Fred's Steak

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Recipe

1 tbsp coffee
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup molasses
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp garlic powder

Marinate meat for two days.

Notes

I wanted to recreate Fred's Steak (aka "Black Lung") for Lisa's birthday using ribeye instead of tri-tip. I based my recipe on some notes I found on the Internet. The main modifications I made were using coffee powder instead of brewed, soy sauce instead of tamari, and excluding Marmite.

I was worried that marinating ribeye for such a long time would make it mushy, so I did a trial, and it was fine. I was also concerned that the marinated meat was not as black as I had remembered it. I had only had it once -- when Lisa had brought it over in April 2008 -- and I remembered it to be blacker than it actually was. As it turns out, the color (dark brown) was pretty close to Fred's.

The key, I think, to the color as well as the flavor, is the coffee. The next time I do this, I plan on marinating the meat, then rubbing it with coffee. This is also a marinade better suited for tougher cuts of meats (tri-tip or flank steak) than for ribeye (which I think is best with salt and pepper).

I tried making this later with tri-tip for one of Justin and Cindy's barbecues using the technique above. It tasted good, but it wasn't anything special. Coffee and meat is pretty tasty; those cowboys knew what they were doing.