Flank Steak 101

Every so often I really crave a piece of red meat. While for me I could just eat red meat every now and then and be fine, but Russ on the other hand could probably eat red meat at least four or five nights a week and love it. After all his favorite meal is a cheeseburger. Since I do enjoy red meat and Russ can’t live without it I have made myself learn how to cook different cuts of meat in order to fulfill our carnivorous appetites. You see when I started cooking I was completely intimidated by most cuts of beef except for ground beef. Ground beef is easy – it is packaged in small quantities, it is cheap, it is easy to cook, and there is only one choice when selecting it (how much or little fat you want included in the meat). The other cuts of meat are usually much larger portions, many have various names depending on what store you go to, and they are more expensive all of which make them intimidating to me. I still call my Mom from the store when I am buying any type of large cut of meat to make roast beef or something similar, however, I have found a couple cuts of meat that do not require a phone call to Mom and are not super scary to buy, prepare or cook. One of these is flank steak. I really enjoy flank steak and how versatile it is – you can marinade it with almost anything, you can grill it, cook it on the stove top, use it in tacos, put it over a salad, and the list goes on and on.

In my opinion there are a few simple keys to flank steak that will help you prepare and cook it perfectly no matter how much experience you have in the kitchen. First, I prefer to always marinade or put a rub on the steak and allow it to sit in the marinade or rub for a couple of hours if possible. In my opinion flank steak is not the type of steak you just salt and pepper and toss on the grill and have it turn out tasty. It needs a little more help from you with the flavoring, however, you can do a super simple marinade or rub or you can get fancy with it and both will yield good results. Second, don’t over cook it. It is best when cooked medium or a little less if you prefer. If you cook it well done it gets very tough. Third, after you remove it from the grill or stove let it rest for a few minutes. When you go to carve it cut it in thin slices on the bias. This is the only way we ever cut flank steak.

Tonight we tried a new simple marinade out of the May issue of Cooking Light. You simply add the four ingredients (reduced sodium soy sauce, ketchup, chopped scallions, and sesame oil) to a plastic bag and put the flank steak in the bag. I let it marinade for about 6 hours, but you can do it for as little as four hours or as long as ten or so hours. The recipe says you can marinade it for up to twenty-four hours, but I am concerned that it would get too salty despite using the reduced sodium soy sauce. Once the meat was marinated Russ cooked it on the grill until it was about medium in doneness.

This was a very quick and simple marinade to put together and it had a fantastic Asian flavor to it. We both felt like it was a little salty even with using the reduced sodium soy sauce. Next time I think I’ll add a little water to the marinade to try and cut the soy sauce a little more. One thing I love about marinating flank steak is that if you prepare it in the morning or at lunch then when you get home from work it is ready to be grilled / cooked. This was a great, easy marinade that had a wonderful flavor and smell to it. Russ rates it an 8.

Soy, Ketchup, and Sesame Marinade, Cooking Light May 2008

¾ cup low-sodium soy sauce
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup chopped scallions
1 and ½ tablespoons sesame oil
1 lb. Flank steak

Combine all ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag; add 1 pound flank steak trimmed of excess fat. Seal bag and refrigerate for four hours or overnight. When ready to cook, remove steak from bag, and discard marinade. Grill steak six minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from grill, and cut diagonally across the grain into ¼ to ½ inch thick slices.