Here's Why Coffee And Chocolate Should Be Your Next Steak Dressing

When cooking steak, preparation often begins hours or days before you even fire up your stove or grill. According to Allrecipes, marinating is a vital step that will intensify the flavor, increase the moisture, and add tenderness to your steak.

When it comes to how to marinate your meat perfectly, you should use about ½ to ¾ of a cup of liquid per pound of whatever you're cooking. This age-old process works in different ways depending on what ingredients you use. For example, acidic marinades break down the protein in your meat and can make the meat tough. Marinades made with dairy act as effective tenderizers, on the other hand. Prepare to devote at least an hour or two to the process, per Chicago Steak Company, and don't feel limited by boring ingredients.

To jazz up your steak, you can convert coffee and chocolate into a delightfully savory marinade that may surprise your palette, per Serious Eats.

If you like to take a fearless approach to your cooking, it may be time for a steak adventure. According to Serious Eats, you can include chocolate and coffee in your marinade for a unique flavor experience. The recipe combines unsweetened chocolate with strong, hot coffee and brown sugar for a marinade that awakens your meat in up to 12 hours. The sugar in the mixture will develop into a crust on the meat, and the chocolate-coffee combo adds a distinct bitter flavor that comes to life on the grill.

Chicago Steak Company underscored the bitterness the chocolate and coffee bring out. The company suggests preparing a rub of finely ground coffee, cocoa powder, and brown sugar. Its recipe suggests letting the steaks sit with the rub at room temperature for a half hour before putting them on the grill. If you don't want to make your own rub, you can buy a similar one at Walmart.