London Broil is a famous dish cooked with a hard expensive cut meat.
London broil is technique of cooking hard meat and not just nomenclature of a dish. It has become so popular method that people name every tough meat or a flank meat as London broil because popularity has made both synonymous. Do not confuse with the prefix London for it to be an English cuisine rather it is an American dish.
Tough meat pieces and mostly the top and flank pieces of steak are cooked as London broil.
All meat lovers find this heavenly dish very tasty but also insist on proper technique and use of right ingredients. It is mostly thought that marinating it he flank meat for some time and then grilling it. But for grilling you need to do it outdoors which not always possible. Don’t feel sad because you can still do it indoors, in your oven and you don’t even need any special oven but your regular oven will do the purpose.
Cooking London broil indoors in your oven doesn’t have much difference in taste to that grilled outdoors. The only difference is that the heating is done from above the meat loaf instead of bottom as in grilling or broiling outside on charcoal or wood or on electric grill. You have an advantage of saving time if you use an oven to do it as the even distribution of heat cooks it faster and tastier.
The classic dish can be easily prepared at home in regular oven by following few simple steps.
1. Marinate – The first step of the technique or the recipe is marinating it, which must be done with care and precision because marinating will give the dish a perfect taste and flavor. You can choose from a long list of marinades or your own family recipe but most commonly used ingredients in marinating are, oil, aromatic herbs, balsamic vinegar, red wine, fruit juice, ginger sauce and many other spices. Point here is that is a technique and you can always experiment with ingredients. The timing is very important as the more time you leave the meat for marinating the tastier it gets. Just prick some holes all over the cut and leaving it overnight is sufficient.
2. Broiling – take a broiler pan or any cast iron pan and oil it a bit and then put the meat it in it and keep aside some marinade for making sauce for dish or basting. Just slide the pan in the oven and cook it on medium high for 4 – 5 minutes on side. Flip it and cook the other side as well and within ten minutes you have a delicious London broil. Beware of over cooking it as that will leave the meat tougher. Leave it for five minutes and then go for next step.
3. Cutting – You have to cut this flank piece of meat across the grain which means cutting across fibres of meat. Cut vertical through the trends which run from left to right and remember to make thin slices. For increasing the taste and flavor of the dish just take the saved marinade and simmer it in a pan for a minute or two and just pour it over meat before serving it to guests. Never use the marinade without cooking there was raw meat in it.
Now your excellent textured and flavoured dish is ready you can serve it to guests and for added appreciation you can combine it with roasted or stewed vegetables which will make it an easy to digest complete meal. A meal is never complete without a refreshing drink so accompany some great tasting wine or fruit juice with it. Happy dining!
