Give Your Steak A Miami-Cuban Flair With Mojo

Cubano fans and carnivores, this one's for you. It's time to take your next steak to a bold new level with a kick of mojo flavor. If you've never worked with it before, mojo is an aromatic garlic and herb sauce popular in Cuban cuisine. This flavorful brine is simultaneously zesty, spicy, and citrusy, wildly dimensional yet super easy to make. Mojo marinade is commonly used to season pork shoulder, which gets roasted and turned into the star ingredient of a classic Cubano sandwich. This versatile marinade can lend a bold finishing touch to a variety of meats — we already love mojo on roasted chicken — including your next steak. 

There's no need to hit the supermarket for a bottled marinade. You can quickly assemble a mojo-inspired marinade at home with olive oil, fresh garlic cloves, savory oregano, spicy cumin, orange and lime juices, and salt. Some foodies use orange zest instead of or in addition to orange juice, but the choice is up to your taste preference.

To make a knockout mojo-inspired steak rub, simply toss all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and pulse until the garlic is finely minced, then rub the resulting mixture into your steak. For a coarser texture and piousness to more traditional preparation methods, combine the mojo ingredients by hand using a mortar and pestle. If you're feeling ambitious, you could pre-fry the garlic cloves in the olive oil with a dash of cumin in a skillet before mashing them with the other ingredients for a deeper savory flavor.

If you prefer a marinade, just add a little more olive oil and fruit juice to the mixture. The consistency should come out like a loose vinaigrette, which can be poured over the steak in a sealed plastic bag or covered glass baking dish. Allow the meat to soak in the fridge for at least one hour or up to overnight.

If you have any mojo marinade left over, you can use it to brush the steaks post-cook for a moist, flavorful finish, or pass a dish of mojo around the table as a serving condiment. To complete the meal, pair your mojo-marinated steak with other Cuban-style sides like charred grilled corn on the cob, these Cuban black beans, rice with cilantro and lime, and boiled yuca drizzled with (you guessed it) more mojo sauce.