The Ultimate Steak and Burger Marinade
Enhance the flavors of your favorite cuts: An easy and delicious marinade for both steaks and burgers
Enhance the flavors of your favorite cuts: An easy and delicious marinade for both steaks and burgers
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
- 3 drops liquid smoke (i prefer the mesquite flavor, but use it sparingly, as too much makes it bitter)
- 3 drops sesame oil (3 to 5)
- garlic (i use 2 tablespoons)
- cracked black pepper lots of it!
- yellow mustard (like french's; enough to make it a nice light brown color)
- dash red pepper flakes if desired
- Carbohydrate 32.1692000924605 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 1.34550000289719 g
- Fiber 7.56000002172889 g
- Protein 12.6000000362148 g
- Saturated Fat 0.178965000376634 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (538g)
- Sodium 363.440001044597 mg
- Sugar 24.6092000707316 g
- Trans Fat 0.483570001347191 g
- Calories 161 calories
Step-by-step
- Mix it all up!
- Pour over burgers or steaks and let sit in refrigerator for 1 hour. You can even mix a little into the burger while forming patties.
- Cook over hardwood charcoal fire. Grill should be hot enough to sear outside quickly.
Swapping regular soy sauce for tamari alters the sodium concentration and prevents the marinade from overwhelming delicate proteins. Understanding how salt interacts with muscular tissue forms the basis of effective meat preparation. Sodium ions diffuse into the protein structures, partially dissolving myofibrillar proteins and increasing moisture retention during high-heat cooking. Liquid smoke contains phenolic compounds that bond rapidly with surface amino acids, creating deep savory notes without prolonged exposure to actual wood combustion.
Mastering Contact Time and Heat Transfer
Submerging cuts for precisely one hour limits excessive sodium penetration while allowing flavor compounds to adhere to the outer millimeters of the muscle fibers. Extending this soaking window beyond four hours causes the exterior to break down chemically, resulting in a mealy texture rather than a firm crust. Cooking over a hardwood charcoal fire radiating at least 500 degrees Fahrenheit ensures rapid Maillard reactions occur before the interior overcooks. Incorporating a portion of the liquid directly into ground beef patties distributes moisture evenly throughout the fat matrix.
- Limit direct soaking to 60 minutes to prevent undesirable softening of the outer protein layer.
- Maintain grill surface temperatures above 500 degrees Fahrenheit to guarantee immediate crust formation.
- Discard leftover liquid that has made contact with raw meat to avoid cross-contamination hazards.
