March 24, 2009
Miso Glazed Flank Steak
I only ever buy meat from Mathieu, my butcher of choice at the organic greenmarket on Saturday mornings. I used to stop by every week and get enough for two meals or so, but the line is so long these days -- word must have gotten out that his stuff is good -- that I had to change my strategy: I go less frequently, buy a little more, and freeze the extra. (On the weeks that I don't buy meat, I get eggs directly from Mathieu's wife, Laure, who stands at the register, thus skipping the line. This is accepted practice and can be done without feeling wrathful gazes flare up your back.)
My favorite items to get are duck breasts, which I rub with spices and roast, pork tenderloin, boudins blancs, and andouillettes (chitterlings sausage), all of which freeze very well. And every once in a while, when I'm in the mood for red meat, I get slices of bavette (flank steak) or merlan (a lesser-known, tender cut from the inner thigh) to have for lunch when I get back from the market.
Because this is very flavorsome meat, I usually cook it in the simplest of ways, by just searing it in a grill pan. But the other day I decided to try something a little different and marinated the meat in a paste-like, miso-based marinade. It was so quickly assembled and yielded such savory results it may well become a Saturday lunch staple around here.
If you take a look at the ingredients' list for the marinade, you'll notice that I used fresh turmeric, found at the organic store. The skin was a little wrinkled, but it was the first time I'd seen any for sale, so I jumped at the opportunity anyway. As the young man who rung up my purchases remarked, the rhizomes look like cut fingers (he's lucky it's my kind of humor). They can be peeled, grated, and used much like ginger, and just like ginger, the fresh stuff has little to do with its dried and ground persona, which I've always thought tasted a bit musty. The one caveat is that fresh turmeric is a powerful tincture that will, if you're not careful, stain your countertop, hands, sleeves, food processor, left cheek, and favorite napkin with highlighter yellow, near indelible blotches. Just thought you might like to know.
Miso Glazed Flank Steak
- 1 tablespoon miso (a paste of fermented soy, barley and/or rice)
- 1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce (I use a low sodium tamari)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- shichimi tōgarashi (or other type of ground chili pepper, with or without added spices), to taste
- a small section of fresh turmeric or ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 2 slices flank steak (bavette in French), about 260 grams (9 ounces) total
In a medium bowl, whisk together the miso, mirin, soy sauce, oil, tōgarashi, and turmeric to form a paste. Add the meat, stir and flip to coat well on all sides. Cover and leave to marinate at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring once or twice during that time. (You could prepare this in advance and marinate the meat for a few hours; keep the bowl in the fridge then and take it out 20 minutes before cooking.)
Place a lightly greased skillet or grill pan over high heat. When it is very hot, add the steaks to the pan and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes without disturbing. Flip the meat, brush it with what's left of the marinade*, and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on the other side. (Depending on the thickness of the steaks and the hotness of your stove, this will produce rare to medium-rare meat; adjust the cooking time to the desired doneness).
Transfer the steaks to a plate or cutting board, cover with foil to keep warm, and let rest for 2 to 3 minutes before serving. Serve with a salad of mâche, or slice into crosswise strips to eat with chopsticks over Japanese rice.
* For food safety reasons, most recipes instruct that the marinade in which meat has been marinating be cooked, but this is meat so fresh I would feel comfortable eating it raw, and very little marinade is left in the bowl, so I don't feel it's necessary to cook it off. If you prefer to be on the super-safe side, skip the brushing step.
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Comments (38)
Permalink | Posted by clotilde in Main Dishes - Recipe Inside!
C'est marrant, moi c'est du poisson qui marine dans le miso pendant que je t'écris :-) Et pour le curcuma... j'avais baptisé mon ancien robot avec, rien n'a jamais pu lui faire abandonner cette magnifique couleur safran !
Posted by Ester on March 24, 2009 11:17 AMThanks for all the recipes :D This is my first comment but I've been reading your blog for a while. I am Italian btw, we're neighbours!
Wow, youshoku today! I often cook Western-style Japanese, and this kind of marinade is a favourite of mine - I don't like miso soup but I enjoy miso paste as a seasoning ingredient.
Posted by Claudia on March 24, 2009 11:47 AMSounds delicious, comme toujours. I think I'll try this instead of my usual adobo next time I cook flank steak.
Posted by Barbra on March 24, 2009 12:52 PMMay I ask why do you let the stake rest for 2-3 min before serving? Is it just to cool down?
(Sorry if that's a silly question.)
