I'll go first.

1 part soy sauce
1 part olive oil
Minced garlic
thyme
rosemary
black pepper

combine all ingredients and blend until mixture turns into a nice smooth, brown sauce.

Pour half of the marinade over the steaks and toss the steaks around so they are evenly covered and let sit as long as you like.

As the steaks are grilling, pour some of the left over marinade over the steaks if you like.

ketchup, just joking.

MURDERER!

Ahem...

I generally don't marinate steaks unless they're fairly low quality. Then, I have a nasty tendency to use store-bought stuff. Soy Vay Kosher Teriyaki is pretty good. We also use various rubs from Penzey's Spices.

That resembles my flank steak marinade -- which is the only steak I marninate. Everything else gets dry rubs, which sometimes consist only of salt and pepper.

My marinade is never the same twice. I use the following in different proportions (basically dashes and sloshes into a zip-lock bag):

My base always includes:
soy sauce
vegetable oil
red wine / port
garlic

optional components:
worcestershire sauce
rice wine vinegar
honey
pepper
crushed red pepper
chili powder
rosemary

My birthday flank steak was marinated for 24-hours in the following:

a few sloshes of soy sauce
a slosh of vegetable oil
a slosh of rice wine vinegar
a slosh of Warre's Warrior port
the dregs of my last bottle of worcestershire
a few drops of sesame oil
a tablespoon of honey
a teaspoon of minced garlic
a few dashes of cracked pepper
a couple dashes of crushed red pepper

I mixed all this in a ziploc bag and tasted it. It was a bit strong for a 24-hour marinade (I do like the flavor of beef), so I cut it with some water and then added the flank steak to the bag. I squeeze as much air out as possible and then seal. Then I beat the meat with the bottom of a metal ladle to tenderize it and allow for Maximum Flavor Penetration!

The next morning, I flip the bag over and whack the other side with a ladle. At dinner time, I slap the steak on a grill, then transfer all the marinade through a seive to a saucepan, where I boil it to kill the baddies, then simmer it to the desired consistency.

When the steak's done, I rest it then slice it, sauce it, and serve it.

Yummy!

Sounds delicious.

Hey pmbuko, you going to the DC101 chili cookoff? If you do, come by and have a taste of my chili. Look for the R & D International Chili team.

I'm pretty much with Peter on all the above. We do occasionally buy a Top Round and marinade that, though.

The only ingredients we like that haven't been mentioned yet are balsamic vinegar and lemon zest.

I may have missed it in the above recipes, but good 'ole beer & BBQ sauce is a nice treat once in a while. Doesn't get much easier than that either (and a good way to use up the "light" beer that party-goers occasionally leave behind!).

Anyone got one for beer and not bbq sauce? My wife is not fond of the stuff, but I once had a beer marinated steak that was truly wonderful... Never tried it myself. It seems wrong to use a $10 bottle of beer on a steak, and, well, that's all I buy...

Count me in with the dry rub crowd. I use Italian seasoning and SeasonAll. Occasionally I'll throw in some garlic salt.

Sear each side on high heat for about 2-3-minutes, then lower the heat to low-to-medium and keep turning every 2-3 minutes until at medium-rare to medium (on my grill, about 8-12 minutes total for boneless NY strip). This technique always keeps 'em juicy.

I rarely get steak at the local chain places anymore - what's the point when I could do it better at home? I will occasionally enjoy one at finer steak houses.

Interesting--most of the stuff I see says only turn it once, and if you turn it more often, you're a Communist.






Communist.

He's not a commie. He's a bovinial flip-flopper.

Da, over here in the Politburo, we are enjoying juicy steaks. Searing on both sides keeps the juices in.

Links:

Lobel's
The Smoker King

Glory to the state! We will bury you!

Bren and medic8r FTW !!!

Whoa - now I have hive-mind with Bren !!!

Oh, great... I share a like-mind with a head-shrinker.

Bren R.

Our family has never marinated steak...my dad thinks it's a sin. He also bitches about people who inject meats with those liquid spices..."have you ever read the ingredients in that stuff?...look at all the preservatives...you can't even taste the meat..." blah, blah, blah. Whenever our family gets together for steak, for some reason, it becomes MY job to season them. I guess the family likes it. All I do is a rub with some McCormick cajun seasoning, garlic powder, and some salt & pepper. Simple, eh? Well, at least my dad's never complained!

I'll marinate cuts like London Broil but not prime cuts like a fillet or ribeye. I do like to dust tri-tips with salt and pepper then absolutely bathe them in garlic powder and grill them to medium/medium rare.

I am with the dry rub crowd. All I use is garlic and pepper with the occasional Mrs. Dash. I also do the high heat then turn it down till done, well done that is.

The best I can do is medium well, the wife likes her steak medium rare. No can do here.

Another vote for "in Canada the tough parts of the cow are called ground beef". That's why we mix so much stuff into our burgers and just put salt and black pepper on steaks.

And for those that say marinades are not for them...I agree with your logic...that's the beauty of my recipe. The oil pretty burns off, the soy sauce adds some saltiness and the garlic and herbs add some flavor. When my steaks come off the grill, they look like they haven't been soaked in a bunch of crap.

This simple marinade never disappoints.

I took the reins and did some chicken breasts tonight... I'm not a huge fan of chicken... usually I either marinate the crap out of them in Italian dressing, or I build up a candy coating of teriyaki on them while barbequing... decided to go in a different direction this time, and mix up a rub... I went with:

4 tsps chili powder
4 tsps paprika
2 tsps cumin
2/3 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp mustard seeds (ground)
1 tsp lemon pepper

should do about... oh... 4 breasts. Was pretty good, different than my normal "spices up front" way of cooking... nice and subdued.

For the paprika, I had some really nice Hungarian stuff from Folklorama's Hungary pavilion.

For the mustard, since I don't have a mortar and pestle, I just crack mustard seeds between a folded sheet of parchment with a marble rolling pin.

And why is it all in teaspoons? Easy, one measuring spoon to wash.

Bren R.

I finally cracked the chix breast code a couple of years ago. I've been taught forever that you always marinate chicken breasts then grill them on medium to low heat. After lots of experimentation I discovered that you can essentially treat them like steaks: You can season them with dry rubs then grill them on fairly high heat. You need to play with the time to get used to it but basically grill them 3 minutes on a side over high heat and press with your thumb to check doneness. Firm but not hard is done, just let them sit 5 minutes to complete cooking. The result is flavorful but still very moist. Most of the lower heat methods I've seen result in dry, chalky chicken breasts. Oops one important thing: Butterfly the breasts so they are even thickness before you season and grill them.

Yep. Butterflying is key. Without it, the middle of the breast will be moist but the edges will be crispy/dry.

For Mother's Day I marinated a couple of tri-tips for about 6 hours in some red wine, fresh crushed garlic, minced onion, chopped fresh oregano & parsley, a big shot of Pickapeppa sauce, some Lawrey's salt, and pepper. Grilled until about 130F, and let sit for 10 minutes. Sliced thin across the grain. Served with baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and a greek salad. All the moms were very happy, as were the dads.

Perhaps the mojitos helped the attitude.
Rich

Mojitos make everything better. Those cubans know how to drink.