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What’s certain is this: London Broil is a flank steak dish that, when cooked correctly, is filling, flavorful, and nutritious. Though the London Broil can be cooked several different ways, marinating and slow-grilling the meat is an easy way to impart delectable texture and flavor. While good chefs can make a tasty London Broil from a cheap piece of meat, this can be challenging, so opt for a high-grade piece of beef whenever you can. If you’re unsure of which cuts of flank steak are the best, talk to your local butcher. Note that some butchers may label a cut of meat called top round steak as London Broil, rather than flank steak. Flank steak sometimes has an unfair reputation as a tough, chewy, and flavorless cut of meat. However, this is only true if the meat is poorly-prepared.
A number of ways can make flank steak tender before you even begin to cook it. Hit it with a tenderizing mallet on a clean cutting board. This breaks up the meat’s tough muscle fibers, giving it a softer texture. Don’t use powdered meat tenderizers or tenderizing compounds containing extracts from papaya or pineapple fruits. Banging your flank steak with a hammer isn’t the only way to make it more tender.
We’ve included a few sample marinade recipes above. Finally, leave it in the fridge for at least a few hours. Usually, about half a day of marinating will allow the meat to absorb as much flavor as possible. To help the flank steak absorb its marinade, score the meat before marinating it.
Use a sharp knife to make a few X-shaped cuts on the surface of the meat about a half inch or so deep before applying the marinade. When the meat has marinaded a sufficient length of time, remove it from the refrigerator and let it start to warm to room temperature. While you wait, start your grill. Let it reach a medium heat before you cook your meat — you want the grill hot enough to give the meat an initial “searing”, but not so hot that it dries out your meat during cooking. For optimal tenderness, you want to use long, slow cooking after the initial sear. For charcoal grills, don’t forget that the charcoals aren’t ready to cook when they’re flaming, but rather, when they’re ashed-over and exuding an orange glow.
Lay your meat directly on the grill. Paint the bars of the grill lightly with a little olive or canola oil, then gently lay your meat down. You should immediately hear a sizzling sound — if you don’t, your grill probably isn’t hot enough. Let your meat cook with the grill uncovered. Resist the urge to turn the meat frequently — doing this can dry the meat out. The exact amount of time each side of your meat will take to cook can vary greatly based both on the level of “done”-ness you’re looking for and on the thickness of your meat.