Disgruntled Whisk

Listen my children and you shall hear … Of flap steak. Not a great rhyme, I know but you really should be told about flap steak, sometimes known as flap meat.

From the part of the cow known as the flank. The more popular hanger steak is from right around there too. It is a thin piece of meat that looks a bit ‘tore up from the floor up’, if you will forgive the expression. One thing about it is that it has great marbling, something you probably wouldn’t expect from a cut of meat that costs, at last purchase, $4.99 a pound. Great, huh? Compare that to $8.99, or even $15.99, depending on your cut, and I think that flap steak has them all beat.

Why don’t you know about this amazing cut, you ask? Even if you didn’t ask, I am going to tell you, so deal.  It is very much a butcher’s treat. A butcher’s treat, as it might sound, is a cut that doesn’t sell, or isn’t sold and thus, is set aside by the butcher for he and his family.

Most people don’t know about it, and aren’t really going to buy it when they come in for the NY strips, and the sirloins, and the rib-eyes. Why buy this new cut that isn’t the pretty type that you expect from a steak dinner, when you can just buy what you came for? But then, even if they bought the cut, they probably won’t know what to do with it. They would overcook it on their first go, ruin dinner and swear off flap meat altogether, blaming the cut, not the cook. This is unfortunate. It’s so very tasty.

I shall give you, my readers, a fool-proof recipe for perfect flap meat. In fact, it’s what I had for dinner. I was going to write about something else, when I said to myself “why don’t more people eat this?” Then I realized, they don’t know about it! And thus, this article was born. Any hoo, on to the recipe.

Flap Steak (Made through trial and error, it is my recipe, and not one I stole from TV)

-One pack of flap steak (however much is fine, I would say…. 1/3-1/2 pound per person.)

-Adobo seasoning by Goya (Bitter Orange is best.)

-Olive oil in spray form, or another cooking spray if you have a griddle or a non-non-stick pan of some sort. If not, ignore.

While the meat is still thawing out, rub it with the adobo. Stick it in a plastic bag, and put it in the fridge, It is the supper for the next day.

Get the meat out of the fridge, and heat up either a non-stick pan(anything from teflon to a seasoned cast iron frying pan) or a griddle to super high heat. Once it reaches that point, dry off your meat, spray it with the cooking spray, and toss it on. After it gets a sear on one side, about 30 seconds, flip it over and give the other side a sear. Let it rest and cut into strips.

There you are, quick, easy, and delicious. Enjoy.

…Oh- Don’t let the dude in the hair net at Food Lion tell you that flank steak is the same thing. It is a similar cut, sure, but three times the price.

Tags: Butcher's treat, Flap steak, Goya, Recipes