The ultimate steak marinade

I’m neither a chef nor, by anyone’s books, a cook, but I can do one, and only one, dish just right – steak.  Here’s how.

For the perfect “Jamie” (Follett, not Oliver) steak marinade and cooking, all you need to do is…

… marinade your steak (in a perfect world, your eye fillet),

by liberally rubbing in the following ingredients:

• Soy + Canadian Maple Syrup (or honey, of course) – the “marinade essential”
• Mustard (hot English or seeded German)
• Tabasco (to your spice preference level)
• Pepper (cracked and lots of it) to season, but never salt as it dries the meat
• Mixed Spice  (e.g. Moroccan or Oriental) to your personalised taste

• Additionally, if using a budget cut of meat, add vinegar to tenderise (soften)

Then put in freezer for a complete freeze.

This is another “marinade essential”.  Without this freeze-fracture process, of freezing then defrosting the meat, all bets are off for qualifying as a mouth slavering marinade.  The freeze-facture process unsurpassably infuses the marinade throughout the meat by allowing the spices to delve deep into the meat.  I’ve blind tested this theory, using dinner party guests as judge and jury.  There verdict was unanimous.  Marinading steaks over night in the fridge does not come anywhere near to as sumptuous as the exact same preparation involving an over night freeze then morning defrost.

In addition, another advantage of freezing the meat is that you can do the marinading as a bulk batch process.  You can defrost meat, from individual glad bags, as and when required, on various Bacchanalian, feasting occasions.

It is worth noting that the defrost is a slow process.  It takes quite a few hours to fully defrost the centre of the meat up to roughly room temperature (even here in sunny Australia).  A cautionary note, and frequent pit fall, an incomplete defrosting will prevent the centre of meat from cooking sufficiently before a burning of the the meat’s exterior occurs.  If in a hurry, and your guests’ hunger pains have onset, put the glad bags of frozen meat into warm water to melt the party ice pronto.

Anyway, after defrosting, put the succulent meat on a newly made, super-hot, coals Barbie (if available) for a 2 min frazzling each side (to seal in juices).  Then depending on the thickness of the meat’s cut, a low heat for a further 5 min to get that juicy centre to the perfect medium rare, still slightly bloody, consistency one desires.

Nearly done.

Now, remove the sizzled steaks from the coals and let the juices settle on a serving plate for 5min.

Add sea salt, carve (if a large log cut) and serve.

For la pièce de résistance, serve with Sauce.  Sauce is the source.  It is that added taste bud explosion that will make the dish really pop.  A béarnaise, mushroom, perri perri, or like, sauce will really make the difference.  The sauce will also add flavour to any vegies you may serve the steak up with.

Ta da.

Super-infused, spicy, char-grilled meat to die for and fully deserved, Tong Man bragging rights for the rest of the night.