Posted by Pies on March 24, 2009 1:01 PMPies - Not a silly question at all! As meat cooks, the juices are squeezed toward the center of the cut. Letting the meat rest for a few minutes after it's cooked allows the protein structure to relax and the moisture to redistribute more evenly, which makes the steak or roast juicier and more tender. This page (scroll down to chart) suggests resting times for different cuts of meat.
Posted by clotilde on March 24, 2009 2:42 PMLooks fantastic! And thanks for the tip about turmeric - I've never used it and I'd hate to stain everything with it (myself included). :)
Posted by Tabitha (From Single to Married) on March 24, 2009 3:57 PMWow - I didn't know that about cooking meat! As usual, you are a fountain of knowledge! :)
Posted by The ModernMom on March 24, 2009 4:02 PMI don't go in much for meat these days, but you've just answered a question I was pondering over the weekend -- whether or not it was even possible to buy turmeric in a form other than dry and powdered in a little plastic tub.
I doubt I'll ever find any around here, but now I know. :-)
Posted by Emily on March 24, 2009 4:59 PMThis sounds wonderful and looks even better. I never heard of fresh tumeric, what a find.
Posted by noble pig on March 24, 2009 5:13 PMI've found the cut called Bevette I order in Paris (usually with frites) is very different from the large slab we call Flank Steak in the States. In the States you get a large flavorful cut that needs to be cooked rare and sliced thinly on the bias or it's too tough and stringy to eat... Bevette on the other hand is usually more tender and somehow serves more as a steak. Is it the cut, the cow or the preparation?
Posted by Rose's Lime on March 24, 2009 6:42 PMI am going to have to make this. I have a tub of miso that really needs to be used and Uwajimaya carries the most beautiful turmeric. Great looking recipe!
Posted by Erin on March 24, 2009 6:47 PMThis is so simple, it looks great for a low key weeknight. Also, tumeric is found at a whole bunch of asian stores ( I live in SF, so they are very common).
But does fresh tumeric have a similar potency to that of fresh ginger? You referenced it tasting different, but ginger is ginger. It is strong and aromatic.
How does fresh tumeric taste? Just musing...
Posted by katiek on March 24, 2009 7:16 PMWhich type of miso are you using?
Also, I think mirin would be better defined as sweet rice wine rather than light rice wine—it's basically saké sweetened with a syrup.
Posted by Peter Hertzmann on March 24, 2009 7:21 PMI bet that miso paste would be great on just about everything--I'm thinking a hearty white fish. Thanks.
Posted by unconfidentialcook on March 24, 2009 8:33 PMI have never worked with fresh turmeric before. From your photo it kind of looks like ginger, and it seems like you prepare it the same way.
I love the earthy taste and bright colour of dried turmeric already, so you have inspired me to search for the fresh stuff.
Posted by Dallas from Bitchin' Lifestyle on March 24, 2009 9:08 PMSweet recipe. You got my mouth watering like all get out.
I like that you go to an organic greenmarket too.
Posted by SellMoreMeals on March 24, 2009 10:39 PM-Harold
Cooking with miso has been on my to do list for awhile but I havent been able to find it in my grocery store. This flank steak looks great. I saw a great flank steak on Pioneer Woman as well.
Posted by Hillary on March 24, 2009 11:14 PMThe marinade looks delicious - I'm going to use it for tofu instead. (I also like the above suggestion for using it on fish.)
Posted by Rachel on March 25, 2009 2:48 AMHey, for that favorite napkin -- rise out the color as well as you can, and then put it out in the sun. The sun should remove the turmeric stain in a couple hours.
Posted by A on March 25, 2009 3:09 AMWhich greenmarket is your butcher in?
Posted by Katie Kikawa on March 25, 2009 4:01 AMHey there... I have been following your blog for a while... as with everyone else it's inspiring...
We went to Japan in 2006... and we love Japanese food... it is hard for me to keep my pantry built up to have enough to whip up things... I live in Southern USA and we don't have Japanese ingredients in every store... there is a great local store though that I can get to 20 minutes by car :( Your western/japanese fusion food will be a good place to start for me I guess... we love steak and we love miso here.. what a great combo...
Posted by g on March 25, 2009 4:32 AMLooks like a perfect meal to me. I haven't worked with miso yet. I will have to see where I can by it. It would be so nice to have a place to buy meat as you do that is so reliable.
