Why hello there, and welcome back to Kitchen Catastrophes, where Jon was sucking down lemon soda in celebration of the Fourth of July, and then spent the 5th stuck behind lemons on the highway.  So today we’re bringing you a simple steak recipe that’s sure to please. Unless you’ve got like, soy allergies. And if you don’t like it, we’re TURNING THIS CAR AROUND. Yada yada link to recipe. Everyone else: let’s dig in, but actually I’m going to pass out and make Tuesday morning Jon handle this.

The Steaks Are Raised

YOU WERE ALREADY TUESDAY MORNING JON, YOU FUCK. YOU WENT TO BED AT 2 AM.

Ahem. What was I saying? Oh yes, Sorry about that intro-personal aggression. I spent 6 hours driving home yesterday. For context: the trip is normally under 3 hours. So I spent 6 hours in an 80-90 degree car. Which, as a guy who sleeps in a basement in both houses he stays in, and WORKS in a basement, was a LOT of vitamin D, heat, and road rage to absorb in one day.

On the other hand, he also got to have some quesabirria tacos, and the nearest ones to my house are 45 minutes away, so fuck that guy.

Ummm. Crap. What ARE we going to talk about? Like, today’s recipe is short, easy, and it doesn’t have a super-robust history. Like, the name kind of tells you everything you need to know: it’s steak, it’s marinated in miso. So I guess the only really interesting thing to talk about is why we’re marinating it, and why in miso specifically.

The basic answer is simple: Marinades help break down tougher cuts of meat/vegetables, and can imbue them with flavors. They’re very common, especially in the warmer parts of the world, where I believe they probably served a minor preservative/anti-microbial effect as well: Raw meat is relatively hard to store safely, and does best if sealed against exposure to air. Thus, oil or vinegar based preparations, especially with things like garlic or peppers (both anti-microbials) would be a useful vessel for meat you had just recently cut, but intended to cook relatively soon, versus meat you would cure/salt/brine or pickle for longer storage. Like the pre-electricity equivalent of popping something you intend to eat for dinner in the fridge after you buy it from the store: you make an acidic and spiced marinade, you toss the meat in it, cover, go do some other chores, and the meat stays ‘safe’ for the hour or two you need before you come back and cook it.

That acid, however, creates a minor problem: acid denatures protein, essentially partially cooking the meat. This is why Ceviche both is and isn’t “cooked”: no heat has been applied, but the acidic dressing does functionally change the outer layers of the fish. This means that more tender cuts are relatively hard to marinade, because they’ll kind of dissolve under the acid. But it ALSO means that if you take tougher, chewier cuts, that would normally need really finicky cooking to handle (especially like, thin cuts with a lot of connective tissues), they can be broken down with a marinade.

If only there were some distinctive cut of beef useful for that definition.
And yes, that’s an accreditation in the corner, I didn’t think to take a picture of my raw steak.

It kind of seems like a similar idea and process was created with koji in Japan, koji being the misspelled Romanization of the Japanese name for a couple types of fungus. Misspelled because It’s too hot and too late for me to care about diacritical marks. Anywho, I think I referenced in the past that there’s like ONE mold that is found in all the notable Japanese foods: sake, soy sauce, miso, etc. Turns out I was slightly wrong on that: while you CAN make all of them with the one mold, there’s a different mold that is preferred for some applications. If that sounds weird, I’d like to remind you that Gorgonzola uses a slightly different mold than most other Bleu cheeses. And if that doesn’t sound much more appetizing, then I’d like to point out that there are multiple kinds of beer distinguished by using different yeasts.

Anywho, fun fact about Sushi, it literally translates as “sour”, because originally, the fish wasn’t raw, it was preserved in a fermented rice vinegar/koji situation. So rubbing fish or meat with koji, and later miso, developed on a similar arc.

I’m going to keep using pictures of this red miso until the joke goes bad or the miso does.

And…that feels like everything worth talking about that ISN’T the dish, and maybe its components.

…fuck, I’ve just realized I left the cookbook in Leavenworth. TO THE INTERNET

Milking it

So, as noted, we’re in a kind of Milk Street Renaissance at the minute, and this recipe is no different. And since I pay for Milk Street, I can access their recipes online. Can you? NO, you CAN’T. YOU PEASANT.

ALL HAIL KING JON.

Seriously though, not to tell Chris Kimball his business, but I think you could do with revisiting your recipe paywall system. Like, I know this is an older recipe, it’s in the cookbook you put out 3 years ago. Maybe make it so recipes over a year old, you need the subscription for the step-by-step demo, and not the base recipe. Or do like, what the New York Times does, and give people X recipes per month for free. I’m just saying, at least one recipe from you guys went wrong because I had trouble logging in on a second device while cooking, and there’s something to that old marketing tactic of “the first taste is free”.  

Anywho, let’s talk about the dish, because this is a very direct and simple process: the whole recipe uses 10 ingredients, one of which is “steak”, and the other 9 of which are mostly used for the marinade. But not ALL of them, and to explain that kind of interesting development, let’s make the marinade. By which I mean I somehow wasted all of Tuesday, so this is now Wednesday Jon’s problem.

