A steak just doesn’t taste right without being cooked in a pat of butter and a sprinkle of some great herbs. While rosemary usually gets all of the glory, there’s another Mediterranean herb that deserves your attention: oregano. But there’s a right way to use this herb with your steak — and it’s not just simply tossing it right on top like you do with rosemary.
The best way you can make use of oregano is in a good steak marinade, like a classic Italian marinade (also known as “salmoriglio”), for instance, where oregano is combined with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and water. Soak your steak for a couple of hours in this aromatic mix, and it’ll come out tasting and smelling like a piece of culinary heaven.
It’s better to do this instead of placing the herb directly on top of your steak because oregano has a fairly potent flavor, and the steak could end up tasting or smelling a bit too strongly of herbs as a result. By blending the oregano into a marinade and soaking your steak in it, you’ll get a steak with a more balanced profile — just enough for the herbal notes to give your steak’s flavor an upgrade while still allowing the natural umami richness of the beef to shine through.
Dried oregano works, too
If instead of fresh oregano, dried is all you got — not an issue. You can also make a marinade from it — or you can make a wet rub. Simply combine a bit of dried oregano with olive oil and garlic, and you’ve got a wicked rub that will contribute to your meal the aromatic depth of oregano as well as the savory richness of the garlic. Serve your herb-rubbed steak with some garlic bread or creamy mashed potatoes, and you’ll have a memorable dinner to remember for all the wonderful flavors it offers.
Another way to work oregano onto your steak is as a sauce, like steak de Burgo. This sauce includes cooking dried oregano, along with thyme and basil, in cream, butter, and garlic. Drizzle it over your cooked steak for an exceptionally rich and herbaceous-tasting twist.
Don’t get us wrong, oregano is by no means difficult to work with. It handles heat well and, as you can see, there are a lot of ways to bring its awesome flavor and aroma to your steak. But to unlock the herb’s full potential, there’s more to it than just throwing the herb on top of the sizzling steak and calling it a day.