Posted by Nicole on March 25, 2009 6:30 AMooo, I've been thinking about fresh tumeric lately - ever since I noticed it at the market. I'm not a big red meat eater, but this marinade sounds like it would be perfect for flank steak. Thanks for the recipe!
Posted by Allison on March 25, 2009 6:54 AMThis sounds brilliant - do you use red mirin or a different sort? I make a very similar dish with salmon fillets (also including miso and mirin in the marinade) and it is fabulous so I can imagine this tastes just as good.
Posted by Gourmet Chick on March 25, 2009 11:31 AMRose's Lime - Translating meat cut names is *so* frustrating because butchers don't cut meat the same way everywhere. So depending on where you look, bavette is translated either as flank steak, skirt steak, or minute steak. In any case, the French cut is a flat muscle taken from the abdomen of the animal; it is flavorful and stringy, but pleasantly so.
Katiek - Fresh turmeric is quite potent, but with its own flavor profile that is very different from that of ginger, of course. The flavor of the fresh rhizome is in line with the dried and ground version -- earthy and musky -- but is more pungent, "alive" and vibrant.
Peter - I use a red miso paste of rice and soy that I bought at Issé Workshop, an excellent source for Japanese ingredients in Paris. As for the mirin, I described it as "light" because it is lower in alcohol than sake, but I guess "light sweet rice wine" would be more accurate, if clunky.
Katie Kikawa - I go to the marché des Batignolles in the 17th, just outside the Rome metro station.
Gourmet Chick - My mirin is honey-colored hon mirin -- I wasn't aware there was red mirin. What is it made of?
Posted by clotilde on March 25, 2009 11:35 AMLooks excellent. I just posted a Miso Glazed Swordfish! The recipe was in last month's Saveur. It was a hit! I look forward to trying it with flank steak now. Thanks.
Posted by Lori Lynn at Taste With With The Eyes on March 25, 2009 12:39 PMLL
I'd agree with Peter about the mirin - not many people in Japan actually think of it as a type of alcohol. We'd add both mirin and sake (rice wine) to alot of our recipes.
We even have a mirin-type product that tastes like hon mirin but doesn't contain the alcohol.
So mirin used for its particular flavor - sweetness.
Posted by trisha on March 26, 2009 12:43 AMTrisha - Thanks for weighing in, too; I've changed the mention to "sweet rice wine" in the recipe.
Posted by clotilde on March 26, 2009 12:12 PMI sometimes scorch meat and fish when I marinate them with miso...
Posted by miho on March 26, 2009 4:22 PMbut you cooked them very well!!
Do I have to flip them and get rid of the marinade(miso) completely?
Fresh turmeric...I've never think of that!Great idea!!
I'm sure it goes well with gohan(Japanese rice).Thank you,Clotilde!
Wow. I was just thinking how much I'm craving a good steak and how much I needed a great recipe. Thanks for answering my calls!
Posted by Danielle Alvarez on March 26, 2009 7:12 PMI've had white miso based glazes on fish and veggies, but this is a new idea, very intriguing. Looking forward to trying it!
Posted by Faith Kramer on March 27, 2009 12:18 AMLooks amazing...Can't wait to try it!
Posted by French Cooking for Dummies on March 28, 2009 3:25 PMFresh turmeric?!?!! That's one of those things you don't think about, until of course you do. The staining powers of some roots is why I switched to golden beats (instead of red beats). They are a little more difficult to find around here, but are still delicious. They also have a lovely transparency when thinly sliced.
I will keep my eyes open for fresh turmeric and give it a try. Thanks for another great suggestion Clotilde.
Posted by design_SMITH on March 29, 2009 9:23 PMMiho - You don't have to flip the meat again after brushing the cooked top with the marinade -- it just serves as a glaze of sorts.
Posted by clotilde on March 29, 2009 10:08 PMThese sound like great flavors for a marinade. Flank is our steak-of-choice for grilling. Will try this one out- thx!
Posted by RecipeGirl on March 31, 2009 2:52 PMWell this looks delicious - and sounds even yummier! I could eat it all up right now!
Posted by mysterycreature on April 3, 2009 12:34 PMI live in Toronto where, thanks to a multi-ethnic community, we have lots of choice in terms of ingredients from all over the world.So my question – is this best with red or white miso (we have lots of choice). Is there any difference in taste?
Posted by Lee on June 20, 2009 5:31 PMLee - I am not at all a miso expert, but I'm pretty sure you could use either. (Mine is red.)
Posted by clotilde on June 22, 2009 4:39 PM