Broiled Flank Steak

When I was little, my grandmother used to cook steak for me in the oven. Granted, it was not a ribeye or porterhouse...but to a little kid (I still am) who loved steak (and still does) it was heaven. She called them steaks. What they actually were: the toughest, worst cuts of meat that the butcher had left over after all of the good stuff had been cut off the carcass.

To make sure a human could actually chew these inexpensive pieces of rubber, the butcher would cut the meat very thin. And then he would attack it with a meat tenderizer...essentially a meat mallet with prongs that would break down the tissue. They called them minute steaks because that is how long you needed to cook it under your broiler (it was so thin it only needed to broil on one side).

Over the years I kind of forgot about cooking my steak IN the oven. Pan searing and grilling remain my favorite way to cook up a steak. But I had a leftover flank steak last week ( a common occurrence when one buys in bulk at Costco). So I thought I would take a trip down memory lane by using the broiler. And OMG was it delicious and easy!

If you have an oven, it is 99.9% likely that you have a broiler. But if you are like me, you don't use it much. But it's a great way to cook. In fact, when you go out to a fancy steak house, chances are they are broiling your steak in a special broiler called a salamander. While their broiler operates at about 800º, yours will get to over 500º. But you don't need that expensive salamander. All you really need  for today's recipe is a broiler and a broiler pan.

Now what you see above is not a traditional broiler pan. What you see above is what I call a Grogs Broiler Pan. Yes, I know it is fugly. But traditional broiler pans are a giant pain in the arse to clean. The Grogs Broiler Pan is not. When done, your baking sheet is clean, you can just toss the foil in the garbage and slip the wire screen into the dishwasher. Now that makes it really easy.

Flank steak is a great broiling steak. It's thin, so it cooks fast. Yes, just 5 minutes per side. And few cuts of beef have the big bold beef taste like this does. Cook it on the rack closest to the broiler to get the edges of the steak crisp and crunchy. You will not need any seasonings...the marinade does an exquisite job of flavoring the steak.

Ingredients

1 flank steak (approximately 1 1/2 pounds)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Place all ingredients in a ziplock plastic bag and marinate for 4 to 24 hours.
2. When ready to cook, pre-heat broiler.
3. Remove steak from bag and pat dry with paper towels. Place on broiler pan and slide into oven under the broiler.
4. Cook for 5 minutes. Then flip steak. Cook for 5 more minutes. Then remove from oven, tent it with foil and let it rest for 5 minutes.
5. Slice against the grain and serve (see photo at top).

Wine pairing: Cabernet Sauvignon