Alcohol Marinades: Memorial Day Recipes

Memorial Day is here and that means it’s time to drag your grill into the kitchen and put it to use! OK, you should probably skip the dragging inside part, but either way, your grill will definitely be the center of attention this holiday weekend. And where there’s grilling, there’s marinating!

Everyone has their preferred method of marinating meats, and one of the most popular ways to do it involves alcohol. A bourbon marinade is an excellent choice for chicken or steak, but there are a lot of other options out there that will have folks praising you as king of the grill!

General Marinating Tips

For marinated steak:

To infuse the most flavor into a piece of meat, pierce the steak thoroughly with a skewer or score it with shallow cuts. This will help the flavors of your marinade penetrate the meat.

After marinating, be sure to wipe the steak dry before grilling by patting it with a paper towel piece. This will ensure the steak browns properly, forming a crust outside, sealing the flavors into the meat.

For marinated chicken:

Place chicken in a shallow dish or 1-gallon zip-top bag. Add your homemade marinade and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 12 hours. (The longer it marinates, the more intense the flavor will be. See above for our marinating time recommendations.) Remove the meat from the marinade, and pat dry before grilling or broiling.

Recommended Marinate Times

After you properly prepare your meat for a marinade bath, place the meat and marinade in a zip lock bag. Marinate as follows:

• steaks – 1 hour
• chicken – 30 minutes
• fish – 30 minutes
• large cuts such as roast – 24 hours
• wild game – 24 hours30
• vegetables after cooking

Alcohol Marinade Recipes

Whiskey Steak Marinade

Ingredients

• ½ cup whiskey
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice freshly squeezed
• 1 tsp. lemon rind grated
• 2 tsp. minced garlic

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until brown sugar is dissolved.
2. Place marinade in a saucepan and simmer until the alcohol has largely evaporated about 3 minutes.
3. Allow marinade to cool to room temperature.
4. Pierce the meat your plan to marinate thoroughly with a skewer or score it with shallow cuts using a sharp knife.
5. Place marinade and meat into a ziplock bag.
6. Remove meat from marinade and pat dry with a paper towel before grilling.

Vodka Steak Marinade

Ingredients

• Meat: 1½ pounds beef rump
• 1 tbsp. sea salt flakes (or ½ teaspoon table salt)
• 2 tbsp. black peppercorns (crushed)
• 3 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped thyme
• 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
• ⅓ cup vodka
• ¼ cup olive oil

Directions

1. Combine all of the marinade ingredients and put into a freezer bag with the rump slice.
2. Smear the contents around to get the beef evenly coated in the salt, pepper and herbs. Leave for two or three days in the fridge. This makes a really big difference, but if you can’t find the time, then leave the steak to marinate for a good 3 hours at room temperature.

Tequila Lime Beef Marinade

Ingredients

• 2 limes
• ½ cup tequila
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Zest and juice limes.
2. Combine tequila, lime zest and juice, garlic and 3 tablespoons olive oil. Marinate your selected Certified Angus Beef® brand cut in a zipper-locking plastic bag 2 to 4 hours in refrigerator.

Gin Venison Marinade

Ingredients

• ¼ cups olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup orange marmalade
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• ½ cup gin
• 2 pounds venison, cut into 1″ thick steaks

Directions

1. In a shallow dish big enough to hold all the venison in a single layer, whisk together the olive oil, garlic, marmalade, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Slowly add the gin, whisking constantly to combine.
2. Pat the steaks dry and add them to the dish with the marinade. Turn to coat, rubbing the marinade into the steaks a little as you do. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-8 hours.

Guinness Extra Stout Marinade

Ingredients

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• ½ cup Guinness Extra Stout Beer
• 3 cloves garlic grated with a microplane
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tsp. onion powder
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Stir together all ingredients.
2. Add the meat, fish or vegetables to the marinade (gallon sized Ziploc bag works well).
3. Marinate for 2 to 12 hours.
4. Remove from marinade and grill as desired.

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