Sometimes all you need to give flavour to a steak, especially if you are grilling it, is to add some salt and pepper. However, if you want to eat different flavoured beef steaks, you may want to consider some marinades. They do set things apart when it comes to making beef. So whether you’re grilling, pan-frying, broiling, searing, or even slow-cooking, you can’t go wrong with steak marinade recipes that are guaranteed to make your dinner turn out a whole lot better when it’s done. And remember: whatever steak marinade you choose, all of them call for marinating the steaks between two and four hours before cooking.
Here are some of our suggestions for marinating steaks.
Classic Italian steak marinade – A simple balsamic vinaigrette, ideal if you’re looking for a lighter flavour to add to a thick porterhouse steak. This steak marinade won’t overwhelm the flavour of the meat, but will help accentuate it.
Lemon-garlic steak marinade – Lemon and garlic can make for an awesome combo, blending into a mouth-wateringly flavour.
Soy steak marinade – Soy sauce is a solid base for a wide range of steak marinade recipes. It brings rich, salty flavours to the meat.
Cuban marinade – Cuban cuisine is rich with citrus, cumin, and spices. You can see how this is going to make your steak taste awesome, especially in the middle of the Summer.
Red wine steak marinade – this marinade is particularly popular in the Southern European cuisine. The subtle flavours of the wine actually make it a terrific ingredient for a steak marinade.
Portuguese steak marinade – This marinade also requires red wine. Mix red wine, garlic and spices – especially parsley, bay leaves and rosemary – to have a heavenly marinade.
The Dijon steak marinade – This marinade will give your steak a nice Dijon-spice kick, combining rosemary and crushed red pepper to create a mouth-watering combination of flavours.
The question about “how to cook chicken breasts without being dry and almost flavourless” comes up very often. Well, it is true that they can be dry if we do not apply a few tricks to them. In fact, chicken breasts can be so good and versatile you can make them everyday. The best part is: you won’t get tired of them. You can enjoy chicken breast in a sandwich, in a stew, grilled, roasted, in soup… name it!
The first thing you should do is take a few minutes to decide how you want to eat your chicken breast. Look up recipes for inspiration or simply follow your cravings… Once you have decided what you want to eat, proceed with preparing it. If you want grilled or pan-seared breast, make sure it has the same thickness, so that it cooks evenly throughout. If you are planning to stew it, then you may cut it in chunks. See how it goes?
Next comes the flavour part. If you want chicken breast to have flavour, especially if you grill it, roast it, bake it or pan-sear it, then you want to season it or even marinate it for some time. You can go as simple as salt and pepper, or you can make your own seasoning blend. Look up recipes – check our recipe section for some inspiration!
Cooking! This is the part where chicken breast will taste different (and delicious) each time you make it. Bake some, grill a few, and pan sear a few others. If you are always indecisive about when the meat is done, then buy a instant-read meat thermometer, and you will avoid having over-cooked, dry chicken breast.
Many of us feel like amateur chefs and often wonder if we are choosing the right cut of meat for a specific recipe. We often get customers asking us about ribeye steak, the best way to prepare it, and what makes it uniquely delicious. So, we decided to share with you some tips that will help you make the best ribeye steaks at home.
Let’s begin with a small definition: the ribeye comes from the loin muscle, a long muscle that stretches along the spine from the base of the neck to the hip, outside of the rib cage. Many chefs are of the opinion that the high-fat content of the ribeye allows for more moisture to cook with, giving it a lot of good flavour. So, let’s get it ready.
First of all, begin with a delicious marinade. You may choose something as simple as herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper or you may take a step towards a more gourmet sort of marinade. One famous marinade is Worcestershire one. Combine soy sauce, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt, and a pinch of red pepper to rub the steaks. There are endless others you can use.
Once you have marinated the steaks (let them marinate for at least one hour), you need to decide how you want to cook them. When the weather allows us to grill them outside, this may be the most delicious way to prepare them. For a medium-rare steak, place the ribeye on the grill and cook the meat for about two to two and a half minutes on one side; then rotate the meat 45 degrees and continue cooking for two minutes. Flip the meat over and let cook for four minutes on the other side. Adjust the times based on thickness of steak or preference of temperature. Don’t forget though that when cooking meat medium-well or well-done, the juices will release naturally, producing a less juicy steak.
If you can’t be outside grilling, you have the choice of still enjoying a great ribeye steak. A cast-iron pan is your best option. It allows you to get a nice crust on the steak. Heat the pan to very hot before placing the steaks. Once you place them let them sear until you begin to see a crust. Flip the steak and let it continue searing for another three minutes while basting the steak with the melted butter.
Some people also make their ribeye steak in the oven. For this method, just sear the steak for 30 seconds in a skillet on each side. Then, place the skillet in the oven and broil the steak for 2 minutes on each side.
From hearty beef stew to the best-ever burger recipe, beef is very versatile and will be the king of many dishes you decided to make. There are many techniques and many recipes that go with these techniques. So, the first step into this adventure is to familiarize ourselves with the different terms.
