Addendum: flank steak

The verdict: all sorts of awesome!!!  I think we each had about 1/4 lb of meat :-)

I was very careful to follow the cooking instructions because I did not want to end up with an overdone piece of shoe leather.  Some day I would love one of these, but until then, I go with the broiler for recipes that call for grilling.  Fortunately, this recipe has specific instructions for broiling.

The meat browned beautifully.  I am still not at the point where I understand that brown on the outside doesn't mean cooked on the inside.  Luckily, I followed Bittman's advice and used a thermometer (I used a candy thermometer...should invest in a meat one one of these days...) to check the internal temp.  I kept going with the cooking rather than shorten the time based on how the meat looked.

As you can see, the steak came out more rare than medium rare.  I was worried that the kids wouldn't go for it.  I needn't have worried.  They loved it.  Gem commented on the color of the steak and how nice it was.  Sag said it was one of the best things he ever ate.

I guess if you don't like your meat rare and you don't like your meat chewy/tough, flank steak is not for you.  As rare and tender as this piece of meat was, it had an inherently sinewy quality to it.  You definitely need to cut or tear it into bite size pieces (though you could pop a slice into your mouth and chew it down easily enough).  Cooking it any longer would have increased the toughness of the meat.

The marinade gave it a wonderful pop and two hours was plenty of time for the meat to soak in the melange of sweet, tart and umami.

Simple, easy, straightforward and delicious!