You don’t have to marinate a steak overnight to get great flavor—with this marinade, five minutes is all you need. The marinade is thicker than most, (if you use the entire cup of brown sugar—which we didn’t), but that helps it cling to the meat. For a rather small amount of steak, one cup of sugar (seriously?) seemed like overload so we cut it down to a 1/4 cup. And even though you only need to marinate for five minutes, ours sat in the ziploc bag for the entire hour to make sure all those luscious ingredients really permeated the meat well.

Looking at a raw skirt steak, it’s easy to see the lines of fat within the striations of meat. Don’t try to remove it. The fat adds flavor and bastes the meat as it melts away during cooking, which only takes just six minutes on the grill…. so don’t get too comfy sipping a cold one or you’ll overcook the steak.

In the meantime, think about what your sides are going to be beforehand. We served the steak with steamed French green beans and smashed new potatoes. All I did with the multi-colored spuds was boil them in salted water until tender, drain, put them back in the pot with a small amount of cream, chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper. Using a potato masher I lightly smushed them for a finished coarse mash. Easy and delicious!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar (original recipe calls for one cup)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
• 3 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 2 Tbs. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1-1/2 lb. skirt steak, trimmed of excess surface fat
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

• Combine the sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, garlic, and rosemary in a baking dish or zip-top bag large enough to hold the steak. Add the steak and turn to coat. Let sit at room temperature for at least 5 minutes and up to an hour.
  
  
• Prepare a high (500°F to 600°F) charcoal or gas grill fire. Take the steak out of the marinade and season both sides generously with salt and pepper. Cut into smaller pieces to make grilling more manageable, if you like.
  
• Grill, flipping once, until grill marks form on both sides and cooked to your liking, about 3 minutes per side for medium rare (135°F). Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice against the grain and serve.
  
  

Recipe By Pat LaFrieda from Fine Cooking