We were having company over and I was really craving some steak tacos (carne asada was on my brain).  Now, we didn’t have a lot of money – so I decided I’d go with flank steak.  So I started my research going from recipe to recipe.  All the recipes had you grilling the flank steak, and I’m in upstate new york in 20 degree weather with snow coming down.  After looking at several different recipes two things were clear, you need to marinate the sucker and you need to hit it with some intense heat.

So I made my marinade (garlic, olive oil, par-boiled tomatillos, white vinegar, half an onion, big handful of cilantro, 2 serrano chilis, garlic salt, white and black pepper, lime juice, and some regular salt).  Pureed that in the blender, put my flank steak in a baking dish, covered it in the marinade, turned the steak just to make sure the whole thing was covered in sauce.  I wrapped the baking dish in plastic wrap (sealed it up) and put it in the refrigerator for about 30 hours.

Then I did more research and a lot of people complained how chewy flank steak was.  I already knew that you needed to treat it with care, or it would be rubber and I was a little nervous – but what the f@@! – it was already marinating and no turning back now.  I had planned on using the broiler, which I knew my wife would love – nothing beats having guests over and having clouds of smoke pillowing out of the oven – but again – what the f@@! – rubbery meat or smokey house.

When the time came to cook it, I had a wild hair and decided I’d pull that bbq out in the snowy 20 degree weather and give that a go.  I had a “duh” lessons – you know – those common sense things you probably should have thought of – but didn’t.  So I turned on the bbq and cranked it up to high, waited about 15 minutes to let it heat up and put the flank steak on the grill.

Something was amiss.  It didn’t sizzle like it should have, and I was freezing my tatas (I don’t like to use the word tit’s – oops) off.  It was supposed to cook 6-7 minutes on each side.  So I came back in 3 minutes and rotated the steak, so I’d get a nice cross grill mark on the steaks, then in 4 more minutes I came out and turned it over to cook the second side.

The grill marks weren’t quite right – they were barely noticeable.  Then the light bulb went off in my head – the “duh” moment hit.  If it’s 20 degrees outside, it doesn’t matter how high you have your bbq cranked up, it won’t get that hot.  So a little panic set in, but I didn’t let anyone catch on.  I maintained the chef’s, “yeah I know what I’m doing – what you’ve never done this before, it’s perfectly normal”.  I let it finish it’s 7 minutes on the second side and took it inside.  I knew that it wasn’t done – so I turned that broiler on high.  I had no clue how much longer to put it in the broiler – so i did 2 minutes on each side.

Long story short – the flank steak practically melted in our mouths and the marinade was amazing.  So it all worked out and I looked like I had it all under control – which I rarely do.  But luckily it seems to work out well more often than not.

On another note I had also made fresh salsas (super spicy and medium), special sauce (super spicy and medium), refried beans, chicken soup, tortilla soup, stuffed jalapeno peppers (that were 4-5 inches long and 2 inches thick) and chicken cacciatore.  It was fun.