Grilled Marinated Sirloin Flap Steaks

While wandering the meat section of Costco the other day, we came across a package of "flap meat". It looked awesome and had all this nice marbling. Since it resembled our favorite cut of meat, the skirt steak, we decided to buy it and give it a try (I can't remember the price, but it was pretty inexpensive).  I then went looking for recipes to cook this cut of meat in my cookbooks. I knew there had to be some flap steak recipes in those cookbooks somewhere but I was unable to find any. I also knew there were probably some flap steak recipes in one of my myriad of cooking magazines, but I also had no luck locating any. That led me to do a search online.

That's when I came across this recipe from the Epicurious site. Originally printed in the October 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine, the recipe for Marinated Flap Steak seemed quick and easy. So quick and easy in fact, that I didn't expect much with the results. But I was wrong. The marinade gave such a wonderful flavor to the meat, and the flap meat itself was so tender, that Mr. L and I had to force ourselves to not eat the entire batch. What was left over became dinner the next night. And by dinner I mean Mr. L and I took the cut up pieces of steak and sat on the couch and ate them cold. Yeah, the flavor was that good.

Be careful when cooking flap meat as with skirt steak, cooked more than medium, it gets tough. You also need to make sure you cut across the grain for tender bites (there are videos online that will explain what that means). I have yet to see flap meat for sale at our regular or gourmet grocery stores, but I understand that you can find it at Costco and Sams Club. We're now converts of flap meat and if you like skirt steak at all, I think you'll like it too.

We let this marinade for almost half an hour, but I love the fact that it says the marinade only takes 15 minutes (or up to 8 hours). I also didn't bother with getting out my blender/food processor to make the marinade. I just threw all the ingredients in the bag. Nor did I grill this outside, we just used our cast iron grill pan on the stove. See, I told you it was quick, simple and easy!

Grilled Marinated Sirloin Flap Steaks
(from Gourmet June 2008)

3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pounds sirloin flap steaks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Blend soy sauce, vinegar, syrup, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a blender until smooth. Toss steaks with mixture. Marinate at room temperature about 15 minutes.

Prepare a grill for direct-heat cooking over hot charcoal (high heat for gas).

Discard marinade and pat steaks dry.

Oil grill rack, then grill steaks, covered only if using a gas grill, turning occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes total for medium-rare. Let rest on a plate, uncovered, 10 minutes.

Note: We used a fairly inexpensive balsamic vinegar from Trader Joes. We used Traders Joes Organic Grade B Maple Syrup.

Note: I used crushed garlic from a jar.

Note: I had just over a pound and a fourth of flap meat. I'm sure you could use this marinade on skirt steak or flank steak.

Note: I didn't blend the marinade. I put it all in a bowl and whisked it to blend.

Note: We grilled this in our cast iron grill pan on the stove, but figure you could broil this too.

This again, was very tasty, super simple and really quick to make.  I'm also learning that steak, once it's cut in pieces like this isn't very photogenic. Next time I'll take a photo like they show on Epicurious, of the steak with just a piece cut off. You can get the recipe and see the photo here.

Comments

[Carolyn Jung]

Yum! I'm going to have to tell Meat Boy to buy a pack of that flap steak to try out.

[Steaks]

Oh my god i'm drooling here. My stomach is rumbling with hunger.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrSTQDVc0tc The steak looks perfect and succulent. Thanks for the sharing the wonderful delicacy. Gonna try for the weekend.

[Mrs. L]

Carolyn - We were really surprised at how good the meat tasted and how inexpensive it was compared to a lot of other cuts. I'm hoping you like it!

[MOM]

I don't know when you developed a taste for raw meat since growing up all you had was well done. I could not touch this meat unless it was well done.