Make a $5 Steak taste like $50

I went to the store the other day and they had an amazing sale on not so quality cuts of meat.  Granted the steak that I picked up was a rib-eye, it didn’t have marbling and it was cut quite thin.  However, I figured that it would be a good time to discuss how to make substandard meat extraordinary.  Through the use or rubs, marinades and sauces you can improve the flavor of steaks.  However, marinades also help tenderize a steak.  So the perfect addition to any substandard cut of meat is to use a marinade.    Below I used a Korean inspired marinade to tenderize and flavor my not-so-perfect cut of steak.

The spicy sweet marinade did a double feature and was reduced in a pan to create an amazing sauce for the steak and rice.

Korean Steak Marinade

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 white wine
• 3 tbs sugar
• 4 cloves garlic- (Finely Diced)
  
• 1 tbs red pepper flake – (optional but adds a nice back end heat)
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper

Place the steaks in a zip-top bag and then add the marinade ingredients.  No need to dirty a bowl, just mix everything up so that the sugar dissolves.

Next allow the meat to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Pour the marinade out of the bag into a sauce pan.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer.  Let it simmer until it reduces by 1/3.

Preheat your grill to Medium/High.

Place the steaks directly over the heat and grill for 2-4 minutes depending on the thickness of your steaks.

Flip and cook for another 2-4 minutes.  Check to make sure that the steaks are done to your liking and remove from the grill.  Let the steaks rest for 3-5 minutes before serving.

Serve the steaks over steamed rice with the reduced sauce.

The steaks were perfectly tender and flavorful.

Now I would not recommend using a marinade on a nice cut of meat.  However, sometimes it is nice to get a unique flavor profile with the texture of steak.  That is where the $5 steak comes in.