The Cut

• Beef cuts taken from the loin or the rib section of the cow are naturally tender and nicely marbled with fat. The fat running through the meat adds flavor and moisture as it melts during cooking, contributing to a more tasty and tender steak. This added moisture is especially beneficial when you're using a direct, high- and dry-heat cooking method like frying. Opt for USDA Prime beef to get the most ideal marbling, if you can find it -- although most is sold to restaurants. Tenderloin, also called filet mignon, as well as porterhouse, T-bone, New York strip and rib-eye steaks are smart picks for successful frying.

Salting

• Salting the steak affects the succulence of the finished dish. Salt draws moisture out of the meat. If you salt within about 40 minutes of cooking, this moisture simply evaporates off the surface during frying. However, if you salt 45 minutes or more ahead of time -- you can even salt one or two days in advance -- the moisture gets flavored by the salt and then reabsorbed into the steak. That provides a more tender and better seasoned steak in the end. You get the best results with a coarse salt grain, as with coarse kosher or sea salt.

Marinating

• If you have a less tender cut of beef, like most of the round and chuck cuts, a tenderizing marinade is in order. Contrary to popular belief, most marinades only impart flavor; they don't actually tenderize. Those made from dairy products, including milk, buttermilk and yogurt, tenderize the meat. Soak the steak in one of these for up to about 6 hours. Certain fruits, such as kiwifruit, papaya and pineapple, also tenderize. Their acidity can make beef turn mushy, though, so don't marinate with their juices or pulp for more than about an hour.

Pounding

• Pounding a less tender steak cut into a cutlet tenderizes when you don't have time to marinade. This technique is often used to fry cube, country-fried or chicken-fried steaks. Cover the meat with sturdy plastic wrap and pound it into a uniformly flat cutlet about 1/2 inch thick. Use a meat mallet, heavy rolling pin, heavy frying pan or even your fist. The resulting thin piece fries much quicker than a thick steak.

Don't Overcook

• Overcooked steak isn't tender, no matter what else you do to it. The U.S. Department of Agriculture advises cooking steaks to 145 degrees Fahrenheit at center, which is medium. Cooking beef past this point significantly dries it out and make it chewier. If you really value tenderness, you may choose to cook steak only to 125 F for rare or 135 F for medium-rare. Also, steak needs to rest for at least 5 minutes before you cut it. Otherwise, its internal juices bleed out, and the steak ends up less succulent.