It was really quite good. Not over-marinated at all, I think that actually did what I wanted, as the flavors of cumin and oregano stayed with the meat even through grilling.

I really need to clean the inside of my grill — FIRE!!

Once that calmed down, things proceeded just fine, maybe a little too fast after searing, because it ended up too rare in the center and too done on the edges. But it was a thousand times more tender than other times I’ve done flank. Or had flank.

One thing to remember is, flank, being a thinner cut, will lose heat way faster than you think it should. Especially upon slicing it. There might be some benefit to letting your flank steak rest in a warm oven, or on a pre-warmed plate, before slicing, and serving on a warmed plate, or one of those nice metal serving trays you see in steak houses.

The sauces from the Colombian Beer-marinated recipe were way too spicy for our tastes. Probably because I was a smart-ass and bought Serranos instead of Jalapenos. For future reference, one eighth of a Serrano equals one whole Jalapeno. Roughly.

Overall this was a great trial of what could be an outstanding preparation of flank steak. Moderation in the sauces, and minding the temperature of the meat post-grilling, are key. Luck would have it that this flank steak was the free one in the buy one get one free deal!

I love the Top of the Food Chain column at Eat Me Daily!

But I especially love it when he’s writing about something I’m making this very night! Let’s talk about Flank Steak! Okay, so I’ve always been kind of puzzled by people’s love for flank steak. And that’s because people seem to love it, and are willing to pay a bit of extra money for it, and these people won’t stop talking about it.

Case in point: we went to an awkward hot-tub BBQ once at this girl’s 1st house (she had a beach house too, and probably a condo in the city by now). She was in the process of giving this little bungalow all the standard housing market bubble upgrades. On the menu was a stuffed flank steak like that link. She probably bought it pre-made from some supermarket deli, because that’s pretty common. It was TERRIBLE! She was bragging about how much she loved loved loved flank steak blah blah blah, and probably even talked about how much it cost her — because that’s the kind of girl she is — but it was terrible! It was tough, and cold, and flavorless. If she really loved that, how much could she know about, well, anything?

We didn’t stay to get our shorts off in the hot tub. But we heard later how wild and racy that was, in addition to hearing reminiscences about the delicious flank steak.

I’ve never really wanted to spend the extra money on it, since that time. I was highly impressionable.

Recently however. Recently, however, I know a lot more, and understand shit more, and there was a buy one get one on flank steaks, so I got two. We’ll see what happens! Due to extenuating circumstances, our (Colombian) Beer-Marinated Flank may be way over-marinated, but hopefully that won’t hurt!

… Will let you know.

Tags : cuts of beef explained, flank, salsa, stories

Eat Me Daily starts a new column called Top Of The Food Chain with a nicely detailed piece about Prime Rib… How to buy it, the bovine anatomy behind this royal cut of beef roast, and suggestions for preparation. It’s a little bit technical, and less practical and informative than I’d like. But it’s definitely spurred me to shop for prime rib, and take a crack at preparing one.

I have one main handicap though, with regard to prime rib: I’ve never had good prime rib. Or perhaps I should say, I’ve never had prime rib I liked. It’s always been tough and bland, and most times, cold (ie served at a wedding buffet, what a waste!!).

I ordered it one time at a homely small-town restaurant, on their special “Prime Rib Nite” which was much talked about in town. What I received was both gray, and bloody, sitting in a pool of yellow oil. It had the mouth-feel of mutton. Creamed horseradish was the only good thing about it. I still do not understand the happy faces of the other diners in that room.

The basic cut from which prime rib is drawn is the same as for the titan rib-eye steak, which has most of the surrounding bone and tissue trimmed away. So, we know it’s a tasty part of the cow… Still, unless there’s something I’m missing in what I expect of roasted prime rib, I doubt I’ll order any at a restaurant any time soon.

If I make some, I’ll probably try the Peppercorn Crusted Prime Rib from bigoven.com, because it says “this WILL set off your smoke alarm!”

Tags : cuts of beef explained

Momswhothink.com shows of a Bacon Wrapped Steak Recipe is how it’s done. Making money by blogging I mean. Where you don’t actually post content that you have to think about, and the ads on your site take over, and have very little to do with your content. And the recipe you feature is something, that when I read it it actually makes no sense. That’s how it’s done. I’m doing it wrong. Huh.

What i should do is just wholesale repost other things, as frequently as possible.

Tags : cashblogging, mommybloggers

I think one of the best things you can make with steak is to sautee some greens with it. You almost don’t need anything else, just the steak and a huge pile of greens. Arugula works really well, or you can mound some just on top of the hot hot steak so it can wilt a little bit, and break off a few nuggets of parm.reg or even gorgonzola with it.

Putting steak along side or in a salad is also very good! Just be sure to have the right assortment of green flavors that are strong enough to stand up to your grilled steak! I suggest bitter things, radicchio, endive, curly read oak leaf, mesclun or some other kind of really dark blend.

Also, sauteed Kale with bacon, in the winter time, maybe some shallots in there too, makes an absolutely wonderful accompaniment to steak. I suggest you pan-roast it for the lovely reduction you get at the end. Dress up your kale with that!

Here’s a great looking recipe along the same lines: Balsamic Skirt Steak, Fresh Greens, Pea & White Bean Puree from Recipezaar. We really love a mashed white bean side at our house! The thing seems a bit over-complicated, but it is a whole meal, after all.

Finally, no account of green stuff and steak would be complete without mentioning the famous South American green salsa “chimchurri.” So fabulous, especially when you’re growing all the herbs out your back door!

For the following, a tip of my hat must go out to the biggest and awesomest steak-tipper of the month, my bud Josh_Bomb whose delightful antics can be found all over the internet, and the world at large as well:

Go to the goddamn grocery and get steak. Yes, the grocery. A little ammonia is not going to kill you, you pussy.

Read the rest at How To Cook A Fucking Steak | The Awl.

1 steak 2 sauces | Jamie Oliver recipes

1 Steak 2 Sauce

I love his vigor in describing the cooking of the steak, here:

Get a frying pan, griddle pan or barbecue screaming hot and season both sides of your steaks with salt, pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil. Add the steaks to the pan or barbecue. Turn every minute and cook to your liking. I’m going to give you some rough timings, but use your intuition: a 200g steak about 2cm thick wants about 2 minutes each side for medium rare and 3 minutes each side for medium. As it cooks, whip the meat with the sprig of rosemary and rub it with the cut side of the garlic clove for some extra flavour. [my bold]

COMING SOON: I will make this and tell you how it turns out!

Tags : Jamie Oliver, LA, salsa, sauce

brushing with thyme sweep, oil, garlic

If you love your weekly steak, here’s a great way to take it up a few notches. The combination of thyme, beef and mushrooms with the salsa verde is so so good and can’t be beaten.

Best chargrilled steak recipe | Beef recipes & main courses | Jamie Oliver recipe

I’ve tried this and it’s magnif!

Tags : bacon, Jamie Oliver, steak

“beans to kick you in the gonads”

Barbecue baked beans recipe : use real butter seems to be a blog about food, advocating the use of real butter. This here is a case of a recipe for baked beans. It sounds tempting, to put some of these on the side-burner while roasing up a shitload of brisket or something. One beef though: where’s the bacon?!

She also presents a bunch of nice photographic work, as well as some actual recipes for steak, like Grilled Marinate Flank which I’ll have to try. Nice!

O cool! Look at this: Steaks - www.grillersindex.com. It’s a whole website devoted to grilling stuff, including a whole section about STEAK! Has a calendar of steak cookoffs and other events. I love it. No time to spend right now. Will investigate further and provide highlights!