Want a perfect flank steak? Try this Asian marinade
When I was 13, I worked at my community pool’s snack bar. I made salads, poured soft drinks, and manned the cashier. My favorite part was sneaking greasy French fries, but my least favorite part was grill duty. This entailed grilling chicken and burgers, which seems easy enough, but I was terrified.
What if something was too rare or I overcooked the meat?
What if I undercooked it and someone got sick and then I got fired from my first job?
Let me tell you, being 13 was hard.
Fast forward 13 years, and I finally got more comfortable cooking meat, but steak was still relatively unfamiliar territory. Then I learned how to make flank steak.
A lean cut of meat that can also be tough, flank steak is best served when braised, or marinated and grilled. If you choose to marinate your steak, know that it takes on the flavor of what’s around it. My favorite is an Asian-inspired marinade with soy sauce, ginger and garlic. It’s a strong one, so be sure to marinate it no longer than an hour before cooking. It’s the simplest marinade for the simplest meal. And I don’t know about you, but the world is complicated enough, so I’m perfectly fine with a low-maintenance dinner.
The recipes you can make with flank steak are infinite. Thinly slice and put this with broccoli over a bed of rice for some homemade Chinese takeout, or dice for a filling steak salad. I personally enjoy mixing leftovers with sautéed onions and salsa for a take on fajitas. You can’t lose either way.
A tall glass of red wine and some of this flank steak is just what the doctor, I mean, food columnist, ordered.
Ginger Garlic Flank Steak
Ingredients:
1 pound beef flank steak
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
Mix together soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar and ginger, and pour in a large Ziploc bag. Add the steak, seal and make sure the beef is coated. Let marinate in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to an hour. Remove steak from marinade and grill until done. If you don’t have a grill, you can broil or make it in the oven for 7-8 minutes.
Serves 4
