While I’d venture a fair sum that most fly fishers embrace the use of medicinal doses of coffee when launching into predawn darkness, especially in the chilly shoulder seasons on either side of summer, not many of us think about coffee in relation to the grill.
I have friends who in fact consider the wee hour ritual of preheating the thermos and its subsequent ceremonial filling with blisteringly hot, fresh brewed coffee at least as critical as the final gear and trailer hitch check before loading up and heading for the river.
The wave of hot coffee aroma that floods the truck when whoever’s riding shotgun pops the lid on the thermos has to been one of life’s best and most simple pleasures.
Having just creaked through yet another birthday I’m not one bit ashamed to admit that I can’t remember who got us started using coffee as a marinade, particularly for beef – it’s just fits somehow and works remarkably well for the deep, powerful flavors of skirt steak in particular.
This is another recipe that we picked up down in Texas; on first read the combination of coffee with balsamic vinegar might sound like a reach – trust me, this one is damned good. Don’t overcook the meat (pull it early and let it rest 7-10 minutes) and slice thinly across the grain.
Instinctively we’d probably throw this into a warm tortilla with some freshly chopped sweet onion, grated cheese and guacamole, though thinking about a slab of this Balsamic Coffee Skirt Steak sitting beside an ear of grilled fresh corn melting some lime-chile butter has me salivating this morning.
1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 and 1/2 cups strong coffee (cooled)
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 whole grain Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. olive oil
2-3 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 lb. skirt steak, cut into serving size pieces
Make a marinade. Combine the onion, garlic, coffee, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, oil and pepper in a small bowl; stir or whisk until well combined.
Give it time. Using roughly 2/3 of the marinade, pour it into your trusty marinade tray or a large plastic bag, add the steak and turn to coat. If you’re cooking this the same day, it needs at bare minimum an hour soak at room temperature or longer in the fridge (we like to go 8 hours or overnight). The reserved marinade goes to the fridge.
Fire the grill, drain the meat and liberally shake salt and pepper over the meat. Grill over a medium hot fire for 8-10 minutes (medium rare), basting with the reserved marinade. Pull early and let rest for at least 7 minutes, 10 is better.
Slice thinly across the grain and go to it. (Read the last paragraph in the intro narrative if you skipped it…).
Enjoy.
