My Mother’s 5-Ingredient Puerto Rican Steak Dinner Cooks in Beneath 15 Minutes

Bistec encebollado—Puerto Rican steak and onions—was a quintessential weeknight dinner in my house rising up. As a child, I all the time seemed ahead to this savory, tangy, and tender steak, although I’d usually push the tender-crisp browned onions apart on my plate for my mother and pa to select at throughout dinner. However belief me, now that I’m older I get pleasure from these flavorful onions simply as a lot because the steak. 

And now with hungry younger mouths of my very own to feed (as my new position as bonus mother), college weeknight dinners are a bit chaotic. Fortunately, my mother is all the time there to assist, answering my texts and cellphone calls, and she or he’s even given me recipe recommendations: Her bistec encebollado that I grew up loving is now additionally one among my household’s favorites and a part of our weekly dinner routine. I admire how simple and quick this dish is to organize—past the steak and onions you want only a handful of fundamental pantry components, and every little thing cooks in underneath quarter-hour (minus the hands-off marination time).

Deciding on and Getting ready the Steaks

Dice steak is what’s historically used for Puerto Rican bistec encebollado, and it’s the reduce I favor to make use of in my recipe beneath. Dice steak, additionally typically bought as cubed steak or minute steak, is a tricky reduce of beef, normally from the highest or backside spherical, that has been mechanically tenderized, usually executed with a “Swissing machine” or a meat cuber, to create indentations on the floor of the steak. It is low cost, accessible for me, and already reduce and prepped, which implies much less work within the kitchen.

As a result of it’s a more durable, much less fatty reduce of beef than costlier cuts like rib-eye, slicing it thinly is sensible—this shortens the muscle fibers, making them extra tender and simpler to chew. I can simply discover skinny dice steaks at my native market, but when it is unavailable the place you reside you must be capable of discover prime or backside spherical steak—reduce both into bigger steaks or roasts—at most supermarkets and butchers. With the assistance of a butcher (or a pointy knife of your individual), these roasts could be became half-inch thick fillets and pounded a quarter-inch thick, replicating the standard dice steak. Even when beginning with dice steak, it’s vital to nonetheless pound the steaks briefly to make sure even thickness and to tenderize additional earlier than marinating.

Why You Ought to Marinate Your Steaks for Bistec Encebollado

As Tim Chin discusses at size in his Severe Eats deep dive into marinating meat, most marinades depend on two key components: salt and acid. Salt over time deeply seasons the steak and ensures it would retain extra moisture as soon as cooked. That is particularly useful for leaner, thinner cuts just like the one used right here. As for the acid, bistec encebollado depends on distilled white vinegar. Not solely does vinegar impart a vivid, tangy taste that’s a signature of this dish, however with just a bit time—at the very least one hour or as much as 12 hours—it tenderizes the steaks. Simply watch out to not let the meat sit within the acidic marinade for much longer than the utmost recommended time of 12 hours, because the acid might flip the meat mushy.

The seasonings past the salt and vinegar are easy—simply garlic powder, oregano, and black pepper. The flavors of those extra seasonings will not penetrate the meat—they’re only a floor therapy—however with the steaks reduce so skinny, a floor therapy is a big taste enhance. I toss the onions in with the steak marinade as nicely to streamline the prep and to reinforce the flavour of the onions.

Cooking the Steak and Onions

As soon as marinated, the steaks are cooked after which put aside to relaxation whereas the onions are fried shortly in the identical skillet. Excessive warmth is your good friend right here, so working shortly with a preheated pan goes to be your greatest guess to make sure even colour in your steaks. It additionally helps develop fond, these good brown bits on the backside of a pan that add extra taste and colour to your dish (this fond is then scraped up and folded into the onions). The onions ought to soften barely, however nonetheless retain a few of their crisp chew—that texture is one other hallmark of this dish.

Serve the steaks topped with these tender-crisp onions. I grew up consuming bistec encebollado with steamed white rice and stewed beans, however the dish additionally pairs nicely with a pleasant inexperienced salad. With this easy and nostalgic recipe in my weeknight dinner rotation, I discover it’s simpler to plan forward and get dinner prepared. And the rave opinions from my youngsters is the cherry on prime—or I suppose the onions on prime on this case.

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