A Family Tradition

When I was very young my mom found a recipe in the Los Angeles Times for marinated flank steak. So started a family tradition that is carried on today by my siblings and I. I remember going grocery shopping with my mom at El Rancho Market on Huntington Drive in South Pasadena and stopping at the butcher’s counter. I would always look for the strange cuts of meat, tongue, pig knuckles, etc while my mom picked out the best flank steak possible. Then she would ask the butcher to run the steak through the tenderizer twice. Never once…always twice.

Parked on the kitchen counter back at home I would love to help my mom mix the flank steak sauce. I watched her pour the red wine vinegar and the forbidden red wine from the Gallo jug. Next she added Heinz chili sauce, minced onion, a bright yellow dollop of mustard, and some oil. I was in charge of stirring with the wooden spoon…my taste buds dancing with the pungent smells and aromas. Next Mom lowered the huge steak slowly in the brew, drowning it lovingly beneath the saucy marinade.

Hours later Mom would broil the steak in the oven, keeping a careful eye on its progress. It was the only time she cooked with the oven door left slightly open. Mom was breaking the rules! First she had real wine in the sauce, now this! She assured me that the alcohol was cooked thoroughly out of the sauce, which simmered on the stovetop. Between beef meeting flame and sauce on the stove our house smelled divine. We all drooled like ravenous dogs until dinner time.

Flank steak was always served with baked potatoes. The vegetable side and salad were interchangeable, but the baked potato was a must. Dad sliced the steak very thin long strips and piled them on a plate. Oh to have the charred end piece!

When birthdays rolled around we inevitably chose flank steak for our meal of choice. When company came to stay and they were people we truly liked, they were served flank steak. I never met a soul who didn’t like flank steak and I’ve never tasted anything like it. When my older cousin Jim brought his fiancé Marie to visit, my Mom (Jim’s Aunt Doris) made flank steak. For years they were sure it was the delicious meal that sealed the deal, as they are happily married to this day. My sister and I make flank steak for our families for special occasions, sometimes including Christmas Eve or Easter. Why have nasty ol’ ham when you can have divine flank steak?