Grilled Flank Steak 2

In our first look at flank steak in this series, Flank Steak #1, we promised that there is a second marinade that also lights up the flavors of flank steak on the grill and also makes for an absolutely delicious main course.

Here we are making good on that promise. Flank Steak #1 was based primarily on olive oil and fresh lemon juice, a treatment reminiscent of the Mediterranean -- say, a seaside resort in the Greek islands. Here the mix of ingredients is harder to categorize because we are going to be combining West and East.

Perhaps the word "fusion" is unavoidable here, but whether that's the perfect term or not, it is certain that sizzling this sauce on the grill fuses the West-East ingredients we explain here together to make something original and magnificent.

Grilled flank steak, marinade #2 . Here's Grilled flank steak #1 marinade. The best idea, of course, is to try both of these because each has its own individual virtues.

Essential are the following:

- EVOO (For EVOO, click here).

- soy sauce

- pieces of fresh ginger, cut into sticks

- red wine

- a smashed clove of garlic or two (go for two)

- coarse ground black pepper (of course)

Optional ingredients (but recommended) are the following: - a bit of vegetable broth, - some dashes of hot sauce, - a pinch of oregano, basil, or rosemary. These add to olive oil, soy sauce, etc. essentials touches of flavor that, particularly if you have used the basics before, vary the experience in interesting ways.

Shake the ingredients around in the grilling pan to mix them and blend the marinade into a more or less unified liquid.

In the grilling pan. A pretty picture, don't you think? There's just something very attractive about the meat being prepared in this fashion -- visually attractive.

Here this time we chose to add the garlic and a little oregano. First time we tried that.

Finding the right-sized grilling pan is important. This one holds the meat and all the marinade just perfectly, and when the meat is taken out and placed on the grill, the pan serves as the perfect vessel for sizzling the marinade until it becomes the sauce we desire.

Say, five minutes per side, depending on how cold the steak was and how rare we like flank steak.

The grill must have been preheated. You always preheat your grill, do you not?

We like our flank steak, and many other red meats, rare, with the juices that appear when the steak is cut mixed in at the end of the grilling with the marinade.

Goes on the top shelf of the grill. Close the grill cover. Listen for sizzle. Sizzling means the marinade is blending itself into a sauce for the meat.

Be certain not to let the marinade sizzle away because we want plenty of sauce. Of course, the marinade will cook much faster than the thick piece of meat below it, cook faster even though it is on the top shelf in the grill.

Looking good.

Now that we have turned it over after its initial five minutes on the preheated grill.

Grilled on both sides to perfection and now ready for the cutting board.

Note how the marinade has blended and now is ready to become our Grilled Flank Steak #2 sauce.

Flank steak is not one of the tenderest cuts, but it can be made wonderfully tender by slicing it thinly against the grain of the meat.

Like this.

Make sure to add to the marinade/sauce in the pan the juices which run down the little channels in the cutting board. These juices are especially delicious and add a great deal to final product.

All we have to do is add some vegetables.

Grilled tomatoes are the perfect match, along with some grilled green vegetable like baby broccoli.

Maybe grilled corn and a green salad. Grilled mushrooms are heavenly.

Lee White's Department Store (see below) has many grilled vegetables which can be used here, though the grilled flank steak is clearly the star of the show.

Flank steak is similar to but different from skirt steak. The latter has a bit more fat and is considered more tender by some. Skirt steak is a good choice for something like fajitas. Chinese stir-fry also works best with something like skirt steak.

Flank is best treated in the fashion we have shown here and will stand its own against any other meat. The cutting across the grain into thin slices, as shown, produces a mouth-watering red meat, especially when beautifully grilled and sauced.

Flank steak is often used in making "London broil," a delicious meat dish which in fact has no connection to London, where people will look puzzled if you were to ask for it. In fact, preparing London broil is very similar to preparing flank steak shown here -- London broil typically involves marinating the meat for several hours followed by searing on an outdoor grill (or in a high-heat broiler). It is served in thin slices, cut across the grain.

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

Series within series, actually. Food & Cooking, for example, then -- within that -- series on vegetables, fruits, seafood, meat, etc. Books, too. Ideas, too. Travel, too. Key virtues:. pictures, clear step-by-step text. Delicious -- whether foods or ideas! All of the series, and all of the items in each series, can be found, organized by floor, at this link: Lee White's Department Store. Happy shopping! -- everything is for free!

Here's the link to #1 in this series. Click here.

Real Meal. Unlike fancy food mags, where images are hyped and food itself is secondary, all pix shown here are from a real meal, prepared and eaten by me and my friends. No throwing anything away till perfection is achieved. This is the real deal --- a Real Meal.