Previously, I posted my mom’s amazing steak marinade. While we were eating it last time, we were talking about how it made the steak so so good, and then wondered— could we use it in burgers? So I boiled the leftover marinade instead of tossing it, and froze it. Tonight, I experimented. I took 1 # ground beef and gently tossed it with the marinade. I did our usual ‘make a burger’ cooking style (cast iron pan, preheated, salted with kosher salt, and formed patties and tossed (I am overusing that word!) them in. Sliced some red onion, tomatoes and put some fresh spinach on the buns I made yesterday (upcoming blog!) with mayo, and then put the cooked burgers on top. They are every bit as awesome as we thought they would be. mmmmmmm
When my mom was a young mother in the 50’s, she spent a lot of time cooking and making up recipes. One of her meals was a potato salad that was a little different from the common one of the time, and a steak marinade.
Oh, her steak. Her steak made at least 2 vegetarians want to eat meat again.
All summer long, she’d make this steak and this potato salad, and even though she died a few years ago, I get to feel like we are home again when I make them. I recently was asked if I’d be willing to share my mom’s steak marinade, and since I was making it for today anyway, I figured why not. And like that woman who had her fudge recipe on her tombstone for all to enjoy, I know my mom would love to live on in other people’s cooking. Even if they change it to fit their tastes, like she changed recipes to fit her.
The steak is simple. There were no amounts in my mom’s recipes- she eyed everything and tossed stuff together, except in the rare occasions where there was a single measurement (4 eggs, ½ cup A1, ½ c breadcrumbs, LOTS of garlic powder). SO I measured my ‘eyeing’ when I put this together the other day (it needs to marinade 24-48 hours). So you mix this, pour it over steak, forget it, and cook it. Cook extra. There is nothing better than this steak pan fried to reheat on bread with mayo as a sandwich the next day, and I try to save about 1/3 of a cup of diced streak to throw on a pizza at a later date. It has SO MUCH FLAVOR. I am not much of a meat eater. But I could eat this all day every day and be very happy.
2 T Worcestershire sauce 2 T olive oil (Not the good stuff)
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp oregano ½ tsp savory
¼ tsp thyme
¼ tsp sage ¼ tsp black pepper 1/8 tsp rosemary
Mix this, pour over steak in a non reactive bowl. Cover with red wine (old stuff, not fresh (but hey, you want to open a new bottle to do this, more power to you!)
Fridge it for 24 hours at LEAST.
Cook however you like.
raw meat waiting for the winepan frying on a ridged grillresting before being cut
(My mom would mix and match these as she had them. do not feel obligated to use all of these if you don’t want. That goes for the whole thing. If you don’t have an herb, skip it, substitute it, go wild!)
Mom’s potato Salad, steam, and some sauteed spinach
We do have *just enough* leftover to add to a pizza and to make small sandwiches… yay!
