Experimental Chefery

Well, today is Fathers day, and like a lot of other dads across the country today, I was given my choice of any meals I’d like to eat. My choices were first biscuits and gravy, followed by whatever for lunch, and ending with Steak at dinner time. These choices are not uncommon I’m sure, but unlike some fathers, I insist on cooking my steak myself! Read on for the tasty details.

I did some things with the dinner that relate to some of our recent posts so I thought I’d detail a bit. The side dish was corn on the cob. Er, rather the *other* side dish was corn on the cob (in my house, mashed potatoes should just be assumed whenever steak is on the table). Corn on the cob is a long time favorite of mine, and I’m rather saddened to see that in America, most people have never had it any other way than just shucked and boiled. There are a lot of other ways to cook corn, and if you travel abroad a bit you’ll likely run into some of them. Corn has a ton of natural sweetness and boiling doesn’t do nearly as good a job of bringing that out as an open fire will.

But the thing that often surprises people is that corn is also a great target for a brine! I like to soak mine with the husks still on in a brine for several hours, and then toss them right onto a grill with a good portion of hardwood for smoke flavor. Leaving the husks on creates a similar effect to wrapping it with foil would, but the smoke of the grill on the husks actually adds more flavor to the corn. If done right, it will come out bursting with flavor and extremely juicy. Yum. Today’s brine is a couple of boxes of chicken stock, 1/4 up of whole pepper corns, 1/4 brown sugar, 3 tablespoons butter, and as much liquid smoke and smoked Spanish paprika as I thought it needed, then enough water to that to cover the corn.

Make sure that before you grill it, you cut off any stray husk or silk, but without exposing the corn.

Now, on to the steak! I’m doing a marinade this time. Yes. You heard me right, a marinade and not a brine. I realize that we’ve been gushing about the virtues of brine lately, but I’m just as much a fan of a good marinade, it’s just that most people are more familiar with marinade so it doesn’t often doesn’t make for as interesting a blog post

So what’s the difference between a brine and a marinade? When do you know which to use? There’s actually quite a bit of debate about that. Some say that a brine is for moisture, and a marinade is for tenderness, but others say that marinades don’t have the punch to actually tenderize. Sounds like an experiment is in order… but that’ll be another day (side note: marinades can also be used to completely “cook” meat, but that’s the topic of a different post. Look up ceviche if you want an example).

Consider, if you will, crock pot cooking. The slow cooking process does a fabulous job at making food tender, but it also has a tendency to dry it out. And although it is certainly possible to make a juicy dish from a crock pot, at times you can take a piece of meat out of the pot that has been completely submerged in it’s own juices for several hours, and by the time you put it on your plate and bite into it it’s dry as a bone. This is because the slow cooking process breaks down all the connective tissues between the meat proteins (like a marinade does) making it fall apart easily, but it also breaks down the cells enough that they can’t retain moisture and it ends up on your plate or in the pot instead of in your roast.

Because of this, brine is often used with dishes that will be slow cooked, like a whole turkey, because the brine will promote moistness to counteract the drying effect of the cooking time. Brine is also great for pork chops because thanks to fears about e coli and heart worm, you’re supposed to always cook them well-done, but if you toss them right on the grill they will likely end up dry because by the time they have cooked through all the moisture has run out.

Marinade however, when not being used strictly for flavor, is usually used for meat that you want to tenderize (much to the aggravation of the people that claim it doesn’t work). Small game is a great target, as it is often tough, but oddly enough, so is steak. Now after reading these explanations you might be thinking “but, why wouldn’t you use a brine for steak? Who doesn’t want a nice juicy steak?!”, and that is an excellent question.

First of all, there is nothing at all stopping you from putting your steak in a brine, it works fine and is tasty, however there are a few things to consider when choosing which method to use. The tenderness of steak is largely determined by a combination of two things:

1. The cut
2. The grade

Some cuts of meat are just more tender than others, without a doubt. This is why the Fillet Mignon is so expensive. Just by nature of the DNA of a cow, the fillet is very soft and it can take a lot of abuse and still come out tender. As you move away from the spine and towards the feet, the cuts get less tender though, and therefore cheaper!

Next up is the grade, and this is arguably the largest factor. I’m referring to the USDA ranking system that is a measure of how much marbling (or fat, tasty, tasty fat) is in the meat. This is why you can see a pack of New York Strip steak labeled “Prime” that is 4 dollars a pound more expensive than the New York Strip steak right beside it marked “Choice”.

Although I love a good New York strip steak, I usually don’t the money to buy it. When I’m on a budget (like today) I like to get a good Rib Eye steak. I like the big ones that are at least an inch and a half thick. They’ve got plenty of fat for the price and are much cheaper than a strip, or a fillet. When I went to the store I saw that the “Prime” rib eye was several dollars more per pound than the “Choice” was so I went for that. But knowing that the lower grade will tend to be less tender I’m making up for it by using a marinate. The best of steaks need no marinade at all, just a bit of salt and pepper, but it’s a good way to compensate when you’re cutting corners.

I got four thick rib eye’s and was feeling too lazy to make my own marinade, so I bought a bottle of a pre-made mesquite flavored one. I added a cup of Sprecher’s Puma Cola to give it an extra edge. You’ve probably not had Puma if you’re not in Wisconsin as it’s a local brewery, but it’s FANTASTIC! You can read about their soda’s, including Puma, here. Soda, especially cola, it great in a marinade. I don’t pretend to know the science behind it, but I can guess that the combo of the bubbles, plus acidic ingredients, helps to break down the meat further. Puma is a great choice because it has lots of bubbles, and has a hint of cinnamon in it that is just savory enough to match great with our beef.

I let it soak in the marinade for a bit more than 24 hours, then grilled the corn on indirect heat on the top rack while I grilled the steak on direct heat on the bottom.

The corn takes longer to cook than the steak so I had it going about 20 minutes before I put the steak on.

A fabulous meal to finish off a fabulous fathers day! The presentation may not be gourmet, but it was FULL of win!