First Smoke of the season and decided to start with a big piece of Flank Steak.
I got this right out of Smoke & Spice cookbook and also made the Pico de Gallo. To go with our "Bona Fide Fajitas", instead of a basic refried bean, I made up the "Burstin' with Black-Eyed Peas Salad". This salad is one of the best bean salads I've ever had. It's great cold, but I heated it up for the Fajitas. We also had shredded old Cheddar and Sour Cream.
I finally got a chance to use my Crown Royal Oak bisquettes from last summer for this one during the 1 hour and 20 minute smoke.
When I brought it in, the meat was still a little red for our tastes so we sizzled it up for a few minutes in the frying pan.
It was a great meal and I'd definitely do it again.
Carter
Note: Where the bean salad calls for 1-2 teaspoos of Wild Willy's Number One-derful Rub, I substituted Iceman's Pig rub. Where the vinaigrette called for 1 tablespoon of tomato-based bbq sauce, again I used Ice's sauce. I really can't say enough about how good this salad is.
So...can you tell any appreciable difference with the Crown Royal bisquettes? Just curious?
I like my flank and skirt steaks a little red in the middle. I had purchased about 10 pounds of skirt steaks, and was unsure whether or not to fully smoked them in the Bradley. So I just cold smoked 3.5 pounds of them for about an hour, using oak, and then grilled them at high temperature for about 4 minutes on each side. They came out great. It was something different for Easter.
Could you taste any difference using the Royal Crown bisquettes.
It was my first time trying Oak, so the whole experience was different. I really don't think I could taste the Crown, but I'm not sure. The flavouring from the Oak though was really nice considering I'm used to Hickory.
I just had a leftover beef sandwich and as is so typical, the flavour of the smoke seems to mellow over a couple of days and taste even nicer.
I'll have to go and pick myself up a box of Oak.
Hey Habs, what's the difference between Flank & Skirt steak. For some reason I thought they were the same thing.
On another note, the flank steak didn't look too appetizing coming out of the smoker so I like your idea of grilling. I used the cast iron frying pan to finish it off, but I would lean towards the grill next time.
They both come from a cut called the plate. The skirt is thinner and has a richer flavor then the flank. I think the skirt is the diaphragm muscle. It is becoming more popular, so it is getting expensive in my area. It is now close to $6.00/lb.
The reason I ended up with 10 pounds of skirt stake, is that I ordered 10 pounds of plate, and the butcher stated he could get it in 3 days. Well 3 days later he had skirts states (cut from the plate). He generally goes out of his way for me, so I knew I could eventually use all of the skirts, so I took them. I'm still looking for a source that can provide me with beef plate.