A Different Stake in Marinating Steak

I have been a bit behind in my blogging lately, primarily due to the holidays and some minor travel. I wish I could say I was touring the world, getting creative culinary inspirations from local traditions, but my blog-inattentiveness really just boils down to overindulgence in the holiday spirit.

Since I want to fill you all in on my all eating experiences and cooking adventures since my last posting, I think I’ll start off on an interesting, albeit successive, dining experience with a little chemistry lesson to add for flavor. I spent the week between Christmas and New Years with all the wonderful luxury amenities that I don’t have in New York City. For starters, I had a car for a week and loved every second of my life away from the 6 train. I also (and probably most importantly) loved my travels to an actual grocery store in a car - not my trips by foot to the bodegas in the City. Perhaps my most favorite luxury culinary accoutrement was the barbeque - the real deal, not a grill pan!

So loving every eating second of this week away, we decided to grill some strip steaks in celebration of a metropolitan-free life. George, taking the culinary reins on this grilling adventure, prepared and grilled the steaks. Pretending to be occupied with washing some Bibb lettuce, I carefully monitored his preparations of the steaks. Not that I didn’t trust his abilities to marinate the meat, but well, I am a bit of a culinary control freak...

From the corner of my eye, I saw him place the strip steaks in a pan and liberally salt and pepper them. So far so good. The next step of this marination process involved what appeared to be a deep philosophical conquest on what in the refrigerator could be added to the steaks as part of the marinade. After his reverie of sorts, some Worcestershire sauce was added to the steaks (I was fine with that) and some chopped garlic was added to the steak (I was also fine with that). Next, he pulled out a bunch of fresh rosemary and began pulling off some stems in what appeared to be the start of this marinade’s demise. Immediately realizing that my lettuce washing could wait and I was faced with what could have been a potential culinary Code Red, I abandoned my lettuce and turned my attention to the steak.

As I was staking out the steak, hunks of rosemary were being pressed down into the steak. Now, before I sound too critical, let me admit my naivety, or perhaps, my partial feelings on the use of rosemary. I love rosemary. Rosemary encrusted pork chops are fabulous and rosemary on a pork tenderloin is equally fabulous. Rosemary and lamb are a nice combination, as well as a hint of fresh rosemary on a roasted chicken. But, rosemary and beef? Debatable.

I let George finish his preparations and grill the steaks. A bit anxious for both of our responses to the rosemary chunks unsystematically placed in the steak, I cautiously bit into my first bite. Chew chew chew, savor, wait a second, savor, and swallow. Repeat until the steak is gone. The rosemary sparred steak was great - in fact, it was amazing. My culinary worries were unnecessary. My taste buds were delighted. The marinade was a great invention.

Now, for a bit of a chemistry lesson. The pairing of rosemary and beef is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the pair predates refrigeration as rosemary extract prolongs the shelf-life of cut beef. When added to packaging, rosemary extract helps meat stay pink for weeks. Also, rosemary extract reduces heterocyclic amines, which are carcinogenic compounds that form when meat is cooked with high temperatures. Adding rosemary extract to ground beef reduces the amount of cancer causing compounds created during grilling. Interesting, huh?

So rosemary really does pairs well with steak, on many levels. I certainly enjoyed this culinary experience and hope you try it and enjoy it as well.

Until next time...