I need to pound my meat!!!

[PapaBear]

(thread title composed to help with the "Thread Title Coupling" thread)

A week or two ago, I bought a big steak. I cooked half of it and froze the other half. The first half was good, but a little tough. The second half is currently thawing in the marinade. I was thinking, since it's already in the marinade, my best bet would be to give it a few whacks with a tenderizing mallet just before cooking. Turns out, I don't have one (could'a swore I did!). Since I don't have one, what would you suggest I use? I have a pretty damn good variety of tools and blunt objects available. In addition to my specific case...

What are your favorite/most successful meat tenderizing techniques?

[flipper21]

Got any pieces of 2x4's lying around? Put the meat in a ziplock and whack it with an 8" or so length. Down and dirty tenderizing mallet.

[Farmer Dave]

A rolling pin maybe?

Or stab it multiple time with a fork so the marinade penitrates well.

[Contra]

I use a small knife. You poke holes, diagonally, about a half inch apart, making sure not to poke all the way through the meat. Repeat in the opposite direction on the other side.

[Thebazile78]

You could also give it a couple of whacks with a cast-iron skillet (or another flat-bottomed, heavy pan.)

And if you're already marinating it, wouldn't that tenderize it?

[Dougie Brootal]

my chick beats my meat with a hammer.

[RAAMONE]

you could not be lazy and go out and get a meat tenderizing mallet