Easy Marinade for London Broil

Lisa Mutton

July 15, 20050 found this helpful

I love marinades, but I just read recently that you SHOULD NOT poke or pierce holes into the meat you are marinating, as it will allow the natural juices to bleed out prior to preparation. Especially with steak -you don't want to lose that. Just a thought.

Regarding piercing meat: what you are saying is essentially true, but it is a trade off. You want to get the flavor into the meat, but you don't want to lose the juices and flavor of the meat itself. Personally I do not pierce beef, and if you leave it in the marinade long enough there is no reason to. The vinegar will soak into the meat and take whatever other flavors you are using with it. Also I usually avoid salt in meat marinades because it tends to dry and toughen the meat.

That said, here is what I do: rub the meat down well with crushed garlic and freshly ground black pepper, and a little red pepper. Then douse it well with Worchestershire sauce (I only use Lea & Perrin; there is no other) and a little red wine. Let this sit in the fridge for at least an hour, and then add vinegar. At that point I like to marinate it for at least three hours, or overnight.

Then I prefer to cook it over charcoal on the grill. I use a very hot bed of coals and sear the meat on each side pretty quickly. Since I like my beef quite rare at that point it is done, but for folks who like it cooked more, you may continue to cook it, turning it occasionally. Searing the meat holds in the juices so even people who shamelessly overcook it often produce a dish which is marginally fit to eat.

Do not, under any circumstances, pierce the meat once it has begun to cook. You want to literally cauterize the surface of the meat in order to hold in its juices and its flavor.

If for one reason or another you are unable to do this on a charcoal grill, here is a pretty good substitute: get a cast iron griddle or skillet really hot, and sprinkle salt over its surface. No grease, no oil, just salt. Then throw the meat on the surface, sear just long enough to brown it, lift it, apply more salt to the griddle, and sear the other side of the meat. This accomplishes the 'cauterizing' process so that whatever you do after that, the juices are sealed into the meat. In this case, the salt doesn't have time to soak into the meat and make it tough, it just toughens the very outside and assists in the searing process.