A great, easy marinade for beef:

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   habeeposted 13 years ago

   I bought a couple of "el cheapo" steaks a couple of days ago. They had little marbling, and I knew they were going to be tough if I didn't "help them out." I marinated them overnight in Coca-Cola and Italian dressing, and they turned out great - tender and tasty!

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      sofsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Is that real or are you joking... I am truly perplexed.. Coca - cola marinade?

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         habeeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I'm totally serious! I know it sounds strange, but the steaks were wonderful. Oh, I also added some black pepper and garlic to the marinade.

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      Uninvited Writerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I've heard about coca-cola marinade before... sounds very nice.

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   cindyvineposted 13 years ago

   I always use Coke with tough beef

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      habeeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Good! Now I don't feel so crazy! lol

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   Lifeallstar1posted 13 years ago

   Thanks Habee! I want to try this. Can you tell me if the soda was reg, diet, caffeine, etc(not sure if it makes a difference)? And was the italian dressing in a bottle? Also, did you put roughly equals parts of the dressing and soda or just a splash of one or the other? Don't want to steal your secrets but I'm still a noobie when it comes to the kitchen and love trying cool tips.

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      habeeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      No secret! I used regular Coke and bottled Italian dressing. I pierced the steaks first and rubbed some meat tenderizer in them. I used more Coke than dressing - I'd guess it was about 4 to 1.
      
      I like to use red wine for my beef marinade base, but I didn't have any and didn't want to make another trip to the store. I've used Coke with cured ham before, so I hoped it would work for beef, as well, and it did.

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         Lifeallstar1posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Cool thanks!  I'm going to try it.

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   habeeposted 13 years ago

   Hi, UW! It was really good. BTW, love your avatar pic!

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5. 81

   TamCorposted 13 years ago

   That sounds like a great combination--I'll have to try it, since I'd never thought about using Italian dressing...
   
   I've used Coke for marinades before, though--my favorite is Coke and brown sugar for ham, yum!
   
   I also have a terrific recipe using Coke in meatballs--that's a favorite in our house!
   
   Thanks, habee!!! 

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   habeeposted 13 years ago

   Hi, Tam. CUTE pic!! We just took some of my youngest grandson in his Santa hat. I need to put it in my avatar!

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      TamCorposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      Thanks habee! That's our oldest grandson, William...taken a couple of years ago now--he's an old guy of 5 1/2 now, lol...

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