let's keep it simple. 

That there is bachelor no 1.... untenderized, and hard...or supposedly so.

I then slice up the two slabs, and blindfold my two guinea pigs. 

 The left plate is the tough untenderized hard meat, and the right, is supposedly the tender meat.  The two guineas are given random samples to see which was more tender. 

They seemed to be having a ball of a time.  

Results...drum roll....

Choice of the Tenderer Meat
Round 1
Boy No 1 - Kiwi
Boy No 2 - Non Kiwi

Round 2
Boy No 1 - Kiwi
Boy No 2 - Kiwi

So looks like the KIWIS have it for tenderness.  It's true, it's a FACT.  Kiwifruit does tenderize.
When I told Arch Nemesis about my brilliant experiment, she said, "I'm sure I'll be featured somewhere".  My reply, "Go rub lots of kiwi on that thick hide of yours and see if it tenderizes".

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