Why do people put steak or meat on wounds or bruises?

Question

I've seen this numerous times in movies. What is the significance of this? Someone please give an answer that has some type of historical concept to it not just cuz they didn't have ice. I know that this may be something that was more common over 50 years ago.

Answer 1

Back before chemical ice and refrigerators, meat was usually stored in an Ice Box that would contain a ten or twenty pound block of Ice. Therefore, the meat was colder than anything around except the ice itself. Meat also has a tendency to hold the cold and is quite malleable in fitting a bump or bang in curvy awkward places.

Here's a segue that might come in handy.

Forget all the fancy stuff. Go buy a bottle of rubbing alcohol and mix it half and half with water. Then 3/4 fill one of those plastic baggies seal it and turn it upside down in another plastic baggy and seal that baggy. Put the works in the freezer and in hours it will turn into an icy mush that stays cold for a long time and fits as well as any piece of meat.

Answer 2

It is just because those things are cold like an ice pack, but unlike hard, inflexibleice, meat is a more supple material and distribute the cold evenly over the bruised area. A bag of frozen peas does the trick too.

Answer 3

"Putting a raw steak on a black eye (an old wives' tale) has long been known to have no medicinal value. The practice is, however, a staple of popular culture, usually in a humorous context in movies and TV shows."retrieved from--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture

Answer 4

I've heard that it's because meat that has tenderizer on it can heal a wound. I've also heard that the coldness takes away swelling.

Answer 5

It covers more area than ice