Flank Steak Sandwich

Flank Steak off the Grill is great on the plate, but when you slice it thin and make a French Bread Sandwich out of it, you have a fabulous lunch time treat.

Get everything ready to go.  Caramelize some onions or saute some mushrooms, whatever you like to have on your sandwich.  You also need a nice fresh baguette to make this great. 

Make sure you slice your perfectly grilled Flank Steak across the grain and on the bias.  You want your grilled meat to be tender not stringy.  Pile that sliced Flank Steak on your baguette, more is always better!

Get some salad on your sandwich!! 

Load the sandwich up any way you like!!

Season your sandwich! 

Anticipate the greatness!!!!!!!! 

Serve!!!!!

This sandwich goes great with the perfect French Fry!

Steak Frites

Steak Frites is a happy occasion at our house, the time honoured combination of meat and potatoes can't be beat for flavour or comfort!  Sirloin, Tenderloin, or Ribeye all cook up wonderfully on the grill.  Served with a nice handful of fried potatoes, a few shrimps and a fresh salad you have a fabulous meal to share with some good friends! 

Below are a few shots of some Ribeye we did one summer day on the gas grill!  

Just salt and pepper to season these Ribeyes, then right onto a red hot grill!

 Home made wedge style fries drying off on the rack ready for blanching in the deep frier!

 The fries soak for an hour or so in cold water, then hit the rack to dry out, then blanch for 6-8  minutes at 350F

 Take them out and let them drain in the basket ready to drop in for one minute or so at 375 F for the final crisping!!!!

                                      

I like to keep a box or two of prebreaded frozen shrimp in the freezer.  They make a great add on to your steak dinner and only take a couple of minutes in the deep fryer.  The fryer is already hot from the french fries so why not!!! 

Remember to turn your steaks on a 45 degree angle to get some great grill marks!!!!!

The Porterhouse Steak

Porterhouse steaks consist of a T-shaped bone with meats 
on both sides. The larger side contains meat from the strip 
loin, the smaller side contains the meat from the 
tenderloin.

Porterhouse really is just a large T-bone steak, if the 
diameter of the tenderloin is 1 1/2 inches or larger it 
is called porterhouse, anything less is a t-bone. It is 
cut farther back in the animal than the T-bone steak. 
The porterhouse has well-balanced flavor and texture 
and is a great grilled steak recipe.

Because both the loin and tenderloin are quite forgiving a

Porterhouse can be cooked any way you like. It is perfect

grilled but can also be broiled, sauteed or pan-fried.

Use light seasoning and try not to cook it beyond

medium at the most!

The Porterhouse Steak is the ultimate steak for some aficianados.  This monster was just over five pounds, with a tenderloin side that was easily four inches wide and a beautiful strip loin side!

I let this huge lump of meat dry age in the bottom of the fridge for seven days, when it came out I trimmed off the dry meat and readied it for the grill.

Thats over five pounds of organic beef sitting there.  That is a normal sized teacup in the background.  This piece of beef was a very large lump to say the least!

You can see the tenderloin on the left hand side and the strip loin on the right.  I like to keep the seasoning simple for these organic steaks, just salt and pepper and olive oil.  I love to taste the buttery texture of this meat without a lot of extraneous flavours on the outside.  I sear it on the highest heat I can get out of the grill, then move it off of the charcoal and onto the indirect side of my fire and put the lid on my Weber and leave the lump till it hits about 115 F internal on the thermometer.  Then off the grill it comes for a nice rest before getting cut up for plating.

Here it is right off the grill, resting for 5 minutes to redistribute the juices.  This monster hunk almost eclipses a dinner plate.  Now that is a wonderful thing!!!!

A steak this large can be cut into the two sections, tenderloin, and strip loin, then slivered and served to four peeps.  Giving each person a taste of both sections.  Here is the final plated result.  Served with potatoes and asparagus with a shrimp side!

Thanks again to Agustin the Butcher for cutting this one for me!!!

You can visit Agustin Monday - Saturday at

Caribana Wholesale Meat

441 King Street East
Hamilton, Ontario
L8N1C5

Phone: (905)522-5671

The Flat Iron Steak!

Flat iron steak is the American name for the cut known as "butlers' steak" in the UK and "oyster blade steak" in Australia and New Zealand. This cut of steak is from the shoulder of a beef animal.^[1] The steak encompasses the infraspinatus muscles of beef, and one may see this displayed in some butcher shops and meat markets as a "top blade" roast. Steaks that are cross cut from this muscle are called top blade steaks or patio steaks. As a whole cut of meat, it usually weighs around two to three pounds; it is located adjacent to the heart of the shoulder clod, under the seven or paddle bone (shoulder blade or scapula). The entire top blade usually yields four steaks between eight and 12 ounces each. Flat iron steaks usually have a significant amount of marbling. Anatomically, the muscle forms the dorsal part of the rotator cuff of the steer. This cut is anatomically distinct from the shoulder tender, which lies directly below it and is the teres major.

Restaurants, particularly upscale, have recently begun serving flat iron steaks on their menus. Especially popular are flat irons from Wagyu beef, as a way for chefs to offer more affordable and profitable dishes featuring Wagyū or Kobe beef.^[2] To make it more marketable, the steak, which has the fascia dividing the infraspinatus within it, has, in recent years, been cut as two flatter steaks, each corresponding to one muscle, with the tough fascia removed.

In the North American Meat Processor (NAMP) meat buyers guide, it is item #1114D Beef Shoulder, Top Blade Steak. The NAMP lists it as the second most tender cut, after the tenderloin, and followed (in order) by the top sirloin center cut, the ribeye and strip steak center cut, and finally beef shoulder, arm.^[1]

I got this Flat Iron Steak from Agustin the Butcher...... I have heard about them for ages but have never seen one up close. This piece of meat was not seperated into two steaks so I left it that way and cooked it whole. It was a very odd cook since I did not get it out of the freezer in time for it to thaw before the cook.... so the outside was cool and the inside was really frozen. I seared both sides in the cast iron pan at about 800 degrees then popped it into the Moffat oven at 350. Took almost 45 minutes to finish off the interior to rare lol!!! Anyway the meat turned out very well, tender, juicy and easy to eat. Lots of flavour in the meat as well. In the third photo you can see the fascia dividing the infraspinatus, this is where you could have cut the steak in half and made upper and lower pieces, cutting each of these into two, to get four smaller 12 oz steaks out of the lump.

I finished the pan juices with some butter and salt and pepper, cut up some blue cheese for the top of the slivered Flat Iron Steak and poured the pan juice all over the meat. Potatoes and mushrooms of course, and a couple of good friends, wine and latte to finish.

Thanks again to Agustin the Butcher for suggesting this one!!!!!

You can visit Agustin Monday - Saturday at

Caribana Wholesale Meat

441 King Street East
Hamilton, Ontario
L8N1C5

Phone: (905)522-5671

If you can get ahold of a Flat Iron Steak give it a go!!!!!!!!