📺 Original Video: 24hrs Whiskey Aged Steak Experiment | Guga Foods by Guga Foods
📅 Duration: 11:05
TL;DR
- Guga soaks a bone-in ribeye in whiskey, dry brines it for 24 hours, and grills it against an untreated control steak
- The whiskey steak smells boozy and tastes like two separate flavors fighting each other
- Both Guga and Maumau agree: drink your whiskey, eat your steak, keep them apart
- The real winner is an incredible braised skirt steak cornbread muffin side dish that steals the whole show
The Setup
▶00:01 Two thick, beautifully marbled bone-in ribeyes, each about one and a half inches thick. One gets the full whiskey treatment, the other stays pure as a control. Guga notes he’s done a 35-day whiskey dry age before with surprising results, but this time the question is simpler: can a 24-hour whiskey soak do anything good?
▶00:36 As for which whiskey, Guga says it genuinely doesn’t matter. Jack Daniels, Maker’s Mark, whatever you’ve got. The brand isn’t the point here.
The Process
▶00:53 The experiment steak gets a full whiskey shower, completely coated until the surface changes to a noticeably lighter color. The smell is strong and immediate. Both steaks then get a dry brine, which is just a fancy way of saying salt them generously and let them sit in the fridge. The salt draws out moisture through osmosis, dissolves, then gets reabsorbed back into the meat carrying flavor with it. Both steaks rest for a full 24 hours.
▶06:01 After 24 hours, something interesting happens. That whitish alcohol discoloration is completely gone and both steaks look nearly identical. But pick up the experiment steak and you’ll know the difference immediately: it still smells like whiskey. The cooking method is a hard sear followed by indirect heat to an internal temp of 135°F, tracked with wireless thermometers.
The Side Dish (The Real Star)
▶02:07 While the steaks rest overnight, Guga puts together braised skirt steak cornbread muffins, and honestly these end up being the highlight of the whole video. Two well-marbled skirt steaks get seared hard in a cast iron skillet, then braised low and slow with vegetables until they’re falling-apart tender.
🧾 Braised Skirt Steak Cornbread Muffins — Ingredients
• 2 skirt steaks
• Avocado oil
• Onion, celery, carrots (cut same size for even braising)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Tomato paste
• White wine (for deglazing)
• Soy sauce
• Worcestershire sauce
• Garlic
• Beef stock (be generous)
• Cornbread mix, milk, egg, butter
• Butter (for brushing)
• Chives (for garnish)
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[See full steps at ▶02:07]
▶03:55 The steaks braise at 250°F for two hours in a covered cast iron, then get shredded and packed into silicone molds on top of cornbread batter. One lesson Guga wants you to learn from his mistake: only fill the molds halfway with batter before adding the meat, because cornbread rises. His overfilled ones ballooned everywhere. Bake at 350°F until done, then brush with butter and top with chives.
The Tasting
▶07:30 The cornbread muffins go first and Maumau is immediately sold. “That’s an amazing little appetizer.” The sweetness of the cornbread against the salty, rich braised beef hits perfectly. Maumau likes them so much he’s grabbing seconds before the steak test even starts.
▶08:59 Now for the main event. Guga presents two steaks without telling Maumau which is which. Steak one (the control) gets nothing but praise. “Just an amazing steak. Juicy, tender to the max.” The charcoal flavor comes through clean. Nothing unusual, nothing off.
▶09:49 Steak two (the whiskey steak) tells a different story. Maumau can smell the alcohol before even tasting it. Not overpowering, but definitely there. On the first bite, the flavors seem interesting separately. There’s a nice steak flavor and a nice whiskey note. But then they merge and, well… “when they start to mesh together it’s like…” Neither of them can quite finish the sentence, but the faces say it all.
The Verdict
▶10:26 It’s a clean loss for the whiskey steak. Both Guga and Maumau agree the flavors just don’t combine well. The whiskey completely changes the taste profile, and not in a good way. “I would not recommend it, definitely stick with the regular one, you will have a better experience.”
Guga’s final wisdom puts it perfectly: “Eat your steak and drink the whiskey separately.” Maumau’s response? “That is the best so far.” Hard to argue with that.
The 24-hour soak is long enough to get the whiskey flavor into the meat, but not long enough to create any kind of harmony. If you’re curious about whiskey and steak together, just pour yourself a glass alongside a perfectly seasoned ribeye. Your taste buds will thank you.
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