Food and Garden Dailies started as a way to record my family's favorite recipes. It has come in handy many times when I'm asked for a recipe. I simply email a link to the blog! But I couldn't just stick to recipes. The kitchen is tied to the garden in so many ways...and so I let you into my ever changing garden as well.

If you're interested in my all-time favorite recipes, check out this post first: My Favorite Recipes

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Beer and Brown Sugar Steak Marinade

Pin It Ever since the Big Thaw of '08, I've been working on re-stocking my freezer supply of prepared food. Thanks to a couple good chicken and steak sales, both freezers are nearly full. This weekend I came across a great sale on thick petite sirloin steaks for just $2.79/lb. Needless to say, I stocked up!

We have our very favorite stand-by recipe for steak marinade, but I was in the mood to try some new flavorings. So I turned to allrecipes.com and found four highly rated steak marinades:
Before adding the steaks I did a little taste test. By far my favorite was the Beer and Brown Sugar one. My least favorite was the Awesome Steak Marinade. It had too much A-1 sauce in it for my taste. However...I haven't tried it with the steak, so I'll report back once I do more than dip my finger in the sauce!

Since it was also my turn for our Four Family Meal Exchange, I also made this for three other families. We grilled them that night, and WOW! This recipe is a keeper!! It had the right mixture of sweet and salty, being flavorful but not overpowering. I think the key is that you 1) marinate the meat, 2) sprinkle the seasoning on top, and then 3) pour on the rest of the marinade. It's a couple extra (quick!) steps, but it works quite well.

Since the steaks just simply looked like grilled steak, I skipped taking a picture of the final product. But here is a snap of the ingredients I used. I would imagine the type of teriyaki sauce, seasoned salt, and possibly beer could easily change the flavor of the marinade. So below you'll see the specific brands that I used. You don't need to use these, but I promise you'll have a winner steak if you do!

Combine in a small bowl:
1/2 tsp seasoned salt (Lawry's)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Combine in a zip-style bag or plastic bowl:
1/4 C dark beer (Deschutes Black Butte Porter)
2 T teriyaki sauce (Soy Vay Island Teriyaki)
2 T brown sugar

Mix together and add:
2-16 oz sirloin steaks

Marinate the meat for at least 30 minutes.*

Grilling instructions: Place steaks on a heated grill. Sprinkle the seasoning on the steaks. Grill on both sides, until they are cooked to your liking. A couple minutes before you take them off the grill, pour the rest of the marinade over the steaks.

*I marinated them for about 6 hours and it was quite good.

3 comments:

ksjjpalmer said...

I just found your blog by googling "petite sirloin steak marinade." The funny thing is that I grew up in Newberg, OR. I live in Seattle now. Thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

How could I freeze this using my vacuum sealer?

dg said...

I always make these ahead and freeze them. Combine, the beer, Teriyaki sauce, and brown sugar with the steaks in a plastic bag.

You can use a zip-loc but that's a bit of overkill if you're using a vacuum sealer. I put them in the twist-tie bags (less expensive) and then place the bags on a cookie sheet. Get them as flat as possible. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer and freeze overnight.

The next day, place the bag (just fold down the flap) in your vacuum sealer bags and vacuum pack them. The liquid will be frozen and won't seep out. (If you use the twist tie, remove it or it could poke through the bags.)