The Easy Formula You Should Memorize For A Perfect Steak Marinade

The secret to a good steak often starts with its marinade. Essential for tenderizing tougher cuts of meat, marinades also help to infuse it with flavor, turning every bite into a succulent feast. There are a slew of ingredients you can add to a marinade to boost your steak's taste. For a kick of spice, you may sprinkle in some cayenne pepper. For a warming sweetness, you can add in some honey or maple syrup. And though you can get pretty creative in terms of customizing the individual components, every marinade should start with the same core formula: oil, acid, salt, and flavoring.

Oil, which provides some fat, is the key to thickening and emulsifying your mixture, and allows for an even cook when you throw your meat on the flame. Acid is one of the most important elements, as it works to break down the connective tissue of the beef, leading to a softer and more tender steak.

Salt is the holy grail of all seasonings, as it's able to balance all of the other flavor elements. Additionally, salt aids in the tenderizing process while also ensuring the steak retains its moisture. Through the process of osmosis, salt first draws the meat's juices out, so that it can all be absorbed back in with the addition of the marinade's flavoring.

Now that you've got the basic formula down, it's time to dig into some ingredients you can use to make a foolproof steak marinade. CJ Jacobson, a contestant on "Top Chef," and chef and partner behind Chicago-based Mediterranean eateries Aba and Ēma, offered us some advice In an exclusive interview with Tasting Table. Jacobson described the building blocks of his go-to marinade: "For me, I like 1/2 of kosher salt per pound of meat. Then l like a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio of liquid rice koji, lemon, and olive oil."

Kosher salt, lemon juice, and olive oil are all marinade staples, but Jacobson's use of liquid rice koji is certainly worth exploring. A popular ingredient in Japanese cuisine, koji is a type of mold grown on grains like rice or barley, and is used as a seasoning to deliver a distinctive umami flavor to foods. Indeed, one of the best ways to use koji is in a marinade. The liquid rice koji Jacobson mentions is a fermented condiment made from the mold that's not only flavorful, but rich in tenderizing enzymes that work wonderfully to soften tougher steaks.

You can find another excellent recipe in Tasting Table's own tenderizing steak marinade. In addition to salt, lemon juice, and olive oil, this recipe incorporates Worcestershire and soy sauces to add some savory umami flavoring, along with balsamic vinegar for a sweet, acidic punch.