London Broil...Dinner at the New House

It has been pouring ever since I got to the new house which is good for unpacking but certainly not for the grill. Usually when we move, we eat off the grill the first couple of nights, but not this time. Yesterday, we went to the store and picked up a beautiful top round on sale which was destined for last night's dinner, but with all the rain, there was no way we could cook outside. The broiler pan was nowhere to be found but the iron skillet luckily was on hand. I first thought of broiling it but thought perhaps a few minutes on top of the stove to sear it and lock the juices would be a better idea. So this is what I did. I took the meat out of the refrigerator two hours before cooking, marinaded it in Worcestershire Sauce and Crazy Salt, rubbed butter all over it, seared it for a couple of minutes on each side and baked it at 425 degrees for 5 minutes. (leave oven door ajar) I took it out of the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes on the iron skillet to let the juices do their thing. The result, the best London Broil I have ever cooked...soft, juicy, tender, the works. Make sure you slice it very thin and against the grain and whatever you do, do not overcook. This is what makes it tough.

London Broil, despite what you might find at the local meat market, is not a cut of beef but rather a method of cooking. It was one of the first recipes to become popular in early restaurants and so the name London Broil became synonymous with a cut of meat. Originally that cut of meat was flank steak, but over the years the name has been applied to almost any cut of beef that is very lean and less tender. Hence you might find London Broil being a steak or a roast that comes from the sirloin or round sections of cattle. This of course makes the whole thing very confusing.

What you will find today as London Broil in most grocery stores is Top Round, usually between an inch and 1 1/2 inches thick. A wonderful marinade is olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, honey and balsamic vinegar. Tonight, none of that could be found. However, the alternative was terrific and a second recipe to file away for this cut of meat, which is wonderful in winter when grilling is out of the question for most of us.

Servings 4 - 6

Ingredients

1 Top Round Streak 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
Crazy Salt
Worcestershire Sauce
Pepper
Butter

Preheat Oven to 425 degrees

Take the meat out of the refrigerator two hours before cooking. Marinade in Worcestershire Sauce, Crazy Salt and pepper. Before cooking, rub the meat on both sides with soft butter. Heat the iron skillet to medium high and brown the meat on both sides (approximately 2 minutes each side). Place the iron pan with the meat in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Leave oven door ajar. Remove skillet from the oven and let meat rest in the skillet for another 5-10 minutes. The meat will continue cooking during this time. Remove to the cutting board and cut very thin, against the grain.