MARINADE, that’s the only title on a slip of paper that was clipped to my mother’s refrigerator for many years. The words are now smeared by water droplets but the writing is still legible.

Marinade

My mother has been gone for some years but I treasure these glimpses of her thoughts and life. And this is a very useful, simple recipe to keep around.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of bourbon
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon of grated ginger
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• dash of dry mustard

Can be used on all meats…chicken, pork, London broil, fish. Marinate for 2 hours but not longer than 24.

This is quite a strong marinade. I wouldn’t marinate fish for longer than 30 minutes, chicken for 2 hours, thick cuts of beef and pork can take the 24 hours. But I recommend 6 hours for a thinner cut. Longer than that and the meat will turn mushy. This marinade has done wonders for steaks of questionable tenderness. Flank steak is infinitely improved by a 6-8 hour bath. The marinade has a definite Asian slant, you could use sake or brandy instead of the bourbon. My mother usually had bourbon around as my father had a large bourbon and water every night before dinner.

I marinated this flank steak for about 6 hours, then grilled it on high heat for about 4-5 minutes a side. It was delicious, juicy and tender.