A great Marinade

[len19070]

This is a trimmed down recipie that I condenced from a great BBQ Chef. All the ingredients he explained for 1/2 of the mix were in "Italian Salad Dressing". SO I USED ITALIAN DRESSING!1. All the ingredients for the second half were in BBQ sauce, So....I USED BBQ SAUCE. If you want you can make your own Italian dressing & BBQ Sauce, but why? Cook chicken, ribs, steak or what ever in the oven for 30 min. at 350 degrees. While its cooking mix Italian salad dressing and BBQ sauce half & half in a bowl. Get some big Zip lock freezer bags and pour some of the mix in it. While the meat is still hot drop it into the bag and seal it, allow to cool. While its cooling its sucking the mix into the meat. (capillarity action) After its cooled you can freeze it or put it in a cooler if your going to use it soon. Throw the meat on the grill just to warm it up and put "Grill Marks" on it and your done. No muss no fuss no basting its done. And you can save whats in the bag to use again.

Happy Trails

Len

[IraRat]

I'm gonna try this one, Len. I love to cook and have seen a bunch of marinade recipes that use Italian dressing, but I've never done it. This is a good one to do this Monday. Memorial Day!

[Shiro]

We use Italian dressing to marinate flank steaks for grilling. Try it: it's great. Grill on a hot fire and slice thinly on the diagonal.

[IraRat]

I STINK when when it comes to cooking flank steak and london broil. It always comes out tough--like it did just this past weekend. (The oven, though. Not the grill. Maybe I'll try the MUSTARD one time.)

I know a lot of people use red wine in a flank/london broil marinade, but even with the Italian dressing, you have to marinade it for a really long time, right? Like 12 plus hours?

[Brad Lustig]

Flank steak and london broils usually need an acid to help break down the fibers. Also, presentation-wise, they may look better cutting on the bias against the grain, but it's actually more tender if you cut it straight up and down against the grain (shorter fibers = tenderness). Lime juice is a great acid for flank steak. Carne Asada, mmmm!

[Brad Lustig]

Oh another thing. Cooking these two types of steaks for a long time is only going to make them tougher. The reason ribs get more tender the longer you cook is the connective tissue and fats get broken down. 4 hours on low is great for ribs, but you'd end up with shoe leather on a steak since there isn't much fat and connective tissue.

[mikeschn]

I STINK when when it comes to cooking flank steak and london broil. It always comes out tough--like it did just this past weekend. (The oven, though. Not the grill. Maybe I'll try the MUSTARD one time.)

Hey IRA,

Flank steak makes the most wonderful pinwheels... the secret is to have the butcher cube it for you. The roll up your goodies in it, and don't over cook it. Wonderful stuff. You're making me hungry!!!

Mike...

[IraRat]

You're making ME hungry with that photo!

What is cubing?

[mikeschn]

Cubing is where the butcher runs the flank steak thru a mechanical tenderizing machine. It ends up looking like you took a knife and cut a whole bunch of serrations in it... it makes it nice and tender.

It ends up looking something like this...


Now, if you want to make pinwheels out of it... Here's the photo essay...






Mike...

[Brad Lustig]

Cubed steak is also great for chicken-fried steak!

[IraRat]

Looks great and easy! But more mozzarella, please!

And I refuse to discuss my cholesterol.