So, in the new "planning-ahead" mode that I have tried to adopt to compensate for the lack of quick & convenient food, on Monday I got a chuck roast out of the freezer to thaw and scrounged up a recipe. In spite of growing up on a cattle ranch, beef roasts are not a strong suite, but my parents had been nice enough to bring us some meat, so I thought I would try again.
I found a recipe that said to marinate the roast in a marinade of bourbon, olive oil, vinegar, and mustard for up to 3 days, then grill. Andy had to travel out of town for a couple days, so I thought it would be perfect to have ready when he got back (Geez, how June Cleaver can I get?), and I thought it would be a nice way to use up the bottle of bourbon we had bought mistakenly thinking that mint julep might be a refreshing summer drink (which it probably is if you have just killed off all of your tastebuds or just spent an hour licking the bottom of your shoe). For 3 days I carefully watched that stupid roast--turning it so both sides would pick up all the flavors. Tonight, full of anticipation, we fired up the barbecue and.....
....served up a flavorless, sort of gristly hunk of meat. Now to be fair, once we covered each piece with sun-dried tomato mustard, it was actually pretty good, but are marinades really just an urban legend? Do they ever flavor or tenderize any meat at all? And how stupid am I that I keep trying different recipes over & over & over with the exact same result???
Geez, you'd think I was in politics...........
2 comments:
Doesn't a chuck roast need to cook for like three hours before it's edible? A local restaurant marinates its steaks in coffee. Anything with coffee sounds good to me!
I think marinades work really well with smaller pieces of meat, but for larger cuts a dry rub plus cooking for a few hours at a very low temp is what works for us.
We just did a great chicken marinade with the juice of about 8 freshly squeezed lemons and 5 or 6 chicken breasts...
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