I should have posted this on Friday, but real life intervened. Anyway, there was a Friday Recipe a long while back for Emergency Flank Steak, and we go through so many of them during the warm months that I’ve finally measured and perfected the marinade. Here it is.
Emergency Flank Steak
First, you’ll need some flank steak. Duh. We buy four or six at a time — but sometimes only one –so the marinade is measured to scale up, easily.
You’ll need, per steak:
2/3rds cup vegetable oil.
1/2 cup Dijon mustard.
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins, only).
1 clove garlic. OK, maybe two.
About five twists of the pepper mill, coarse.
In a blender, pour about a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil, and however many garlic cloves you’re using. Mix until finely chopped. Dump in everything else except for the oil. With the lid on, turn the blender on to a medium setting. Remove the little top part of the lid, and slowly pour in the remaining veggie oil. Blend until a nice emulsion forms.
Put each steak into its own Ziploc bag, along with about 1 cup of the marinade. Squeeze out any air (those new sous vide bags are pretty great for this), work the marinade around the whole steak, then stack them all up flat in the freezer. This is why we do them in bunches — so that we always have enough on hand for any flank steak emergencies.
A few hours before you grill, take out a steak and let it thaw. When at room temp, remove the steak, scrape off any excess marinade, then grill (over charcoal, only, please) to rare-to-medium-rare. Over a very hot fire (the kind you’ll never, ever get with gas, so shut up already), I like about three minutes on each side over direct heat, uncovered. And then three more minutes with indirect heat, covered.
Let rest for five-to-eight minutes, then slice thin.
Serve it up with fries, a bright, citrusy salad and a spicy Zinfandel.
We go through about one of these a week. A typical flank steak is just enough for two, with a single sandwich-worth of leftovers.
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