Category: Meats

Marinade for Steaks and Chops

“Now, I have to get up at 4 tomorrow morning, get dressed, have breakfast at 4:30, pick Pete and Harold up at 5 and be at Leroy’s by 5:30,” explained my father.  “We have to be on our stands by 6.”

My mother was a new bride determined to be the best wife in Hayward.  She sliced the breakfast bacon, got the percolator ready to go on the stove and made my Dad’s lunch  before setting the alarm clock and going to bed.  This was many years before at least one wife decided to sleep in on the opening day of deer hunting season while her husband cooked his own breakfast.
 
The alarm went off, Mom woke Dad and started breakfast while Dad clothed himself in long underwear, a wool jack shirt, three pairs of socks, wool breeches that laced above the ankles and tall leather boots that laced nearly to his knees.
 
After a strengthening breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and coffee, he got out his pocket watch to see if he had time for another cup before picking up his fellow hunters.
 
“What!!” says he as he holds his watch up to his ear to see if it has stopped. “It’s midnight!”
 
So it’s off with the clothes and back in bed to snuggle with Mom after checking to make sure that the alarm is set for 4.
 
“I was just so nervous,” Mom would explain as Dad told the story.  “I wanted to be sure to do everything right.”
 
Dad would laugh and say that at least she got him up in plenty of time.
 
I don’t remember whether he got his buck that morning, but he shot a lot of deer over the years.  We ate a lot of venison when I was a kid.  Mom fried it, roasted it, canned it and made chili and stew with it.
 
The one thing she did not do was serve it rare or even medium rare.  Meat was well done in our house until I started cooking, and then most family members refused to eat my attempts at gourmet cuisine.  Maybe if I had had a good marinade like this one….

I found this recipe on the web and have used it many times since, both for venison and beef. This marinade seasons and tenderizes lean meat exquisitely. Once you try it, you will be using it often.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cloves garlic
1/2 small onion
1/3 cup red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. sugar
Dash of allspice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
4 venison steaks or chops

PROCEDURE:

Mince two large cloves of garlic and finely chop half a small onion. You should have about one-third cup of chopped onion. Combine the onion and garlic with the other marinade ingredients in a small bowl and whisk them together.

Put the steaks or chops in a plastic bag and pour the marinade over the meat. Seal the bag, making sure that the meat is well coated with the marinade. Marinate the meat for three to five hours in your refrigerator, turning it every hour or so. Take it out of the refrigerator a half hour before cooking to let it warm a bit.

You can grill or sauté the meat. Grill the meat over a hot charcoal or gas grill for two or three minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the meat and your preference. If you choose to sauté the meat, have your skillet very hot. Add a small amount of shortening and sear the meat in the pan on each side, again for two or three minutes. Venison should be served rare to medium rare.

NOTES: This marinade goes well with beef grill steaks or even round steak if you do not overcook it. If you don’t have any Dijon mustard, substitute a half teaspoon of dry mustard.

Boneless Pork Roast

When I fetched a pork roast from the wooden chest in the red shed on those cold winter mornings, I knew that Mom would be making pork pot roast for supper that night.  I don’t remember her ever roasting pork (with the exception of hams) or beef in the oven.  She browned the roasts, then simmered them slowly with vegetables until they were fork tender.  I loved her pot roasts then and still do my best to imitate her recipes.

Mom was an avid experimenter, but mainly with salads and casseroles.  Show her a new way to use Jell-O or Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup and she would try it.  Her main dishes tended to be more conventional.  Then too, we had a big garden every summer, so potatoes, carrots and onions were always available and virtually free.  These were one-pot meals with plenty of food for everyone.  Conventional but delicious, especially with homemade bread and dessert.  

My dietary horizon expanded when I went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison. As I look back at those years in residence halls, I realize today that I had lucked into a golden age of cafeteria food.  Van Hise Hall had a chef who had cooked, we were told, at a four star hotel. After some misunderstandings between students and chef were rectified, we began dining in ways that today’s college students would envy.

I learned that hams, turkeys and chickens were not the only meats that could be roasted in the oven. We had prime rib, Baron of Beef, roast pork and what was described as leg of lamb.  My guess is that the “lamb” was really “ram” that had been stored in old army blankets before being shipped to Madison.  I think that this was the only roast almost universally rejected by dorm residents.  We had it once.

The chef did not share his recipes but I think that this one comes close to capturing the magic of a perfect pork roast.  The herbs and spices create an aromatic taste treat and the flour worked into the outside of the meat produces a wonderful crisp crust.

INGREDIENTS:

One boneless pork butt roast, 3 to 4 lbs.

3 medium or 2 large cloves fresh garlic

3 T flour

1/3 to 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 to 1/3 tsp. dried crushed rosemary

1/4 to 1/3 tsp. basil

1/4 to 1/3 tsp. paprika

Dash of cayenne

1/8 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp. olive oil

PROCEDURE:

Preheat the oven to 450º.  Peel and slice the garlic cloves into thin spears.  With a thin knife tip, poke holes in the roast and insert a spear of garlic in each hole.  You should have twelve to fifteen spears in the roast spaced evenly over the surface.  Rub the teaspoon of olive oil over the meat.  
Crush the rosemary in a mortar and pestle or with a cup and spoon.  Mix the flour, herbs and spices together on a sheet of waxed paper.  Roll the roast in this mixture and press the mixture into the surface until nearly all of the flour is stuck to the meat.  

With an ice pick or nail, make a hole in the roast and insert a meat thermometer into the center.  Place fat side up on a roasting rack in a pan in the hot oven.  Turn heat down to 350º, and roast until the thermometer registers 160º (about thirty minutes per pound).  Remove the roast from the oven and let it sit for four or five minutes before removing any netting that might be around the roast. 

NOTES:

Serve with cranberry or apple sauce, parsley potatoes or boiled potatoes, gravy and a green or yellow vegetable accompanied by fresh bread.  The USDA revised pork cooking guidelines say you can serve pork roasts with an internal temperature of 145º.  I prefer the older standard, but you will get a juicier roast at the lower temperature.