Time To Grill

I’d be madder at Tuesday Jon, but he did have tech, get harassed by a cat several times, and slept on the bed for the first time in a while, so I’ll cut him some slack. Alright, let’s wrap this already late sucker up, shall we?

The marinade for the steak consists of a couple Asian pantry staples, mixed together. However, I do want to take a moment and highlight that you might need to be slightly careful when buying one of them (if you don’t already have it.) And that’s that Chili-Garlic Sauce. Which is NOT sambal oelek, despite the fact that they are stored in very similar bottles.

As long as you ignore the fact that one has a gold label, and the other doesn’t, at least.

Now, honestly, screwing them up isn’t a HUGE problem, as the two are very close in texture and ingredients. The only major difference is that chili-garlic sauce has garlic in it. So if you can’t find it, you could go with sambal and just add more garlic.

Mix that with some red miso, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil. And then take 2 teaspoons of the marinade and set it aside. Into the remaining marinade, plop some 5-6 inch long chunks of skirt steak.

Mussed up molded marinated meat.

And…congrats, you’re like, halfway done with this recipe. Yeah, once your steak (which I will say you should trim of silverskin or excess fat clumps before cutting into chunks: just straight up take it out, look at it, and ask “does that bit look weird?” and if the answer is yes, cut it off. I got lucky in that there were a couple veins of kinda-weird looking fat about 6 inches apart, so I just cut my chunks there, and then trimmed the new “edges”.) is in the marinade, you’ve only got like, 2 things left to do, and you’ve got…well actually, you don’t have a lot of time. These steaks marinade for like, 15-30 minutes.

The first thing you’ve got to do is take that reserved bit of marinade, and thoroughly whisk it with 1 tbsp of vegetable oil, and 2 tbsps of unseasoned rice vinegar to make a  “sauce” to put over the steak later. I put sauce in quotes because I’m not a child, Milk Street. I know what a 2:1 emulsified vinegar-and-oil solution with flavoring is called. It’s a fucking vinaigrette. You made me make miso vinaigrette as a steak sauce, you FIEND.

Look what you made me do. LOOK ON YOUR SINS.

Once betrayed into making a sauce you more readily associate with salad for your steak, take a couple minutes to stare bleakly out into the middle distance, wondering if all sauce is a lie, and becoming an adult is just learning how many things you thought you knew were pleasant fictions over bitter truths. While your existential crisis runs its course, get about 2 tsps of vegetable oil onto a large skillet or recently-acquired flat-top griddle, and preheat to medium-high.

Take your steaks from the marinade, pat them dry with paper towels, and slap them in the cooking surface once it’s just starting to smoke, making sure not to overcrowd. Work in batches if you must. Sear for 2-3 minutes on one side without moving them so they get nicely browned, then flip them, cook another 2-3 minutes, and move to a platter. Cover with foil, and let rest 10 minutes.

Good GOD, did they emit juices or fucking MELT?

Once the steaks are rested, move them to a cutting board, and pour “any” juices left in the platter into your miso vinaigrette. Cut the steak into strips, and serve, drizzling with ‘sauce’.

Meat your dinner.

The results are very nice, in my opinion. Skirt steak isn’t one of my preferred cuts, but this really felt like it was shining. The miso marinade brings a salty and rich flavor to the steak, without overpowering the natural beef flavor. My family PLOWED through this recipe, leaving basically nothing within 15 minutes or so. So if you want something simple and savory for quick weeknight meal, I definitely recommend the recipe.

THURSDAY: IS TOMORROW, AND I AM ALREADY WALLOWING IN CHAOS. MAYBE WE’LL SHOW UP FRIDAY.

MONDAY: BREAD THAT IS FLAT.

RECIPE

Miso-Marinated Skirt Steak

Serves 3-5

Ingredients

Marinade

3 tbsp red miso

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp chili-garlic sauce

1 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 tsp finely grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, finely grated

                Vinaigrette

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar

                Steaks

1.5 pounds skirt steak, trimmed and cut across into 5-6” pieces

2 tsp vegetable oil

Preparation

1. Combine all the ingredients of the marinade in a large bowl. Move 2 tsps of the marinade to a smaller bowl. Add the steak to the large bowl of marinade, and toss to coat. Let marinade for 15-30 minutes at room temperature.

2. While steak is marinating, add vinaigrette ingredients to reserved 2 tsps of marinade, and whisk to combine. Preheat a cast iron skillet or griddle to medium high heat, coating with remaining oil.

3. Remove the steaks from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels, adding half of the steak to the skillet or griddle as the oil begins to smoke. Sear, not moving the steak, for 2-3 minutes, to allow a nice brown crust to form. Turn, and cook to preferred doneness, 2-4 minutes more. Move to a platter, cover with foil, and let rest 10 minutes.

4. Move the steaks to a cutting board, and pour and accumulated juices into the vinaigrette, whisking to combine. Cut the steaks against the grain, drizzle with vinaigrette, and serve.