Not every day we can pamper ourselves with Tomahawk steaks, Ribay Wagyu, Kobe fillets. An inexpensive, affordable alternative to expensive steaks is flank steak. A flank steak is a tenderloin of the muscle of a cow's belly and is great for grilling. Since this is a rather tough meat, there are a few rules you need to know to cook it. Read the following tips and get started cooking your steak!
Ingredients
For flank steak
- High quality flank steak approx. 450 grams for 3 servings
- Salt
- Pepper
- Cooking meat thermometer (optional)
Marinade
- About 80 grams of olive oil 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 80 ml soy sauce
- 60 grams of honey
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Another marinade option
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) olive oil
- 60 ml wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons 30 grams Worcestershire sauce (sweet and sour sauce made with vinegar, sugar and fish)
- 60 grams of honey
- Hot sauce or chili mix (optional)
Meat rub
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried garlic, ground
- 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Preparing Meat for Grilling
Step 1. Cut the surface of the steak
Regardless of whether you are going to sprinkle the steak or not, start by making cuts in the surface of the steak. The cuts will help the heat and seasoning penetrate deeper into the meat. Place the flank steak on a cutting board and use the tip of a sharp knife to make diamond-shaped cuts on both sides of the piece. The depth of the cut should be about 50-60 millimeters.
Try to make cuts across the grain of the meat, this will make it more tender
Step 2. Choose a marinade or dry seasoning for grating the meat
Properly cooked, flank steak is delicious and unconditioned. However, the seasoning will add a spicy flavor to the steak and make it unmatched. You can marinate the steak or grate it with dry seasonings. When you marinate meat, the aromas and flavors of the marinade permeate the steak inside and out. The rubbing of meat acts on the outside when a piece of steak is rubbed with a mixture of aromatic spices. Both methods can make a flank steak delicious. Remember that both methods are not applied at the same time, so you need to decide which method to choose.
- See the Ingredients section for examples of recipes for marinades and grits for meat.
- If you choose to marinate, start early so the meat has enough time to soak in the marinade. On average, the meat is marinated for 2-3 hours, but you can leave it overnight to give the meat a stronger flavor and aroma.
Step 3. Mix seasonings
It doesn't matter if you use a marinade or a meat grout, the process is the same. Simply combine the ingredients of your choice in a bowl and stir until smooth. When the mixture is ready, place the flank steak into it.
If you don't like the recipes above, you can come up with your own. To make the marinade, start by choosing an oil (olive or vegetable), seasoning, and a liquid and acidic ingredient (such as lemon juice or vinegar). To make a grilled meat, mix dry and ground spices that you like. Salty, sweet, spicy and flavorful ingredients are great for grating meat
Step 4. If you choose to marinate, soak the steak in the marinade
Start by pouring the marinade into a sealed Zip-lock plastic bag, then place the flank steak in there. Let all the air out of the bag and close it securely. Remember the bag so that the whole steak is covered in the marinade. Leave the bag of marinating steak in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Some people prefer to marinate the meat all night. Remember, the longer the meat is marinated, the stronger its flavor will be.
If you don't have a Zip-lock bag, marinate the meat in a lidded bowl, or Tupperware, or any other airtight container
Step 5. If you have chosen the option of rubbing meat
Dry rubbing the meat gives the meat a crispier crust. Pour the seasoning mixture into a large bowl and place the flank steak there. Use your hands to turn the meat in the mixture until the whole piece of steak is covered with seasoning. Sprinkle the seasoning generously on the meat to add flavor to every millimeter of meat.
When the whole piece is covered with seasoning, leave it briefly at room temperature, and if you do not intend to grill it immediately, put it in the refrigerator
Part 2 of 3: Perfect Roasting
Step 1. Light up the grill
It doesn't matter if you use a gas or charcoal grill, it should be well warmed up by the time you plan to cook your steak. Follow these instructions to achieve the ideal temperature for grilling flank steak:
- For a gas grill: light one burner and set it to the "high" setting. Close the lid and let it warm up for a few minutes. If possible, leave the second burner off to be able to move the meat after “sealing” (a quick, strong roast so that the juice remains inside the meat) to a slower roasting setting.
- For charcoal grill: Place charcoal on the bottom of the grill so that the bottom is covered with charcoal. If possible, move the charcoal back to one side of the grill so that the other half is empty. This part of the grill will cook the meat slowly after a quick initial roast. Light the coals, let them burn freely until the flame diminishes and the coals are ash gray. The grill surface must be hot enough that you cannot hold your hand over the grill for more than 1 second.
Step 2. Blot the meat with a paper towel
Grilled meat has the characteristic black-brown stripes, which are obtained by rapid frying in the first minutes of cooking. For this, the surface must be dry. In order not to waste the power of the flame on evaporating moisture, you must dry the surface of the steak from excess liquid. Soak, but do not squeeze the meat.
