Beer & Italian Dressing Steak Marinade for the Charcoal BBQ

Recently we looked at a method of grilling cuts of steak like rib-eyes or T-bones on the charcoal BBQ. Here we are also going to be charcoal BBQing steaks, but this time using more inexpensive but tougher cuts like flank or round and marinading them to make them more tender and flavourful.

There are lots of steak marinades out there -- and we have shared some on The Left Chapter before -- but this one uses beer and Italian dressing to great effect.

The amount of marinade here was used for 4 flank or round steaks.

Marinade Ingredients: 

- 450-500 ml of Italian Salad Dressing (I like to use the classic thick style, that I would actually never use on salad, as opposed to the "fancier" options)
- 250 ml of beer - This should be a pale lager that is not too hoppy. I used a Polish beer, Tyskie
- 1 tablespoon of hot sauce - Use whichever one use like but I used Cholula
- 2 teaspoons each of Soy Sauce and Worcestershire sauce

Prick your steaks in several places with a fork and season them liberally with garlic salt and black pepper. Place in a large bowl and cover with the marinade. Make sure all the steaks are fully submerged.

Put them in the fridge and leave them to marinade for around 4 hours.

About a half an hour or 45 minutes before cooking take your steaks out in the marinade and let them sit in the bowl and marinade at room temperature.

Meanwhile, prepare your BBQ as usual.

Place your steaks on the grill over hot coals. You can pour a little of the marinade over the steak at the very beginning of cooking but should not do so after this. Be careful not to dampen your coals should you chose to do so. Discard all the rest of the marinade after this.

Cook the steaks about 3-5 minutes a side depending on thickness. While I am a fan of rare steak, I think this marinaded steak is better in both texture and flavour when cooked to medium-rare. (Again, if you are nervous about such things, Health Canada says a steak is medium-rare when it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F.).

After cooking let your steaks sit for around 3 minutes. Then cut them into thin strips slicing across the grain.

Serve on a platter topped with fresh basil and mint. These make a perfect backyard BBQ finger food or meal. Terrific with everything steak is good with including cold beer, red wine and friends.

Enjoy.