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My Kitchenomicron category looks so sad with only one entry so I thought it best to add another. This time, we’re going to talk about streaks. Here are tips on how to marinade and cook them just right with a fusion of knowledge from my own gourmet way of doing things to those that I’ve gathered here and there from seasoned master marinaders and grillers.

For the marinade, which by the way will also work well if used to make fried pork chops, you may concoct either of my top two favorite combinations, depending on how much time you have/are willing to spend on the preparation:

1. [Prep time: 30 minutes] Crushed black pepper, salt, olive oil (half a cup), and balsamic vinegar: rub steaks (with your bare hands) with the mix of the pepper, salt, and olive oil. Let them sit for about 30 minutes. I’d give it another rub-down of black peppers before giving them a thin coating of balsamic vinegar. Substituting balsamic vinegar with red wine will also work. This mix is very time efficient yet flavorful, owing to the slightly sweet balsamic vinegar and the black peppers and salt that’s seeped into the meat.

2. [Prep time: 6 hours] Crushed black pepper, salt, olive oil (half a cup), rosemary (about 1 tbsp), and paprika (about 2 tbsps): if you have those McCormick spices just lying around, they could serve as subs to fresh spices. True story. Fresh is always best, though. In a bowl, mix together all ingredients. Rub them on to the steaks. Have them sit in the fridge for around 6 hours before grilling. Great for those who want their steaks hot and spicy!

And you’re now ready to grill!

Grill-master Bim shares that the coals under the grill should have been burning a while before you put your steaks on them. Doing so will make the meat sizzle on contact. They’ll be tender when done. Cook them too early and you’ll end up with meat that’ll be a bitch to chew. If you are going to grill corn with the steak, position the corn to the sides of the grill (so they don’t burn from the high heat), making sure that they don’t touch the meat. We don’t want salmonella, people, so we better be careful. If you want the steaks to have a potent smokey flavor, cover the grill. Leaving them open, though, is the way I’d personally do it.

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I took these photos last Saturday during the joint birthday celebration of my buddies Rico, Jayvee, Anne, and DJ at Jayvee’s garden/park. They had steaks, pasta, salad, and raclette (try topping your grilled corn with raclette! It’s heavenly!). The mood was fun and laid back owing to the great company (we were with Jayvee and Rico’s friends, Lauren, “the other Marco,” and Marco), flowing drinks, sumptuous food, and the vast space. Master chef Anne did all the cooking/food preparations and master-griller Bim did all the grilling.

Several of us went home that night with a common thought: we should get ourselves a grill. And a park. And we should get ourselves a dog who can play fetch all night long. Good times.