For the meat lovers: Flap Steak and Nachos

Flap Steak also called Flap Meat or Sirloin Tip is an affordable, yet pretty good cut of meat. There’s isn’t much fat on it too. I don’t eat meat much meat (usually one meal a day) or red meat for that matter, but when I do, I want a juicy, tender, and flavorful piece of meat. This flap steak fits the bill perfectly. I love the grooves on the meat itself, which helps flavor the meat if you use a dry rub or marinade. My husband’s uncle is a master griller and BBQ guy who knows how to make awesome flap meat. I need to ask him for his recipe, but here I’ve used a spice rub based on a recipe from Serious Eats.

Ingredients

• 1/2 tablespoon whole black peppercorns, toasted
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed, toasted
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted
• 1 teaspoon cumin pods, toasted
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional, if you don’t like too much heat)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tsp ancho chile powder
• 2 tsp steak seasoning (optional; I use Fresh & Easy brand with no funky added chemical stuff)
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons safflower, vegetable or canola oil (I like safflower oil because it has a higher smoke point and we need that when we are cooking meat at high temperatures)
• 1 whole flap steak, 2 to 2 1/2 pounds (It will be long, so you can cut it into smaller pieces to fit your grill or pan)
• Kosher salt
• Extra oil of your choice

1. Grind up the toasted spices, dried oregano, and red pepper flakes using a mortar or pestle or your favorite grinding machine. Combine this spice mix with the ancho chile powder, steak seasoning, garlic and oil.
2. Rub the spice paste on the flap meat, making sure to cover every crevice. Let the meat marinate for a while. In the meantime, get your non-stick pan, cast-iron pan or grill ready. If using a pan, you want to preheat it on high heat. Smoking hot. Make sure to put your vent on too!
3. When your pan/grill is ready, season both sides of  your steak with salt. We didn’t salt it before because we didn’t want to pull out some of the juices as salt tends to do.
4. Put a dash of oil on your pan or spray your grill then throw the meat on. Depending on the thickness, cook the steak on high at 2-4 minutes per side. Let it rest for about 5 minutes before cutting it.

Had to cut up the long steak so it would fit my cast-iron pan. With flap meat, you get a tender and juicy result when you cook it fast–nice and hot.

I served mine with chimichurri sauce.

We had leftover flap steak since we don’t eat big pieces of meat, so we made nachos out of them for dinner the next night.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. I set some tortilla chips on top of a wire rack so that the hot air circulates throughout the nachos better. I used homemade baked tortilla chips: cut up tortilla into chip form, sprayed with oil and baked at 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes, flipping the other side at 5 min. Then I put some chopped and cooked flap steak on top of the chip. Then on top of that I added some grated cheese. I used Celtic cheddar here. You could also put some pinto or black beans on the chip before you add the meat. Let the nachos bake for about 7 minutes until cheese is melted.

Add some toppings! For a more veggie heavy topping mix, I used finely chopped cabbage, homemade pico de gallo, avocado, scallions, and coriander leaves. Eat with sour cream, salsa, hot sauce, or anything else you want. 😀

We will certainly be making more flap meat when we are in the mood for some red meat (good quality meat of course). Some studies say red meat can help with mental health and it is a good source of B-vitamins, E, beta-carotene, and omega 3’s. Anyways, flap steak is pretty versatile.  I think I’ll try a carne asada with it some other time. How do you like to eat flap steak?

Related articles

• Beef and Bean Nacho Casserole (tamaraleighauthor.wordpress.com)
• Spice-Rubbed Steak on the Grill (thebittenword.com)
• Beef Flap (ideasinfood.com)