Soy, balsamic, garlic, and rosemary — built for loose-grained cuts (flank, skirt, bavette) that actually drink marinade in. Tight-grained steaks only ever wear it.
1 tsp
⚫ Whole Black Peppercorns ›
cracked
Mise en place
Before you start
Yield: Enough for 700 g of steak
Prep checklist
Whole Black Peppercorns — cracked
Whisk everything until the sugar dissolves. Reserve 3 tablespoons in a clean jar for finishing the cooked steak.
Marinate flank, skirt, or bavette in a zip bag, air pressed out, 2–8 hours in the fridge.
💡
Soy is the real tenderizer here — its salt loosens surface proteins. The acid is for brightness, not "breaking down" (a myth past the surface).
Pat the steak DRY before searing — a wet surface refuses to crust. Discard used marinade.
💡
Sugar in the marinade means the grill chars fast; keep the fire one notch below your instinct.
Taste before serving and adjust salt and acid — the last 30 seconds of seasoning matter more than any single ingredient.
Afterwards
Keep, reheat & pair
Storage
Unused marinade keeps 5 days refrigerated. Once it touches raw protein, discard it — or boil 3 full minutes to serve as a sauce.
Freezing
Freeze protein IN the marinade: it seasons as it thaws. 2 months.
Reheating
Marinades aren't reheated — but boil any used marinade for 3 full minutes if you want to serve it as a sauce (it touched raw protein).
Make ahead
Mix up to 5 days ahead and refrigerate; marinate proteins in zip bags so cleanup is nothing.
Wine pairing
Follows the finished dish.
Beer pairing
Follows the finished dish.
On the plate
Serve it with
Sides
·
Applies to whatever you marinate
Garnish
Reserve a spoonful (before it touches raw meat) to finish the cooked dish
How long should I marinate?
Acidic marinades: 30 minutes–4 hours for thin cuts (acid "cooks" the surface mushy past that), up to 12 for thick cuts. Yogurt and enzyme marinades: 4–24 hours. Salt-forward soy marinades: 1–24 hours. Seafood: 15–30 minutes only.
Can I reuse the marinade as a sauce?
Only after a hard 3-minute boil — it touched raw protein. Better habit: reserve a clean portion before the meat goes in.
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