Flap

berrygood

I ran across some rarely seen flap meat the other day at Whole Foods. From what I understand, it is a little-known but great piece of beef. The butcher compared it to flank - "only better."

From what I understand, tenderness can be tough to attain. I plan to use it for Mexican on Saturday. Any advice/feedback would be appreciated. Gracias.

ground control

It's perfect for tacos, and it's really great if you marinate it and cook at high temp quickly. I'm still waiting for my first egg, but I've often made this on a gasser - it's from epicurious: blend equal parts maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce with some garlic, salt and pepper. Let the meat marinate for about a half hour. Then cook over high direct heat for about 8 minutes total. Let it rest, and slice against the grain.

For tacos marinate in equal parts olive oil and soy sauce, with a little less white vinegar, lime juice, a little cumin, s&p, and some heat--cayenne, ancho, or your fav (I pretty much splash and dash the rest, don't really measure). This version should marinate a bit longer - up to half a day. Grill the same way, and after it rests chop it up for carne asade tacos. Good luck!

Vincent Chase

Berrygood, I have some frozen and FoodSaver'd in my freezer, so I'll follow your posts to see what you thought of it and how you prepared it. I remember reading that a lot of restaurants use the flap meat for their steak tips, so maybe that'll help you understand the cut you're working with a little better, and ground control's recipes look great and seems to be in the ballpark of what you were looking for.

Best of luck to you!

berrygood

Thanks for the responses. I'll post pics on Saturday.