Steaks: Marinade or Not?

Mike121

Mike121

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I'm curious as to how you all prepare your steaks for cooking on the grill.

I actually do use a marinade, when I have enough warning in advance that I'll be cooking steaks. Obviously if I just decide one day, on a whim, there's not enough time to marinade. I usually use a steak marinade, for at least 4 hours, then season with a liberal amount of McCormick's Montreal steak seasoning. I recently cooked some steaks for our new Pastor and he and his wife both agreed it was the best steak they'd had since moving to Texas (including steak houses). Hey, I'll take that compliment all day long, and I don't care what steaks houses they've eaten at! :D

How about y'all? Marinade or no marinade?
 
To me depends much on how tired I am of grilling a steak the same way. I usually like it with some butter or Worcestershire sauce at serving, but nothing more.

However I may go for a marinade that may have BBQ sauce or some other steak seasoning, but I'm not up to use marinades all the time because I like my steaks rare cooked and marinades require more grilling time for a better taste.
 
Often I buy steaks that are already marinated. I live alone so I opt for the easy way out instead of spending time and effort just cooking for myself.
I also cook steaks without marinade, then I usually just use a bit of pepper and a hot sauce once in a while.
 
I'm vegetarian and never really liked the taste of meat (hence, why I became vegetarian) but I do remember enjoying marinated steak. So it must of been good. :D I still cook bbqs for friends and family and when I do I make sure to marinate half of the steaks and keep half plain as people have different preferences. Some days, I'll marinate the steak myself, in the morning, before a lunch time bbq, as this is something I used to do with my mom and grandma growing up. However, if it's a last minute bbq, I'll purchase pre marinated steak. Guilty as charged.
 
I wouldn't marinade it if it was a good cut of steak. I love a thick boneless ribeye for example, and wouldn't even think of soaking it in a marinade. The steak is already loaded with flavor. I would keep it simple and cook it in a pan with garlic infused olive oil on high head to get a nice dark brown crispy surface on the steak. I season it with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, as well as some torn fresh Italian parsley. The parsley cooks right on the steak like wilted greens, looks very rustic too.

If it was a cheaper cut of beef that I was perhaps skewering, then I may marinade the meat to give it some zing. Something like a rump roast for example, doesn't really have any flavor or fat, so a marinade will help you get a crispy surface to the meat instead of it just being grey and bland.
 
We do a marinade with our steaks the night before we are going to cook. That soaks the flavors into the meat and it turns out juicy and flavorful.
 
A marinade is good and under the right circumstances I prefer it. But I think a rub works better more consistently if you don't want the steak to be too juicy. I like my steak to be more of a BBQ experience and less like something from a gourmet restaurant.
 
My sister once made steaks with a rub instead of marinade and it actually turned out good. I liked the flavors and the steak was actually quite juicy. I still prefer a marinade though because I like the taste of it better than the rub.
 
I do steaks two ways - depending on my mood (or what my boyfriend prefers more on the day). I use dry rubs sometimes, I love rustic flavors especially with herbs and cayenne pepper. But I also love marinade, usually leaving the steaks soaked overnight for a richer flavor when cooked.
 
Miss...I like the rustic flavors as well in a steak. The cayenne, garlic and even some chili powder sometimes! (Thanks to Breaking Bad, I now think of Jessie every time I use chili powder!)

I haven't done an overnight marinade. I don't know why, but just haven't. Several hours, but not yet overnight. May give that a shot. What do you use for your marinade?
 
My sister always does an overnight marinade on her steaks in order tp get the flavors soaked into the meat. Sometimes it tastes good and sometimes it doesn't. I think it depends on what she puts in her marinade.
 
I was looking around at marinades today and saw a couple of rum based ones recommended for steaks... has anyone tried something with rum? It seemed like it could be really tasty, but I've never done anything at all similar.
 
It's tasty. My sister did a marinade with rum and I loved it. It was really good. I will see if I can find the recipe.
 
I tried a rum glaze to start out, over pork chops. Just spiced rum and brown sugar basically. But it was really tasty! I'm going to have to play with this some more, maybe with shrimp and cooking the pork more slowly. Hmmm.
 
Mmmmm it sounds good with shrimp. I love shrimp and I love pork chops. I may try that myself because it sounds tasty. I hardly ever have enough time to cook, but when I do I like to try different things.
 
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