Fun with flank steak

About 10 days ago I finally took my 3-pound package of flank steak out of the fridge. I had cut it into 3 pieces when I bought it but packaged them together, which meant I had to come up with a way to use all of it.


For 2 pieces I pulled a couple of marinade recipes from Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue: garlic-mustard and Bloody Mary.


I let the steaks marinate for 5 or 6 hours before grilling them direct over lump charcoal.


I need to find flank steak more often! I sliced it somewhat thin against the grain and while the pieces did have a little bit of chew they weren't at all tough and the flavor was really good. Of the 2 marinades I think I preferred the Bloody Mary.



That left me with 1 other piece so I chose Garlicky Ancho Flank Steak from Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday. The recipe is originally for a rub but I added enough olive oil to make a paste and smeared it on the steak with the idea that I would grill it for tacos the next night.


However, things didn't go quite as planned so it turned out to be 1 day later before I could get it to the grill, which meant it essentially cured for 50+ hours.


There were some red bell peppers in the fridge so I took one and charred it directly on the coals before cutting it into strips.


After charring the pepper the grill was ready for the steak and I picked a good Wisconsin cheese for shredding.


At first I was going to cut the meat into strips but then it occurred to me that it was be easier to eat the tacos if it was in smaller pieces.


We didn't have any lettuce but we did have some spinach, so that's what we used along with some grilled corn tortillas.


They were really good tacos, although my wife said the ancho chile rub made the meat a bit too spicy for her liking. Which meant it was just right for everybody else.

Great idea................

flank steak marinating right now

Greg

Nice. I really like Flank and skirt steak, two really under appreciated cuts in the states but a staple south of the border. Great beef forward taste, grills up nicely and very forgiving. You can do a ton with it and it makes for great left overs.

I wish it was a little more underappreciated...$7.99/lb the last time I was in the store!

This post got me inspired to do a flank steak.

Medium rare with cilantro, onions, sour cream and lime juice

Too spicy equals just right in my vocabulary too. Outstanding cook!

Good-looking tacos, Greg!

Some good looking flank. I like that Bloody Mary idea. Think I'll have to look it up, although I think SR has a bloody mary steak in one of his books. Hmmm...ideas are flowing, mouth is watering.

Greg, yours looks good , too. I would just add some cojita cheese to it if you can find it.

Could it be the BBQ USA recipe based on St. Elmo's steakhouse in Indianapolis? I'll have to check to be sure but I think it might be Bloody Mary-based.

You Sir are correct. I forgot to look last night, but a quick google search does show that it is in BBQ USA, page 205, and it is based on the bloody mary's from St. Elmos.