My kingdom for a knife...

My first class at culinary school was a standard classroom class based on nutrition. In our last week of nutrition, our knives were delivered. All of us got a standard set of kitchen untensils and knives of all shapes and sizes. If you can think of a task, there is a knife for it or knife that should be used. Granted, most of these tasks can be used by a general all-purpose knife, which is a standard chef's kife or a santoku (if you are so inclined). Chef's knife comes in all sort of styles and designs. Some are thin five inch knives were the tip is curved away from the spine, towards the edge of the knife. Some are twelve inch near cleaver verisions with a tip that is in line with the spine and the hilt. All of them are ment to do the same task but each one is ment for a different hand.







Knives are great pets. They don't eat anything, never leave messes and they don't give you stupid looks when you request a trick. Sure as there is fire in hell, you will need to give them attention, cleaning and respect. You can't just throw them around, trust me.





If you do take care of them they can do amazing things for you. Take Flank Steak.





Flank steak is one of those cuts of meat that everybody started serving within the last few years because it didn't have any clout. It simply wasn't popular enough to get on menus. Most chefs are afraid to serve something if they thing their customer is going to say, "What the hell is flank? It it an ass muscle or something?" However, flank has become very popular recently. Flank is one of the primal cuts of beef but it doesn't come from a steer's ass. Flank is like the abs of a steer if you were to think about it.



Thinking deeper into it you could notice several things. Flank is a long plate of muscle, not a knot or lump of flesh. One Flank cut could probably feed a about 5 couples easily for a dinner item. However, one should probably marinate the cut for at least 2 days after cleaning the cut. Here is were the knives feature.



Lay the entire flank out on your cutting board. The cut is huge so you might have to improvise, a few old plastic placemates work. YES, THERE WILL BE A REDDISH LIQUID THAT WILL GET EVERYWHERE UNLESS YOU LAY DOWN TWO TOWELS UNDERNEATH THE CUT. Find the SHARPEST knife you have. This will be dangerous.

Before you begin to cut into this gorgeous piece of beef let's stop and appreciate what you have. This huge plate of flesh doesn't even amount 1% of the total weight of the steer. If you mangle this piece because you don't have time, a desire to make the most out of this cut, or the resolve to really try then don't continue. The next step is a long process that makes or breaks the beauty of the piece and its texture. If you don't treat this with respect then I guarantee you that will not get nearly as much enjoyment out of possible one of the greatest simplest steak cuts that you will know.

Alright looking at the piece you will notice that isn't all red. Yes it is red meat but there are spots of fat and another element. This other element looks like a silverly white sheet of skin covering some of the flank. This is silver skin, a long sheet of inedible protein called elastin. This is your enemy. Silver skin does not disolve in heat; it increases the gummy chewness factor making your steak tough. This can not be premitted because we want an excellent med rare.

You are going to skin the silver skin off the meat by cutting under and lifting the skin. Saw the knife back and forth underneath the skin as close as you can get to the silver skin. You want the highest yield and the prettiest looking steaks to add to the effect of the dish. Take you time. Trim carefully. On one edge will be a jumbled mess of fat and meat as if wasn't completely for that muscle group. You will also note its really jagged. Cut off enough so that you have a good edge to work with that is uniform with the rest of the meat. (Total judgement call) Save that edge though because it can be slow cooked in a soup, stew or curry. The silverskin can all be thrown away. I wouldn't even feed it to a dog. Bad indigestion. Don't forget to clean the opposite side too.

With the cleaned cut begin portioning. Cut the flank into rectangular steaks. I recommend cutting each steak into a rectangular piece because it makes slicing so much easier and the effect of a carefully constructed pile of flank slices with a dark whiskey sauce dripping off the pile is heavenly and delicious. Cut 4 inch wide, 6-7 inch long and however tall steaks. Don't waste ANYTHING. You should get at least 10-12 steaks. With these steaks completed put them into a sealable plastic bag with a marinade of your choice.

My recommendation:

1 cup brown sugar
1 bottle of dark beer; (Black Butte Porter from Deschuttes brewing company and Walking Man Cherry Chocolate Stout from Rogue brewing and distillery company are both excellent choices. If you could find it I encourage you to serve this dish with 1554 Enlightened Black Ale from New Belgium Brewing company.
4 oz of whiskey
1 bundle of fresh time. No stems please.
1 package of blackberries or boysenberries.
4 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp of craked fresh pepper
Salt to taste

Heat to combine and dissolve the sugar and the berries. Let it reduce and cool before adding to the steaks. The steaks marinate that for about 3 days. Save the marinade. It will double as a sauce.

Right before cooking sprinkle a little salt, cracked pepper and minced thyme on the steaks. Heat the remain marinade in a pot.

For cooking, you can use either grill or a pan. If you use a grill remember to keep good grill marks and not over cook. Use a thermometer if you are unsure. You should be pulling them off at 118 F. The carry over temp will bring the steaks to 125 as you let the meat rest before cutting into them.

Cooking in a pan is just as simple. Heat an oven to 200F. Sear both sides of the meat with in a hot pan with some olive oil or grapeseed oil if you can find it. Remove from pan and space on a sheet tray. Pop them in the oven until they reach 118F.

When you have let the steaks rest for a minute start slicing them on a thin bias. Sharp knives are your friends. Long even strokes are best. Slice not saw.

The creative part, arrange the meat to your fancy. My particular favorite is to bend and twist the pieces of each steak to make a decent pile that stands out and contrasts the plate. Use a side dish to lean it against, like a hot mediterrainian pasta salad (hot liguine, minced freash mint leaves, lemon zest, hard goat cheese, klamata olives, salt, coarse pepper, a basic shrry vinagrette [three parts olive oil, one part sherry vinagear] and some torn basil leaves. Then when all your plates are arranges, stir in about 1 tbsp of butter into your marinade sauce. Drizzle that over your steak and serve. Whatever veg accompanient works, quick blanched then sauteed red onion juiliennes or a mushroom medley sauteed with some butter and white wine.

If it works in your favor serve a basket of sliced ciabatta bread grilled with olive oil and rubbed lightly with garlic, salt and pepper.

Cheers.