Sweet Soy Tender Flank steak

Flank steak is a great piece of meat when well marinated and properly cooked. Tasty, juicy and wallet savvy, this cut is well underestimated. Here's a simple marinade that will tenderize your meat and give it a succulent taste. You can prepare this as much as 2-3 days ahead, or the morning of. Obviously, the more the better.

yields 2-4 ppl

prep time 10 minutes

cooking time about 15min

Ingredients:

1 lb Flank Steak

1/2 tsp whole all spice

1/4 tsp whole cloves

1/2 tsp whole black pepper

1/8 tsp Thai chili flakes

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 tbsp sweet soy (Bango) see below step 3 for more info

2 garlic cloves smashed not chopped

Once ready to cook

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp EVOO

1 tsp butter

Step 1. In a mortar and pestle preferably, put all dry ingredients except the salt and grind as fine as you can. If using a spice blender, don't over chop, as the texture still needs to be somewhat coarse. 

Step 2. Pat dry your flank steak with paper towel and set on a board. Sprinkle the dry ingredient mix and rub thoroughly on both sides.

Step 3. In a deep dish large enough for the flank, or a ziplock, mix rice vinegar with sweet soy. combine well and place your flank steak. Carefully smash the garlic cloves with the side of your knife and toss it in with the meat. Let it rest as much as possible, up to 2-3 days. I did it that morning and it was still tender!

*About sweet soy sauce: If you don't have it on hand, you can use regular soy adding a little sugar or molasses to cut the saltiness, although if you can find the sweet soy, you will definitely prefer it to the regular salty version. It's gluten free and has a better taste, without all its sodium. I purchased Bango from C&T or Marché Hawaii, or you can probably find it at any Asian supermarket. On average, it's priced as any other Gluten Free soy sauce but with more value as the bottle is larger. Thus all more to buy this one versus the standard soy kind. The texture is thicker, therefore I water it down if needed, or use it as is if I want a thicker sauce.

Step 4. Once ready to cook, Remove the meat from the ziplock about 15-20 minutes before cooking. Place it on a paper towel to absorb the liquid, as you need the meat to be externally dry in order to grill, if not the meat will "boil" vs "sear".

Step 5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees f.

Sprinkle and pat salt on both side of the flank. Put 1 tsp EVOO in a non stick fry pan on the stovetop on high, and once oil starts to "dance" in the pan, gently place your flank and grill 3-4 minutes per side, until nice and grilled. Toss in the butter and once melted, drizzle the meat with its sauce.

Step 6. Place in the oven, middle rack for about 5-7 minutes, depending the doneness  you like it. Increase cooking time if you prefer well done, although flank steak is great medium.

Here is a quick temp chart you can refer to.

Step 7. Remove and let stand on a wooden board for 1 minute before slicing.

Step 8. While the meat is resting, place back the pan on the stovetop high heat, add 1 to 2 tbsp broth and let the sauce reduce a few seconds. If you have remaining wine, you can use instead, although it may be acidic combined with the rice vinegar. you can mix wine and broth.

step 8. Slice the flank against the grain in thin slices. Place the meat on your plate and drizzle sauce reduction.

Serve it on salad, rice or even beef taco, flank steak is delicious no matter how you eat it!

** If you slice the meat and it's under-cooked, place the slices back in the pan over the sauce and continue cooking a few seconds on the stovetop.

Enjoy

Sincerely

T @stuffedfaces