Welcome to the second installment of our Year of Beef series! We had a lot of great feedback from last week’s recipe, which we were all really excited to hear!

This week we’re going to grill up a couple of absolutely beautiful rib steaks! This delicious cut is located at the top of the rib primal portion of the beef (highlighted in yellow) and generally comes from the section of beef spanning from ribs six through twelve.

So what’s the difference between a Rib Steak and Prime Rib? Not a whole lot! When combined as a multiple Rib Roast section and roasted, it’s considered to be Prime Rib; but when each one section is sliced and then grilled, it becomes a bone-in rib steak.

This marinade recipe comes from the kitchen of my pal Tamzy Hopwood, who submitted it after last week’s O Bone Roast recipe! Tamzy is quite the cook, so I had no doubt what she was sending me would turn out phenomenal!

The last few day’s we’ve been busy moving different sets of expectant mother cows into their new “nursery” fields. It’s been windy, wet and cold—so the last thing I want to do after being out all day is come home and cook some extravagant meal. A recipe like this works perfect for our current schedule, because all I have to do when I get home is turn on the Traeger, and whip up some kind of side to go with it. And did I mention there are hardly any dishes to do?! Now that’s what I call winning!!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

1 ½ tsp garlic powder

3 Tb dried basil

1 ½ Tb dried parsley flakes

1 tsp course sea salt (if desired, not necessary)

Add all ingredients into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag. Add steaks to marinade mixture, refrigerating at least 8 hours, prior to cooking.

Since I knew I would be busy making lunches in the morning, I started marinating these the night before—which gave them almost 24 hours to immerse themselves into this mixture, prior to grilling.

I fired up our Traeger on high, and cooked each steak for 8 minutes per side. I decided to keep our meal pretty simple, so in between flipping steaks I whipped up a homemade Caesar salad and a few slices of garlic bread.

Justin claimed this was the best steak I’ve ever cooked, so I think we can officially consider this recipe to be a success! At first I thought he was just trying to be nice, but after I had a chance to dig into mine, I have no doubts his words were somewhat close to the truth.

Next week I’m planning on making up a pot of hamburger chili and cornbread, along with a fun little giveaway, so be sure to stop by!

At the beginning of August our family spent a week at our local county fair. Our oldest was showing cattle and all the kids had various projects and activities to enjoy. When you spend a week at a fair, you can sometimes get tired of all the regular fair food options. We usually try to visit several different food booths to support the local groups trying to raise money, the 4-H leaders association, various churches, school clubs and community groups. One of newer food vendors was the Taco Truck. We frequented there a few times! This little recipe is inspired by the steak tacos we ate there. I was still craving them when we got home the next week. Super simple, fresh and healthy too!

~ Maggie

One cut of beef that isn’t talked about a lot, but is delicious and easy to prepare is skirt steak. This cut is sometimes called Hanger steak. In fact, it’s one of our favorites of the less utilized cuts of beef. Skirt steak comes from the plate or the belly of the beef animal. It’s great for making stir-fry or fajitas, or just slicing thinly and eating. Skirt steak isn’t super tender, but it’s flavorful. It works best if it’s marinated prior to cooking. Most of the time I just pour some things together to form a marinade—some spices, a little oil and some sort of acid like juice or vinegar. This time I asked my daughter to look up a recipe and see what she could find. She found one on the Food Network and it basically is everything I already used, but it gives some actual measurements. Here are the ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil (I don’t use this much-more like 1/4 c.)
1/3 cup soy sauce
4 scallions, washed and cut in pieces
2 large cloves garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar or Mexican brown sugar (I used light because it’s what I keep on hand)
2 pounds inside skirt steak, cut into two equal pieces

The directions say to mix all ingredients then blend until smooth. We’ve actually made this recipe twice so far. We really like the combination of flavors in this marinade. It has a little sweetness, but with a kick. *The second time I made it I didn’t blend the ingredients, which I really do recommend. They combine better and give the meat even better flavor.*

This is what the skirt steak looks like. I usually slice it in two pieces. It makes it easier to fit in the plastic bag to marinate and it fits on the grill better. In the essence of full disclosure, we have a freezer full of beef, so I don’t have to buy meat at the store. I do, however, enjoy looking through the meat counter to see what they are offering. I did look at one of the local groceries this week and skirt steak was selling for $6.98/lb. I saw packages ranging from .87 lb. to 1.28 lbs. Two pounds of meat easily feeds our family of six.

After meat is split, I drop it into a large plastic baggie then pour in the marinade. I close it up tightly to get all the air out, move the bag around to coat all the meat, then place it on a plate in my fridge to marinate.

I usually marinate meat either all day and sometimes overnight. I try to plan meals so that I thaw meat first thing in the morning, then it can marinate in the fridge during the day so we can cook it that night. Sometimes I’ll prep a few meat dishes at the same time then all I have to do is grab them from the fridge each night and they are ready to cook. This recipe said to marinate at least one hour.

We have a gas grill so my cooking method was different than the original recipe. I took the bag out of the fridge to come up in temperature while I lit the grill. You don’t want very cold meat to be thrown directly onto a hot grill. I light the grill and let it heat up to 375-450 degrees. If you can hold your hand about five inches over grill for about 4-5 seconds, it’s hot enough. I put the meat on then I DON’T TOUCH IT! I want to wait long enough for the meat to get a good sear on the first side and not stick to the grill before I turn it. This usually takes 7-8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat. Once it is nice and brown, turn it over and repeat on the other side. You can use a meat thermometer to get an accurate measure. (For rare, remove the steak(s) at 120°F – 125°F; medium rare 125°F – 130°F; medium 130°F – 135°F.)

If the meat is browned properly on both sides, but not quite cooked enough in the middle, I’ll place it to the side and shut off one burner then close the lid to let it cook a little longer.

Once it’s ready (we like our meat medium to medium rare), I’ll take it off grill and let it rest on a platter so juices can redistribute. Then I slice it thinly and against the grain of the meat. (If the meat gets long and stringy, chances are you’re cutting with the grain.) Now you’re ready to enjoy!

 

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy!

We found the original recipe here at this link, and we adapted from it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/skirt-steak-recipe.html

From our ranch to you, we wish you a fun weekend!