You can't beat a good steak — but how do you take it to the next level?
Which spices and rubs should you have in your pantry?
And who in their right mind would pair steak with dairy?
Keep watching to find out.
Most meat lovers have at least one steak recipe that they swear by, and everyone has their
own tips and tricks for getting it just right.
Everyone knows seasoning is hugely important to a good steak, of course.
Steak won't sear properly without salt, for instance, and you can draw out some seriously
aromatic flavors by seasoning the meat with a little rosemary or garlic.
A good marinade is also essential for the tenderizing and flavoring of steaks, and different
chefs will have perfected all kinds of different marinades.
But even if you've mastered the marinade and always season your steak, there are a few
tricks you might not have tried.
For example, while sunflower, olive oil, and butter are all common in steak recipes, lard
was once particularly popular — especially back in the 19th century.
Eventually, though, the development of cotton seed oils put a bad light on pork fat.
Near the end of the 20th century, America and Europe migrated away from using lard in
favor of plant-based oils, as they were cheaper and considered healthier.
But lard might be making a comeback.
For one thing, lard has half the saturated fat as butter.
It's also rich in vitamin D, and its health benefits are increased if the animals it comes
from are pastured and grass-fed.
As for flavor, that's dependent on the quality of lard you buy.
Lard can have a neutral flavor or a natural, meaty taste.
But lard isn't the only ingredient you might want to test out on your next steak.
The robust flavors of a full-roast coffee bean, combined with a tender steak, may be
just the twist you need, as coffee can work as a useful ingredient in a dry rub or marinade.
"Damn good coffee… and hot."
For the dry rub, you only need to add whole coffee beans and peppercorns to a pepper grinder.
After patting steaks dry with a kitchen towel and salting them liberally, apply the pepper-coffee
mixture with a heavy hand.
The other way of making a coffee rub for your steak is with garlic, thyme, and molasses,
in addition to the salt, pepper, and coffee, with balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard for
the liquid component.
This combination works great as a marinade too, as the coffee helps to tenderize the meat.
Coffee doesn't just influence the steak's flavor, either.
It also performs a similar function to wine by tenderizing it and breaking down its proteins.
When a thick enough layer of the dry rub is applied, the mixture will form a crust as
the meat grills, allowing the steak to inhibit its moisture.
And, if you're feeling really brave, you could always introduce some dairy to your steak recipe.
"How about your favorite food?
What would that be?"
"Oh, milksteak."
"Hm?
What?"
"Milksteak."
"I'm not putting milksteak."
"Just put steak."
Luckily, we're not talking milk here — yogurt is often featured in recipes for dishes such
as chicken tikka and kebab, but its usefulness can also extend to other meat-centric dishes,
including marinated steak.
When it comes to marinating meat, home cooks tend to walk a fine line.
If you add too much of an ingredient or leave the meat in the sauce for too long, it can
toughen, especially when vinegar and citrus fruits are involved.
Yogurt, however, has a different effect.
Marinating your meat in yogurt will tenderize it, meaning you won't have to worry about
it becoming tough.
This happens because the calcium and lactic acid in yogurt work away at the meat, making
it tender without the risk of it becoming rubbery.
The active acids in this process are delicate, however, and the marinade works slower and
needs to soak for as long as 12 hours to achieve the desired results.
But the pay-off will be more than worth it: Not only does the yogurt make steaks softer,
but it also makes them more succulent.
So if you don't have any lard on hand — or you just want to try out a new sauce recipe
for your steak — then yogurt could be the one ingredient you never knew you needed.
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