Barbecue season is in full swing as the smell of grills warming up fills the neighbourhood air. It can be an exciting time of the year that yields some great grilled goodies, and it can also be frustrating if your foods turn out to be a little on the tough to chew scale of edible. That is especially true when it comes to getting the right consistency for your steak. As food prices have soared due to inflation, buying high-end steak isn’t an option for everyone, plus if you’re not that good at grilling yet, it can be an expensive risk. As you look to alternative cuts of steak like Top Sirloin, Top Round, Sirloin Tip, Eye of Round, Bottom Round, or even blade steak, getting it ready for grilling will change your eating experience.

TENDERIZING YOUR STEAK

Here is a marinade that I’ve used on different cuts of steak to tenderize them before putting them on the grill. I’ve primarily used this with Top Sirloin and Sirloin Tip, the latter being a tougher cut of meat. The marinade recipe accounts for 4 butcher cut Top Sirloin steaks that are about 1.5” thick. Marinading the steaks is an overnight process.

Marinade Ingredients

Mix these ingredients in a bowl:

[-] 1/3 cup soy sauce

[-] ½ cup lemon juice (fresh lemons)

[-] ½ cup olive oil

[-] ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce (if you don’t have any, use extra soy sauce)

[-] 3 cloves of garlic sliced or pressed.

[-] 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning (if you don’t have any, mix your own with basil, parsley, oregano)

[-] ½ teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (Aleppo Pepper Flakes, see the bottom of the article for product reference. I use it in salads, potato recipes, and more).

[-] 1/3 cup fresh parsley chopped.

Once you’ve whisked them together, set the bowl aside. Also set aside these ingredients for later use:

[-] 2 pinches of salt (or ½ tablespoon)

[-] 1 tablespoon of steak seasoning

Preparing the Steak

1. Take the steak out of the packages and pat them down with paper towels to dry them a bit.

2. I like to trim the outer fat a little bit but cutting it back to half of whatever the butcher left on. Use the appropriate knife to make the trims and be careful.

3. Put the steaks in a container that you’ll be able to cover later.

4. Mix your 2 pinches of salt and 1 tablespoon of steak seasoning together in a bowl and them either rub the mix or sprinkle it onto the steak on both sides.

5. Then pour your marinade into the container with the steaks. If your steaks are too big for the container, split them into two containers and divide the marinade equally. The marinade should almost cover most of the top of the steaks.

6. Put a lid on your container and put in your refrigerator overnight. If you have a refrigerator that runs cold in different sections, put your container in an area of the refrigerator that isn’t as cold so that the olive oil doesn’t coagulate or clump together.

7. The next morning, open the container and flip the steaks over, close the lid, and put them back in the refrigerator until closer to cooking time in the evening.

COOKING THE STEAKS

The barbecue I’m using to grill the steaks is a Napoleon 5 burner 74,000 BTU Natural Gas unit with a side searing grill. I have also cooked these on a Broil King Natural Gas unit with cast iron grills. These cooking instructions should yield a medium rare steak on the Napoleon BBQ.

It’s important to know how hot your unit cooks, the air flow, and if your BBQ has cooler regions. If it doesn’t, this can still work if you modify the steps accordingly.  An hour before you’re ready to cook the steaks, take them out of the refrigerator, take the lids off, flip the steaks over one more time, and set aside.

Step By Step

1. Fire up your side searing grill and put it at the highest setting.

2. Fire up 2 regions of your cook box and get the temperature to about 450 degrees.

3. Before you put your steaks on the cook box, turn the temperature down to medium.

4. Put the steaks on and let them cook for 3 minutes with the cook box lid closed. After 3 minutes flip them over and close the cook box lid again. After 3 minutes of cooking open the cook box lid. Turn off any heat on the cook box.

5. Take one steak and put it on the side searing grill for 30 seconds (to one minute) on each side, again preference pending. This will give it nice grill marks and crisp or caramelize the outer layer a bit. Depending on the size of your steak, you can do two at a time.

6. Put the steaks on a platter and tent them with some tin foil for 5-10 minutes. If your BBQ has a cooler region, you can also put them on that part of the grill with the lid closed.

SERVE THE STEAK

When you’re ready to plate the steak, place a fresh parsley stalk and a lemon twist on top for a complete presentation and enjoy! The steak should be full of flavour, tender, juicy, and leaving everyone wanting more!

This is an opinion article by Guido Piraino of  The Monthly Social Podcast. It may also be heard on The Path Radio Mix Online. You can read other opinion articles on the blog page. You may also enjoy video content of The Monthly Social Podcast on YouTube or The Path Radio Mix on YouTube.  For sports content, please consider The Coach's Call YouTube Podcast.