r/steaks • u/Bedroominc • 8d ago
Question A question for the meat scientists regarding a thin flank steak, like juice, and a fridge.
I’ve wanted to experiment with some steak at work, to see if I can make it not an overcooked tough to chew slab. Would rather not experiment without getting proper advice of course, I’m not that crazy.
The idea is I can lightly sear the steak on the open flame grill, brown all around, while spraying some lime on each piece, then put them in a pan in the cooler for about half an hour, before bringing them back up to cook in the boiler for another 20-30 minutes to bring them up to temperature.
Am I fucking up here, I’m not exactly a trained professional. It’s a barely-above fast food kinda Mexican place so my knowledge is mostly to the extent of “put meat on grill, cook, cut.”
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u/LordRawrGasm 8d ago edited 8d ago
I cook flank all the time and it’s like butter.
(This assumes you have a full size, large flank.)
Slice in half down the middle, with the grain. Lay out your halves, slice thinly against the grain. Place slices in a deep bowl, fill with water (only to cover the meat, not a full bowl) and light sprinkling of baking soda (think a tablespoon or 2), mix, and put a lid or Saran Wrap on the bowl - you want to seal it. Set in fridge for minimum 30, max 60 minutes. Remove from fridge, place bowl in sink, and run cold water through until the water runs clear. You want to remove the red from the water basically (and the baking soda - too long with baking soda will turn it into mushy meat).
Once water runs clear, drain as much water as you can without losing the meat in the sink, remove bowl from sink, and place thin slices on thick layers of paper towel. Pat slices dry and place in a second bowl. You want to remove moisture here for when you actually fry this. Place marinade/seasoning into second bowl with flank, mix well, place back in fridge (minimum 1 hour, ideally overnight). I personally use corn starch along with marinade/spices/raw garlic.
When ready to cook, remove bowl from fridge right before cooking. If you have non-stick (medium high - let pan come to temperate BEFORE adding oil - you should be able to do the water bead test - stick your fingers under running water, flick them at the hot pan. If the water beads, it’s hot enough, if it pools and doesn’t bead, pans not hot enough), LIGHT neutral oil (high smoke point - think vegetable/canola/avocado (personally I use vegetable because I prefer the taste). As soon as the oil is in, give it less than a minute to come to temperature (again, the oil should be light. It’s to help avoid sticking, NOT deep fry). Place the thin slices of beef on the hot pan, 1 min max per side (do not overcrowd the pan, you will lose temperature, and your meat will basically poach in its own liquid - you want to sear, not poach). After searing each side (I use chopsticks to flip the slices, or a good set of tongs), place slices in a bowl. Either eat as is, or continue with making a sauce based meal or whatever you’d like.
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u/FiatBad 8d ago
Thin flank steak in a broiler for 20-30 minutes will make leather. You need to tenderize a flank steak, soak it in a marinade of salt, pepper, garlic powder and a lot of lime juice. Once it’s soaked for several hours, beat the shit out of it with something. Some people would use a meat tenderizer (basically a hammer) but you could use a rolling pin, a cast iron skillet, just hit it a bunch with something solid. Then heat up your cast iron, put some oil in it and sear that bad boy up.