You Should Try Marinating Your Steak In Mustard. Here's Why

From grilling to sous-vide, there are many ways to cook the perfect steak. So, once you've determined your steak's preferred doneness and temperature, basted it in all manner of ways, seasoned it, sauced it, or served it almost unadorned, there are some less-expected preparations to try. Mustard is a unique steak marinade that may not have made it to your recipe box just yet

Mustard, in general, is terrifically flavorful, whether in its whole, botanical form as a seed, or reconfigured as a condiment. The former is great incorporated into a marinade for that pungent flavor profile alone. When crushed into the latter, prepared mustard's additional components, like vinegar, work to break down the beef protein with their acidity, rendering what could have been a bit tough all the more tender. Mustard seed contains emulsifying properties, which means that it works to keep a marinade's disparate parts (oil and water-based ingredients) together, making it an ideal base ingredient for steak marinades.

There are a couple of ways you can introduce mustard to your steak marinade. First you might want to acquaint yourself with the many, many mustards on the market, and all their varied uses. You can choose to use whole mustard seeds or prepared mustard. For the seeds, just pop a couple of teaspoons in with your usual salt, pepper, oil, and citrus or other acid, and you've got the punchy essence of mustard in a basic marinade. Mustard seeds are a welcome addition to our three-ingredient steak marinade of soy sauce, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

To dive deeper into the sauce, you can add a prepared mustard like Dijon to a basic marinade, adjusting for any salt already in the mix. A few tablespoons can move the dial, depending on the variety in use. You can taste and tinker to perfection before you submerge the steak. This can also be a bit of a cheat code on those nights you need to set dinner to autopilot. Something like a honey mustard, for example, will obviously add a little sweetness. Hot mustard will bring its relative fire into the mix. And whole grain mustard can pack a tasty punch. Just keep in mind the flavors you want complementing the steak, and if you're serving it with any sauces.