Picked up a nice Black Angus flat iron steak Thursday to do last night and then ended up working about 14 hours yesterday so I didn't cook when I got home.
So it's for tonight.
I've never done this cut before and wondering what everyone else does and what works. I do have an assortment of cast iron for searing. Natural gas grill for grilling. Charcoal grill is out for tonight probably as it's already windy with a cold front moving through and gusts supposedly ~40mph through the evening.
TIA.

Cooks like any other cut of steak, its just very lean. I usually coat mine in olive oil, then add the seasoning of my liking Montreal Steak or course salt and pepper. Throw in a pat of butter for taste, sear it in cast iron, but don't over cook it. With the strong winds I'd probably avoid grilling because it will be difficult to keep your temp where it needs to be.

The sous vide folks will be along shortly…

I'm a minimalist when it comes to seasoning as I want the meat to shine:

Boneless - 1/2 tsp salt per pound of meat and 1/4 tsp pepper per pound of meat

Bone In - 1/4 tsp salt per pound of meat and 1/8 tsp pepper per pound of meat

If it's a thick steak (i.e. 3/4" or thicker) then I'd reverse sear. Put your favorite cast iron pan in the oven at 450-500 (I'd go slightly lower than oil's smoke point), and preheat your gas grill to 225 to 250. Cook steak on gas grill until internal temp is about 15 degrees less than desired doneness (e.g. for me I pull at 115ish since I want a 131 F finish). Bring steak inside, pull cast iron from oven and put on burner on high, add some high smoke point oil (e.g. avocado) to cast iron, and sear and flip (~every 30 seconds) your steak until desired doneness (e.g. for me it's 131).

If it's a thin steak, I'd put cast iron in the oven 450-500 (I'd go slightly lower than oil's smoke point) for about 30 minutes, pull cast iron from oven and put on burner on high, add some high smoke point oil (e.g. avocado) to cast iron, and sear and flip (~every 30 seconds) your steak until desired doneness (e.g. for me it's 131).

As far as your meat choice, they sold you 2 marketing ploys:

Angus as a measure of quality. Angus is a breed of cattle. Meat quality is prime, choice, select.

Flat iron as a cut of meat. It's top blade steak cut from the chuck. Flat iron is a cooking method.

My experience with Flat Iron Steaks is that over cooking, even slow and low, will result in a very tough and chewy finished product, whereas a hot quick sear is much more tender. I have not however done a Green Egg style smoking, so I don't know how that would work out.

I just heat the grill (gas) until the temp shows 500+ degrees, then wipe the grate with oil to prevent sticking and tearing. Depending on thickness, 3-4 minutes per side. Let it rest about 5 minutes loosely covered with foil.

quote:

Originally posted by NavyGuy:
My experience with Flat Iron Steaks is that over cooking, even slow and low, will result in a very tough and chewy finished product, whereas a hot quick sear is much more tender. I have not however done a Green Egg style smoking, so I don't know how that would work out.

I just heat the grill (gas) until the temp shows 500+ degrees, then wipe the grate with oil to prevent sticking and tearing. Depending on thickness, 3-4 minutes per side. Let it rest about 5 minutes loosely covered with foil.

I did this just yesterday. Except with my grill reading 500F, I just do 2-3 min per side and that results in medium to medium well (my steak had a taper).

Not to state the obvious but when you cut to eat, cut against the grain. I think that's especially important for these steaks.

BTW, my preparation includes pre-marination for taste and tenderization.

marinade for a couple hours

hot grill, quick sear on either side

only cook to mid rare, medium at most or it will become tough

Flat Irons, and sorry if this drifts off topic, is a relatively modern name for a part of the Chuck,

if you ever bought a 7 bone chuck steak or roast back in the day, the Flat Iron was attached to that bone that looked like a 7 (it is the shoulder blade),

the other side is the Mock Tender, which is much leaner and not as much gristle

the flat irons were called Chicken Steaks at Winn Dixie back then

we could not give them away, and either cut them up for stew, (tossing the grissly part between the 2 halves in the grinder) or just tossed the damn things in the grinder,

then, 20 yrs later, someone peeled them out as one piece and cooked them kinda like a london broil and they took off,



so, a relatively well marbled (if buying Choice or Prime) piece of shoulder meat will be best if served rare, or med rare,

We enjoy this cut regularly.

Sear in a cast iron pan at high temp and then cook at much reduced heat until perfectly medium rare. Always a nice rich beefy taste without grizzle or any significant waste.

I felt up to a challenge so I did it on the natural gas grill.
Seared hot and fast about 2 minutes per side. Didn't quite get to temp so I moved it to indirect for a few minutes and pulled it at 125°. Came out great.
The wind was crazy but it worked.

Those cute I usually slice about 1.5 inches wide and freeze separately. I like them in vegetable soup, so I’ll thaw, grill to a rare, then cut chunk it up into the soup. Finishes with soup.

This was last night after I pulled it off the grill and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Leftovers for tonight.

^^^^^^^^
Looks GREAT!

YUM!!!