Grill – this is the technique of cooking foods hot and fast. It is usually done over direct heat. You want to consider steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs for this technique. It is awesome for Summer recipes – and we are all longing for those. However, there is a possibility of grilling in the Winter using our oven. This is known as broiling.
Broil – think of your broiler as an upside-down grill. Instead of heat coming from the bottom, it comes from the top. It’s a high-temperature technique where the beef is cooked near the heat source. Again, for this technique, you may want to consider the same cuts of beef as well as thin cuts, as well as the shoulder tender.
Barbecue – even though this term is used as a synonym of grilling, there is a difference between these two. When you barbecue, you are cooking foods low and slow. You want to use this technique with cuts like beef brisket. These types of meats tend to be tougher, and need the low, slow heat of a barbecue in order to get them good and tender. This is the reason why the best barbecue chefs pride themselves on a very long cooking time to get the tenderest, most flavorful meat.
Stew – Beef Stew is perfect for the colder weather! It uses slow, moist heat and the meat cut up into cubes or other smaller pieces. It’s usually made up of chuck and round which are among the toughest cuts of beef. You can buy it already cut in cubes or you can buy your own beef round or chuck and cut it up in cubes yourself to your liking.
Roast – this is a dry-heat cooking technique that uses either high temperature or a combination of high and low. The difference is the crispy, brown exterior for the high temperature, while the low temperature is what cooks it to its proper done state. Here you have several options: Tenderloin roast (The most tender beef roast that is well known for being lean and succulent), the ribeye roast (flavourful and fine-textured, famous for the holiday roast), and Eye of round roast (a lean, flavourful cut often used for roast beef at the deli) to name only a few.
Skillet – if you are not going to use your ground beef to make burgers, chilli con carne or meatloaf, then the best way to prepare it is the skillet, especially if you are thinking of making tacos or burritos or bolognese. It’s best to add your ground beef to a cold skillet and then heat it slowly, as adding it to a hot skillet will cause the meat to stick and possibly burn.
Don’t forget that the staff at Pavão Meats is always waiting to help you with tips for your recipes and to provide you with the best cuts of meat.
Meatloaf is one of those dishes most of us grew up with. It’s an easy recipe to make for dinner. It’s great as a leftover for lunch, especially in a sandwich. It takes a little extra prep time to mix minced carrots, onions, celery, and garlic, but it is so worth it! It may look like it is a time consuming extra step for meatloaf, but you can easily put the vegetables in a food processor or mini chopper to speed up the prep time. The smaller mince size that you can get with the food processor will also help the meatloaf hold together better.
So we decided to put together some tips to help make this delicious dish. Putting together this classic begs to be served alongside mashed potatoes and a pile of peas.
Well, if it is meatloaf, obviously the meat matters…. a lot. The marbled meat and bits of fat that goes into ground beef makes for a juicy, crave-worthy loaf, but you’ll get a more interesting end product if you mix different types of meats: try a mix of chicken, beef, pork, Italian sausage and even turkey. Chicken and turkey make a lean version of the meatloaf, thus healthier. But don’t forget to add more liquid to the meatloaf to replace the juices that would be produced by the fat. At Pavão Meats, we offer custom coarse grind. Don’t forget to add eggs, ketchup, tomato paste, mustard, Worcestershire, barbecue sauce or some other combination. They add flavour and texture, and help make the meat super juicy.
Another important aspect to remember is to not over mix or compress the meat. Once the ingredients are mixed in, stop mixing. The meatloaf is going to be mixed again when you shape it before baking. Most chefs are of the opinion that the ideal oven temperature for a moist meatloaf is 325 F. If the oven is too hot it will reduce the cooking time, but it tends to dry out the meat.
One last thing: moisten your hands lightly with a thin coat of oil when mixing so the meat doesn’t stick to your fingers. Check seasonings by frying up a small patty of the mixture and tasting it. Let your meatloaf rest for about 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven; it will hold together better when slicing.
For some reason, we have a tendency to associate some recipes with Summer only. When the Winter blues hit us, it is one of the first things we miss. However, it doesn’t need to depress us so much if we put our minds to work. Let’s take chicken wings! We all love to barbecue chicken wings and enjoy them while sitting on our backyards, especially on weekends. So, how do we bring that feeling to the Winter months and how can we enjoy chicken wings in the comfort of our living room? How can we have that crispy feeling to them without frying them? Simple: let’s bake them! These wings come out crispy every time, the fat renders, and they are ready to be sauced with your favorite hot wings sauce recipe, or something from a bottle.
How to make them so crispy? Pat the chicken wings dry. You don’t want them to steam in the oven. The surface water has to evaporate before they will crisp up, so do your chicken a favor and get rid of as much of it as you can. Coat wings with baking powder. (The baking powder will help to draw moisture to the surface of the skin, and the heat of the oven will cause it to evaporate, and then the skin will be left moisture-less, and thus become far crispier). Cook at a low heat on a rack so the fat under the skin can render. Turn the heat up to crisp up that skin. When it is done you will have crispy baked chicken wings.
Now, all you need to do is coat those baked wings with your favorite hot wings sauce.
If you prefer, head to our recipe section to get some inspiration.