If you are using the meat grating method, you can skip this step. Dry ingredients absorb moisture on their own. And paper towels can brush the seasoning off the meat, which is undesirable
Step 3. Place the steak on the grill
When the grill is well heated, brush on the grill grate with olive oil or vegetable oil. Then place the steak in the place that was oiled. You will hear the characteristic hiss of meat and grill. Leave the meat on the wire rack.
If you do not have a brush to grease the grill grate, you can use an oil-dampened paper towel. Wipe the grill grate with an oil towel, but be extremely careful not to burn your hands on the grill
Step 4. In the first few minutes, the meat should be “sealed”
Do not stir the meat for 3-4 minutes, then turn it over with tongs. If the grill is heated correctly, the meat should have a brown crust with black stripes. If the meat is not “sealed” enough, turn it back over immediately. Initial deep frying of the meat will give it a delicious crispy crust and mouth-watering texture.
Contrary to popular belief, "sealing" does not keep meat juices inside, juices can leak out anyway. The main purpose of sealing is flavor and texture. Most people love a crispy, caramelized crust on the surface of the meat
Step 5. Cook the remaining time over low heat
After each side of the meat is “sealed” and the surface is brown with black streaks, use tongs to move it to a colder temperature. On a gas grill, this is where the second burner is off. On a charcoal grill, this is where there was no charcoal. It takes a lot of heat to "seal" the meat, but it is impossible to cook the steak in such heat, the meat can simply burn. A place with a constant, low heat is best for subsequent cooking. Cook the steak for another 3 minutes on each side.
When cooking meat in low heat, keep the grill lid closed to conserve heat and not escape
Step 6. Remove the meat from the wire rack when it warms up to about 54.5 o C.
After "sealing" and then roasting the meat in low heat, it should be done. Use a cooking meat thermometer to test the meat. Insert the dipstick into the thickest part of the steak. Make sure the dipstick is not touching the grill surface or the reading will be inaccurate. Usually, if the temperature inside the meat reaches 54.5 o C, that means it's done. Cook the meat until you like it. Minimum temperature - 49o C, meat with a temperature below is considered raw and unsuitable for eating. Here are the approximate levels of cooked meat:
- 49o C: Rare - lightly roasted (uncooked, almost raw inside; quickly roasted top and bottom)
- 54.5o C: Medium rare - medium (medium raw, red juice)
- 60o C: Medium - Medium (medium cooking depth, where a pinkish meat steak stands out)
- 65.5o C: Medium well - medium-rare (medium-rare meat with clear juice.)
- 71.1o C: Well done - well done (meat, cooked until cooked through.)
Step 7. If you do not have a cooking thermometer for meat, you can determine if the steak is done by cutting off a piece
As a general rule of thumb, the pinker the meat inside, the less it cooked. As mentioned above, the color of meat and meat juice indicates the degree of its roastiness. The most beneficial for health is the Medium well grade - medium-fried meat, brown in color, with a slight pink tint and transparent juice. Remember, germs remain in undercooked meat.
- As for the flank steak, since this meat is initially quite tough, then if you cook it until completely cooked (71.1o C), it can get even tougher. It is recommended to cook it until a uniform brown color with a slight pink color inside.
Part 3 of 3: Serving and Serving
Step 1. Prepare clean plates and cutlery for serving the steak
Once you have removed the meat from the grill, it should not touch any cooking utensils that have raw meat on them. Thoroughly wash dishes that have come into contact with raw meat with detergent before using them again. This will avoid cross-contamination with bacteria that can pass from raw meat to cooked meat. Bacteria from raw meat can lead to serious food poisoning. Unfortunately, fatalities are rare, but they do happen. This contamination can be avoided by treating the finished meat with perfectly clean utensils.
Step 2. Leave the meat to “rest”, for example, covering it with cling foil
When placing cooked meat on a platter, cutting board, or other surface, do not chop it right away. Let it stand for 10-15 minutes. If you cut the meat right away, the meat juice will flow out into the dish and the meat will not be as juicy. And if the meat stands a little, the juice will be redistributed inside, the fibers will absorb more meat, giving it greater tenderness. Since the flank steak is initially quite tough, the “rest” process becomes especially important for it.
During the "rest" period, the meat should remain warm. Make a kind of foil awning for him. The foil will keep its core temperature so that when you taste the meat it will be hot enough despite the "rest."
Step 3. Slice the meat across the grain
After the meat has rested, place the steak on a cutting board. Examine the flank steak to determine. In which direction the muscle fibers are located - thin long strips along the entire surface of the steak. Take a sharp knife and cut the steak into thin slices diagonally across the grain. In other words, cut the meat perpendicular to the thin, long strips on the surface of the meat.
This will allow the meat to become even more tender. The reason flank steak is quite tough is because the muscle fibers of this meat are tough and strong. Cutting the meat across the fibers, we destroy their structure, from this the meat becomes tender
Step 4. Season with salt and pepper
Congratulations! Your flank steak is ready. Optionally, you can season the steak with salt and pepper, and garnish with any other ingredients you like. But this is not necessary, the flank steak is already very tasty. Bon Appetit!