Take Your Steak Sauce To The Next Level With A Sweet Jar Of Jam

The satisfying taste of a perfect steak, fresh from the grill, is an experience to be desired. By the time the succulent steak gets to your plate, all you want to do is dig in! But if you're a sauce person, it's a little different — you may be in need of a little-something-extra to accompany your steak before you take your first bite. Sauces like A1 and Peter Luger can do the trick, but you can do even better when you add your own creative twist.

While there are plenty of guides to great steak sauces, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to create something you love with just a few changes to the ingredients of a sauce you already have on hand, whether it's homemade or one you picked up at the store. Tweaking the ingredients will allow you to have a sauce where there's just enough sweetness to balance out the savory flavor of the meat. The perfect way to help bring your steak sauce to the next level is by using a common, if unexpected, item in your kitchen: jam.

When you think steak sauce, jam isn't usually the first thing that comes to mind. However, the thick, sweet mixture of this fruit spread can pack a powerful punch that will zing your senses as it graces your palate. It also provides just enough room for the other ingredients to deliciously tap into your tastebuds. With so many jam flavors available, you can pick a different kind to match each cut of steak. Dark berry jams like blackberry or raspberry, help bring a depth of flavor to lean cuts of steak, while lighter jams cut through the heaviness of fattier cuts. 

That said, there are no set rules about which jams to pair with which steaks. Blackberry jam is a great ingredient to add to homemade steak sauces for a delicious mix of sweet and savory flavors for lean cuts of grilled flank steak or filet mignon, but dark berry jams can also work well with fatty cuts of meat, too. You can use blackberry or blueberry jam for a sauce to pour over a juicy New York strip or ribeye and you can also go with lighter jams on leaner steaks. The taste of apricot jam goes wonderfully with flank steak, so mixing it in a sauce for this cut of meat will taste great, too.

While you'll love the sweetness that jam provides, you'll also get a kick out of its unique and essential texture. While fruit juice can give you some of the same flavors as jam, using the fruit spread in your steak sauce delivers something else entirely by creating a thick texture. This delicious addition gives your steak sauce its body. You'll get real pieces of fruit in your sauce that, while small, add to both its sweet taste and thickness. 

In some brands of jam, you also get tiny bits of seeds, which add a more organic essence to your sauce. The chunky, fruity texture of jam will boost your steak sauce into the stratosphere. In fact, you may get so into jam that you decide to make it yourself. Whether you use homemade jam or not, once you've created your own steak sauce with the fruit spread it'll be hard to go back to using those generic store-bought steak sauces. Your creation will taste so good, that you'll even be able to convert those who prefer their steak plain into steak sauce connoisseurs. 

So give it a try! Whether it's blueberry, blackberry, or even apricot, you'll have a new delicious ensemble of organic flavors and textures to choose from that will make your mouth water even more than the steak itself.