Marinading Memories

Summer smells like the fire of the grill, feels energizing, looks like a family get together, and tastes like the tenderest medium rare steak I have ever had the pleasure of eating.

Combine all the above together and, add some laughter and surprises and marinade from early morning til late afternoon. The result will be a lifetime of wonderful and happy memories. You'll also get to eat all you can hold too.

We used ribeyes, new york strip, or t-bones. However the marinade will even make a tender steak out of a round steak. How do I know? Because we put it to the test! We ended up with the best tender and juicy round steak we had ever tasted.

The trick is in the marinade. Start by pricking the steaks on each side with a fork. Meat tenderiser is optional. Just prick all over each side. Place in a bowl with lid. Pour a can coke over the steaks. Add worcestershire moderately, until you can smell it real strong. It gives it the flavoring. Some people prefer to use Dale's. Last, pour a can of beer, any kind, over the steaks while still in the coke and worcestershire mixture. Place lid on container and let sit til time to place on grill. Usually anywhere from 4 to 12 hours. I sometimes start mine marinading the night before and leave them all night.

Beer can also be poured onto steaks while grilling. Or, as I often do, use the remaining marinade to pour over them while grilling.

Don't worry about the alcohol being absorbed into the meat. All the alcohol will cook out of the steaks entirely. The are best when cooked no more than medium rare. A good tip to remember when cooking steaks is the longer they cook, the more flavor is cooked out of them.

My stepdad and I learned this marinade from a lifelong friend we once had. He spent all his spare time away from work on the lake fishing and grilling out. We like it so much, we made it a family recipe. That is how we cooked steaks and taught all the children to cook them since then.

We usually cooked hamburgers and hot dogs too. Most of the children preferred them. Then of course my mom would make her famous potato salad, and as usual, it would all get eaten. This was accompanied by my homemade baked beans, deviled eggs, chips, some sort of cake for desert and we could never forget the huge watermelon that we had to kick off the beginning of our summer.

These gatherings took place at "the farm", my stepdads old homeplace he purchased from his brothers and sisters after the passing of his parents. It became a summer tradition for us. Anything celebrated during the summer took place there.

Christmas and Thanksgiving were the only holidays we celebrated at our parents home. We did everything else at the farm. We even worked when it was needed.

We worked in tobacco together until it was done. We graded it in the barn during freezing temperatures in November, our only warmth was from a heater that helped but couldn't possibly cover for all the cracks and spaces between the boards in the old barn. We also got up the square bales of hay that used to be baled. The work was definitely hard but the times we spent together doing the work was definitely good, as well.

We were always listening to the radio while we worked. One of our favorite songs used to be "Getting Down On The Farm" by Tim McGraw.

My children and all my nieces and nephews, as well as great nieces and nephews all grew up, learned, played, fished, and camped on that farm.

My, stepdad passed away in December 2017. Things changed. We no longer gather together at the farm like we used too. We rarely ever even see each other. I can honestly say I haven't been to a cookout with the family since.

We were so blessed all the years we got to spend time together. Those times will be missed. As for the times we spent together, those memories are forever. My stepdad was the glue that held this family together. Not a day goes by that he isn't loved and missed.