Coffee marinade
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
Coffee for Dinner: A great way to treat yourself during a dwindling grilling season
I don't know what I expected the first time I had a coffee marinade. Probably something like what my friend Marty calls a La Brea Sauce, as in thick as tar. I was disappointed, but only for the first bite. You can’t really taste it. It's rather delicate in that way. But coffee’s an acid, so it tenderizes, rather gently but rather effectively, carrying the other flavors into the heart of the meat without dominating them—as if anything could dominate cayenne pepper and coriander.
Spicy Coffee Marinade Kabobs
Serves 4
The Marinade Ingredients (All measurements level)
1 pound venison steaks, cut in 1½” chunks
1 cup strong coffee, room temperature
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground paprika
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
Up to ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Put the steak chunks and marinade ingredients in a re-sealable plastic bag and refrigerate 24 hours. When you take the meat out to cook, don’t rinse the marinade off.
The Rest of the Ingredients
2 cloves elephant garlic, peeled, trimmed and sliced ⅛” thick*
1 whole shallot, peeled, trimmed and sliced ⅛” thick*
10 mini-sweet peppers (red, orange and yellow), stemmed and halved lengthwise
Cooking
1. Preheat a propane grill to medium-hot, 350 to 400°F. Alternately, start your coals. When they are covered with white ash--the vast majority of them, not just a few--spread them out for cooking. When it's hot, scrape the cooking surface with your grill brush, then wipe it with oil.
2. Remove the steak chunks from the marinade, and arrange them on the skewers, alternating veggies and meat until you’ve used them all. Cook about 10 minutes total, turning only once after about 6 or 7 minutes.
3. Take the kabobs off the grill when a meat thermometer reads 125°F for rare, 130° for medium rare or 135° for medium.
4. Serve on the skewers or slide the meat and veggies off the skewers onto a platter. Either way, they’ll look and taste wonderful.
Tenderize the Wild: 100 Marinades, Brines and Rubs is available at Eileen Clarke's website: https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273. And while there, check out her other wild game cookbooks.
