Flat Irons On The Grill

You’ve probably noticed that many of my posts lately (and in the near future) have been breakfasts with the occasional sandwich, which is because we’ve been eating very light in the evening and nothing to write home about. But I got an email the other day from Allrecipes that included their best recipes for 2010 and one of them was called “Best Steak Marinade In Existence”, and we had some flat iron steaks in the freezer.

Flat iron lovers call it a very tender and well-flavored steak at reasonable prices while others see it as the meat industries way of charging steak prices for chuck roast.

From About.com., "The Flat Iron Steak (also know as a Top Blade Steak, now appearing in grocery stores and on restaurant menus was developed by teams at the University of Nebraska and the University of Florida. The problem that presented these researchers of the cow was what to do with a waste cut of beef from the shoulder of the cow. Though a flavorful and relatively tender cut of meat, the top blade roast has a serious flaw in the middle of it; an impossibly tough piece of connective tissue running through the middle.

So, after developing a method for cutting and presenting this steak, these friendly scientists have presented to us an amazing cut of beef. More than that, they have developed a nearly perfect steak for the grill. The Flat Iron (supposedly named because it looks like an old fashioned metal flat iron) is uniform in thickness and rectangular in shape. The only variation is the cut into the middle of the steak where the connective tissues have been removed."

Like many folks, we use them in dishes where flank or skirt steak is the norm. I like it better than flank and rarely ever see skirt in the market – I guess it all goes to restaurants that serve fajitas.

We were planning to have the meal a day earlier, but were short on Soy and Worsey sauces, so I made sure I went to the store before the snow got here and we made up the marinade the day before, using this recipe, but with only half the oil shown – it’s a no-no on Bev’s diet.

Ingredients
· 1/3 cup soy sauce
· 1/2 cup olive oil
· 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
· 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
· 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
· 3 tablespoons dried basil
· 1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
· 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
· 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional)
· 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic (optional)


Directions
1. Place the soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, basil, parsley, and pepper in a blender. Add hot pepper sauce and garlic, if desired. Blend on high speed for 30 seconds until thoroughly mixed.
2. Pour marinade over desired type of meat. Cover, and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Cook meat as desired.

We marinated the steak for about 7 hours and grilled it on the Weber over charcoal.  Here they are waiting for the grill.

I got about a chimney full of lump charcoal going and dumped the snow off the grill lid.

I grilled them to 125* and rested about 5 minutes.  Here's one ready to be cut.

Note a fancy presentation, but here's my plate.

I don't know if it was the best ever marinade, but it was very good and we both thought it should become our go-to version.  And to top it off, the veggie side was just as good.  Bev sprinkled the broccoli and cauliflower with salt,  garlic Tabasco sauce, and Carribean Mango Majic from Home BBQ (which had been in the pantry forever), and steamed until just tender, then tossed it in a pan with a little melted butter & garlic.  This was quasi-diet food and a very tasty dinner on a cold snowy night - I could be on this diet.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

Larry