Escabeche Steaks

A dear friend gave me this steak recipe. He's a gourmet cook and never settles for cheap, sub par food. I was surprised he was promoting any recipe calling for chuck steak.

Escabeche Steaks are a great thing to serve a large crowd, and inexpensive as well.

You will need....

..... the liquid from several cans of jalepenos--also known as escabeche sauce. What I do is just save the juice from cans of jalepeno until I have enough for this recipe. And "enough" is defined by how many steaks you are making.

...... chuck steaks. These steaks will come out so delicious, tender, and flavorful that the people you are serving will never notice they are eating a cheap cut of meat.

...... corn oil

Marinate the steaks in equal parts escabeche and corn oil. Let them marinate for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.

They are best grilled, but searing them in a smoking hot (seriously, heat it on high for at least 7 minutes first) iron skillet is also good. All steak should be cooked over the hottest heat possible without actual flames licking at them. Chuck steak cooks fast so if you like your meat rare, you won't be standing over the heat long. And if you like your meat well done, there still won't be much of a wait.

A secret to retaining the wonderful flavors and moisture to your grilled or pan cooked steaks is to, the moment they're removed from the heat, put them in an airtight container. I usually keep a large plastic container (or two) with a tight lid handy for this when cooking a lot of these. Wrapping them in foil is just fine, also, but better to use foil only when cooking smaller portions. It's good to let them sit this way, wrapped in foil or inside an airtight container, for just a minute or two before serving (that's a Nigella Lawson tip and the girl was right!) --but it will also keep them nice and moist for a long while. The air tight container is easier to deal with than foil. If you are serving lots of folks, foil wrapped steaks are not going to stay foil wrapped for very long and then you'll have dried up pieces of uninteresting meat lying around that no one will eat.

Please note, these steaks will not be spicy hot. They will have wonderful jalapeno flavor without the jalapeno burn.