Recipe Share: DIY McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning

My most missed spice seasoning blend.

*Mad Scientist laugh*  I've done it!!!  I've finally cracked the "code" to make a good variation of McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning that is garlic free!!!

Ahem.  Okay, well it's not perfect, but it's still a darn good spice mix if I do say so myself.  This would be a good one if you just don't want to shell out a whole bunch of money to buy grill seasoning too (which I used to do without even a second thought.  I still miss some of my spice blends).

I'm still working on a Worcestershire Sauce alternative (I THINK I'm on the right track now), but for the time being folks, here's a good spice blend to start your day.  By the way, blogging was delayed over the weekend because something in my internet connection died.  After doing everything but beating my computer with a rubber chicken and shouting, "Out!  Out! You demons of stupidity!!!" I was able to get my internet connection working today through some miracle.  Even with little sleep and a bad chest cold.  So, yay me :).

This recipe is actually a tweak off of a recipe that my mom sent me that my sister found online on some forum a while back, so don't ask me where it originally came from as I have no idea.   But, anyway, here's my attempt to make a good alternative to McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Enjoy!

DIY Montreal Steak Seasoning

• 4 TBS salt
• 1 TBS ground black pepper 
• 1 TBS onion powder or 1 1/2 TBS dehydrated onion
  
• 1 Teaspoon Cheyenne Pepper, or to taste (or you can substitute 1/2 TBS crushed red pepper flake)
• 1/2 TBS dried thyme
• 1/2 TBS dried rosemary
• 1/2 TBS dried fennel seed
• 1 Teaspoon dried orange or lemon peel

1.  This is essential.  If you are use "chunky" bits in the recipe above (dehydrated onion, chunky sea salt, thyme leaves, whole rosemary leaves, etc) instead of powders you will want to put them ALL through a coffee grinder for a few pulses to make a powder along with the fennel seed.  This VASTLY improves the final quality of your spice mix and makes it adhere to meat better and incorporate into ground meats MUCH better.  I learned this the hard way.

2.  If not using chunky pieces, place your orange and/or lemon peel (I've used both home made dried orange zest and lemon zest in this, so I ended up with bigger pieces that needed some pulsing) in a coffee grinder along with the fennel seed.  Pulse a few times to make it more "powder like" and then add all ingredients to a mason jar, shake to combine well and store in a shaker or spice container of choice.

Use as you would grill seasoning in all of your grill seasoning needs.

I have tweaked this recipe a LOT and tried doing the "chunkier" version like McCormick does where you could actually see things like the fennel seed, but it just plain didn't work as home made versions tend to lack the binders that commercial products use (like starches) to get them to adhere to the meat or something. Honestly, I'm not sure if they add anything to their spices, but all I know is that every time I did it where I didn't at least partially grind the spices first I'd just end up with a very bare piece of meat after it was all said and done because the seasonings would just plain fall off of whatever I was grilling/browning...especially things like fennel seed.  And with just plain dehydrated onions, unless you were cooking say meatloaf, the onions just wouldn't cook/rehydrate before the meat was done, so you'd end up with a pretty crunchy onion-tasting piece of meat.  Not my thing.

I am very pleased with how the powdered version worked, though.  I even found that I LIKE the Cheyenne pepper in it, and I'm usually not a person who likes heat in my spice mixes (I'm not even sure what inspired me to put that in there honestly *laugh*).  It gives a LITTLE bit of heat in the background, but nothing too over-powering and you don't even miss the garlic (least I don't).  If you can add garlic to your things or like garlic, I'd add like 1 teaspoon to 1/2 TBS garlic powder to the mix too.

So, there you are folks.  My own home made recipe for grill seasoning.  Enjoy it!