Expert: Whitestag - 1/14/2008

Question
QUESTION: should a steak be scored before marinating?

ANSWER: Depends on how thick the steak is, and how deeply you want the marinade flavor to penetrate, and how long you marinate.  It also depends on the cut of meat.  I tend not to score any good cut of meat (sirloin, t-bone, rib steak, etc.), although I'll often insert slivers of garlic.  I wouldn't bother scoring anything much thinner than 2 inches unless it was a tough cut of meat or something without a lot of flavor (round steak, for example).

If you would give me a bit more information on what you have in mind (cut of meat, marinade, etc.), I would be able to give you a more precise answer.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: My brother said you should never score the steak ( usually new york strip or porterhouse) - I always have so i was curious

Answer
Yeah, I'd agree with your brother, given the cuts of meat that you're working with.  As I'm sure you know, a lot of the pleasure of eating good meat is the texture -- how it feels in the mouth.  Scoring the meat would have a potentially bad effect on the texture, so I wouldn't do it unless I was working with something like chuck or round steak, both of which are less tender to start with, and one of which (round steak) is a lot less flavorful.