Mm-Mm-Good-Marinade

If ever there was a reason to grill out, Sunday was it, for June 21st marked both the official 1st day of summer and Father's Day. It also marked my 1st full meal prepared outdoors.

In honor of Father's Day, I made grilled marinated hanger* steak, chicken, red and green peppers, Vidalia onions, plum tomatoes, and mushrooms. Along with that I served Asian cabbage salad and fried mixed brown and wild rice. I think we all thought it quite tasty.

I have made this marinade for years and used it in grilling beef, chicken and veggies. It is quite simple and is made from ingredients you probably have on hand. The original recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens Golden Treasury of Cooking.

MARINADE: Mix all ingredients in a pint size jar.
1/2 Cup oil. I use olive oil.
1/4 Cup lemon juice. You could use fresh, but bottled works fine too.
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce, I use Lea & Perrins
2 Tablespoons prepared mustard. My favorite is Plochman's Premium Natural Stone Ground
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large clove of garlic, minced

Put the lid on the jar and shake until mixed. It is best to marinade the meat either the night before or the morning of your grill out. To cut down on grilling time, I prefer to pre-cook the chicken by simmering for around 1/2 hour, depending on the size of the pieces. The beef I marinate raw. I put the beef in a separate Zip-Lock bag from the chicken and poured about 1/3 of the marinade in each bag. Zip shut. Keep the meat bags refrigerated until grilling time and don't forget to rotate the bags several times during the marinading process to evenly distribute the flavors.

I also pre-bake the onion halves because I like the onions well cooked. I just peel, cut in half, and place in a baking pan with a little olive oil. Bake at 350 until they start to soften. After they are cooled, I skewer, put in a plastic bag, and refrigerate.

Keep the remaining marinade in the closed jar refrigerated until grill time.

The steak took about 8 minutes on each side. It was cut in 2 inch by 10 inch strips, and I grilled it just like that. You can use the remaining marinade juices to baste the meat when you first put it on the grill. Don't use any of the marinade containing raw meat juice after your first basting.

The jarred marinade may be used on the vegetables--don't forget to use a separate brush.

This was enough marinade to serve 4-6 people. I marinated about 2 1/2 pounds of steak and 1 pound of chicken and still had some to baste the veggies while grilling. (We had lots of left-overs, yum.)

I have used sirloin roast, which is often less expensive than sirloin steak, and chuck steak too. The lemon in the marinade tenderizes the meat, I believe.

*I purchased the hanger steak from Sendiks in Elm Grove. It came already marinaded in au jus juice, then I added my marinade. The hanger steak was very tender and at $4.99 / pound on sale, not a bad price considering there was no waste. The butcher told me it was from a cut next to the T-bone. It looks a lot like flank steak. (They also had it with a teriyaki marinade, but we thought it too sweet.)

Links:
Practically Speaking, Fairly Conservative, Betterbrookfield, RandyMelchert, CNS News, Jay Weber, Mark Levin, Vicki McKenna Jay Weber, The Right View Wisconsin, The Heritage Foundation