Cookbook talk:Fred Steak Marinade

REQ FOR EDIT: It looks like the amounts of the ingredients in the ingredient list are in need of attention

I tried this recipe, a slight variation of of the one found here (Cycling Forums / Five40) (this is the one I found to be sour, probably due to the wine/vinegar:) 1.5 cups of coffee 1 cup of red wine 0.5 cups of olive oil 0.5 cups of molasses 0.33 cups of Balsamic vinegar 0.33 cups of Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons of chili powder 2 tablespoons of onion powder 2 tablespoons of garlic powder 1 tablespoon of Marmite 1 garlic clove, minced I felt the need to document this (it did turn black, made a tri-tip very soft and juicy, and blackened caramelized like Fred steak). It marinated for 72 hours. It was close enough to merit honing in on the real recipe. Mickrussom 05:08, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I fixed up the fractions as they were wrong in the original cycling forums recipe. I will also try and engage the author at cycling forums to hone in on this recipie. Also, I am refining this recipe. The marinade here was too sour, and I could taste a lot of the sourness in the final product. It did however caramelize properly and blackened like Fred's steak. If you want to stick to the recipe, I would recommend really good not-sour-at-all red wine and very sweet Balsamic vinegar. I am trying this tonight:

1 ground up garlic clove 1.5 cups of coffee 1.33 cups of Jim Beam bourbon (4 year whiskey) 0.5 cups of Olive Oil 0.5 cups molasses 0.33 cups of Tamari Sauce 0.33 cups of honey 1 tablespoon of Marmite (smells and tastes like Brewers Yeast, its not that bad or strong, so don't believe that its too strong or too nasty to use.) 2 tablespoons of salt (The original recipe here was not salty enough) I was also considering adding a dash of MSG, but I don't have any. I will report here on how close I get to the real deal with this recipe. The main goal of this marinade is to eliminate sourness. I took out the Worcestershire sauce (I may consider adding it back), the Red Wine and the Vinegar. I might also consider simply adding the honey portion back as Molasses, which seems to be the key ingredient in this marinade. Mickrussom 05:03, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

The above recipe did not have the "Fred Steak Flavor." It was a good steak, soft, but it was off on the flavor. The first recipe was closer so I have to focus on making that salties and sweeter and less sour. Mickrussom 00:11, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

Folks...Schaub is, umm, Jewish and probably kosher (since he's a butcher). Half the ingredients you list here couldn't possibly be deemed kosher in 1950's. Only today is everything we touch kosher (including Mountain Dew). Try agin.

There is a message board at Wordpress. (I'm breaking up the URL that follows because it's upsetting the wiki. gardenandeats dot wordpress dot com/2013/01/24/deconstructing-freds-steak/ That has an ongoing discussion about hacking the Fred Steak recipe.  It includes the receipe that appears in this article.  I've tried it.  It's not even close to actual Fred Steak (too sour, too sweet, not the right color, and missing something I can't put a finger on).  The closest anyone has come is this alternate from someone called Edub.  I've tried this one too (with my own stab at proportions).  This one is closer, but still missing that something.  Below is what Edub said about it and his receipt (without proportions).

"The steak marinade is far simple than anything you can find posted online. I’ve had the original hundreds of times (I know schaub personally), he hasn’t let go of the secret but I’ve damn near perfected it. It requires a tumbler to fully marinade and penetrate, otherwise a good 48hrs+ soak in a bag in the fridge will do.

Ingredients

Food grade activated charcoal powder Garlic powder Onion powder Salt Oil" (end of Edub comments)

When I tried Edubs recipe, I used the proportions: 1/2 cup garlic power 1/2 cup Onion Powder 1/3 cup salt 1.3 cup charcoal 3 cups of vegetable oil (don't use Olive Oil - it solidifies in the fridge Marinate a sirloin in the fridge for 2 days in a zip lock bag which I massaged a couple times a day.

Like I said, it was closer, not quite there. The charcoal did not really impart the color and was gritty. Some people have suggested squid ink instead, or black food coloring. I work near Schaub's so I have done side-by-side comparisons with the genuine article. DVMadison (discuss • contribs) 23:51, 7 August 2019 (UTC)