What's the secret to making a great steak marinade?

Question

I've tried the store bought .It's crap. Looking to make my own, but don't even know where to start.

Answer 1

As mentioned great marinades start with an acid, an oil and spices. Rule of thumb is a 3-2-1 ratio, 3 parts oil, 2 parts acid and 1 part spices of your liking. Want to cheat, go buy Zesty Italian Dressing from the store and marniate meat for 3-4 hours.

DONT SCORE the meat, thats never a good idea beacause you will puncture the membranes and those important juices will run out during cooking.

Remember to always let a good steak rest for several minutes before serving. Cover with foil on a plate and wait, when ready remove foil drain the liquid, there will be some and ENJOY

Answer 2

Randy, there's a hundred or more store brands - you keep on trying different ones and you're bound to find one that suits ya. There are also dry mixes you can try. One trick is not to mix those mixes with anything but the meat: if ground meat, stir in a package of the dry mix and then shape into patties and grill or fry ' em. Otherwise, if it's a roast or steak, just rub the dry mix liberally all over the outside. Some guys just use a dry soup mix, like French Onion mix, to rub on their beef. Us guys usually like lots of flavor, so when you get the package of dry mix, get some cayenne powder too, and add a teaspoonful of that to the dry mix when you go to rub it on. Still not manly enough for ya? Add a half teaspoonful of garlic powder and use a whole tablespoonful of cayenne powder - and make sure it's fresh, cayenne will lose a lot of its punch just sitting on the spice rack for months and months! Good luck, dude. Oh - and make sure if you grill your meat that the coals are good and hot and don't trim off the fat - that'll melt and drip onto the charcoal and add a nice smoky flavor on top of the rest.
Jeez, now y'made me hungry. And they's some nice choice steaks in me fridge---COWABUNGA!

Answer 3

Using just enough of an acidic ingredient ie. vinegar, whiskey, beer or wine alcohol, to help the spices penetrate the meat fibers while not using too much to make the meat sour. Preparation of the meat is important too. poking lots of little holes with a fork or making lots of little slits with a knife helps the marinade penetrate the meat better also. How you cook it is an important factor too. After letting the meat marinade for a few hours or overnight in the fridge, by searing the meat before cooking, this will help aid in locking in the juices and the marinade spices. Searing is done on a very hot flat surface like a frying pan. by bringing the temp up to a point where vegetable oil will just start to smoke. toss the meat in and just scorch the outside of it for a few seconds on each side. after searing it like this cook the meat slowly on your barbecue or how ever you planed on cooking it. take care not to turn it too often. once or twice is fine.

Answer 4

well im not going to give you a marinade recipe , because you asked for the basics, so what you need is an acid, like viniger, lemon juice ect... that is what cuts into the meat, so what ever you use for flavoring, fully saturates it , then you need a basic flavoring, use what ever you like, garlic, herbs, ect... and then you need a a moisturizer like oil of any kind, except cold pressed( you cant cook those or they become toxic), add all three of those steps together and you should ahave a successful marinate :>, soak your meat in it for at least 3 hours, this will get you min. flavor if you want max. flavor, put it in a ziplock back and suck out all the air, let it soak for 24 hours, that should be really good!! ok well good luck and have fun experimenting

Answer 5

Just experiment. Buy yourself a spice rack full of the spices you like best and get going. A simple marinade is:
A dash of red wine vinegar, a dash of olive oil, crushed garlic, onion and loads of ground black pepper and salt. Cover steaks liberably and leave in marinade for at least half and hour.

Answer 6

oil, garlic, ground pepper, ground chilies, rosemary leaves for lamb, oregano leaves for pork and thyme for beef. Add a little whisky or brandy. No salt, steaks should be salted after cooking.
You can add Worcestershire Sauce, if you like (not too much). Try the stuff before you put it on the raw meat, it's all a matter of your tastes. Never use too much of a spice, you can always add a little more.
For chicken, I use oil, salt, pepper, (only if the skin stays on), paprika, chilies, thyme and a little lemon juice.

Answer 7

I have a great simple one! Mix one cup of a good robust Italian dressing with two tablespoons of A-1 steak sauce. Marinate overnight or at least 6 hours and grill on the barbeque, you'll love it.

Answer 8

Well really what Rob said but the real secret is papiya juice, it is what tenderizes the meat............why do you think they tell you to drink papiya juice if you eat to much meat and cant get it out if you know what I meen....lol....papiya is a great base for any marinade.

Answer 9

bullseye bbq sause itailian dressing garlic powder soy and worchestersire sauce a lil honey and lemon juice make a great marinade

Answer 10

lemon juice and soy sauce 75% lemon
mar. 45 min add salt broil