1.5 or 2 lbs flank steak
1 pkg Lipton's onion soup mix (or any French onion soup mix)
1 can beer (or 12 oz of water)

Line a 9x12 pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough to wrap over the top of the meat. Trim the fat from the bottom of the flank steak and lay it, bottom down, in the foil. Sprinkle the soup mix over the top of the steak and pour the beer (or water) over the steak and into the bottom of the pan, being careful not to wash off all of the soup mix. Fold the foil over the top and seal it tightly, leaving a little room above the steak. It's very important that the foil not have a hole in it and that it be tightly sealed (the liquid will boil off and burn otherwise). Bake in a 250 degree oven for 6-8 hours (depending on the size of the steak). Remove from the oven and let cool a little. Slice the meat across the grain to serve, strain the gravy/juice to remove the bits of cooked onion and serve as a meat gravy or dip for bread. We always get the biggest cut of meat we can find because this is really good cold in sandwiches or as a lunch the next day. For dinner serve with:

Rice & Green Chilies

2 cups cooked rice
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of celery soup
1 4 oz can chopped green chilis
4 cups of cheese, grated

Mix all ingredients together, retaining about 1/2 cup of cheese to top. Put mixture in a 9x9 pan or other similarly sized casserole dish, top with remaining cheese at bake at 350 until the cheese on top is bubbly and beginning to brown slightly.

Vicky Larmour, August 31

I made Karen's flank steak recipe on Saturday. It was so yummy I have
since been giving the recipe to just about everyone I know and telling
them "If you only ever make one meal again, make this!" 

I started off with a bit of a problem, because I wasn't sure whether US
"flank steak" translated into something different in the UK or not.  I
asked on a local newsgroup and got conflicting responses, so I ended up
going to a reputable butcher, showing him the recipe, and asking what
cut he thought would work well.  He recommended "chuck steak" so that's
what I got (I am a complete ignoramus about beef cuts!).  Anyway, he cut
it for me into two generous-sized steaks.

I also wasn't sure what beer to use, because as far as I can tell when
an American says "beer" it means something like Budweiser...  but I had
a tin of Old Speckled Hen (a strong bitter) in the fridge left over from
last time my parents visited us, so I used that.  I thought it would be
nicer than a lighter beer or lager like Bud. 

Anyway, the whole house smelt so good while it was cooking that we
couldn't wait to eat it.  I served it with a big helping of mashed
potato, carrots, and cabbage, and we poured the "gravy" over the top of
it all.  It was *really* yummy - the meat was melt-in-the-mouth, and the
gravy was so flavoursome that we were really sorry to finish it. 

Definitely a thumbs up!

Vicky



shellys, September 7

For the steak, we had gotten just under a 1.5# steak, and I used Point
Bock as the beer (after the recommendations for a bock I can't get in
WI) and Mrs. Grass Onion Soup mix.  It was incredible...  I could hardly
even slice it into pieces, since it was so tender, it kept falling
apart.  I served it with the gravy on the side and mixed veggies.

Shelly



Peggy Galbraith, September 8

Well, it took me a few days to post this, but we tried both recipes on
Sunday night. I was completely unable to find a flank steak in Durham
(except for the gourmet shop, which was featuring $17.00 a pound
organically fed skirt steak...yah right!), so I just bought a steak like
I would use to make fajitas (I think it was Karen who told me this is
what flank steak is like) which I think was called top round cut or
something. Anyway, it was a huge piece of lean beef for very cheap, so I
figured it would work.
I took the recipe out of my pocket at around 4 pm, having promised
Robbie dinner by 6 or so ("Hey, how long could a dumb old piece of meat
take to cook, anyway?"). Shock and surprise: "Cook for 6-8 hours at 250
degrees." Long story short, I tossed in the onion soup mix and a can of
Budweiser (which Rob had bought because he said it made him feel
patriotic :) ) and threw it in the oven at 375. I didn't bother with any
other spices or anything...figured the soup mix would be salty enough,
and we usually pepper at the table. I left the meat in the oven for
around 2 1/2 hours, and it was incredibly tender and moist. I don't know
if my success with the shorter time, higher temp was because I was using
a different cut of beef (it was very thin) or if this would also work
with flank steak, but we really enjoyed it.  I made the risotto exactly
as described, and that was yummy too. I think next time I would stir in
some steamed veggies or something (broccoli, maybe) but it was good as
is, too. I had half a loaf of Italian bread, which Robbie used to sop up
the juices from the steak, and we finished off the bottle of Reisling I
opened for the risotto (funny how that worked out!). All in all, a
really great dinner...made the apartment smell fabulous, too.

Thanks all.
Peggy



fdrc, September 8

The flank steak was supposed to be yesterday's dinner, but because I
didn't read the "6-8 hours" bit, I wound up cooking it today instead.  

I had planned to make the rice & green chilies casserole to go with the
steak but didn't have enough time to cook the rice properly.  By the
way, Karen, your recipe called for 2 cups cooked rice; do you (or
anyone?) know how much uncooked rice makes a cup when cooked?  I wasn't
sure it was equivalent.

Anyway, long story short, the flank steak was a big hit with the guys,
who said it was delicious and thanked me profusely for a great dinner
on short notice.  I served it with broccoli topped with Parmesan and
mashed potatoes with chives.  Two pounds of steak gave us just enough
meat for four people, though John and Charles had room for more.

Fiona



Barbara Elizabeth Warner, September 13

We tried the flank steak today and it was great! Absolutely fabulous!
There were a couple of glitches, but we're inspired enough by tonight's
results to experiment a little next time.  Strangely enough, the meat
labelled "flank steak" was the most expensive in the meat bin!  I went
for something called "marinating steak" - not the cheapest, but not the
most expensive.  I unfortunately didn't pay any attention to the size
when I chose it, so it was a little smaller than the recipe called for:
it was just under 600g, which is less than 1 1/2 pounds.

We had originally intended to have it on the weekend,  but we were way
too busy and unorganized.  So, last night I prepared the steak in the
foil -- I must admit to some off-the-cuff cooking here.  I did measure
the beer, but only vaguely.  I put in a little more than a cup of Dave's
Belgian Blonde, a Dave Nichol's beer brewed by Molson's.  According to
the label, these beers are "authentic Belgian style beer true to their
heritage and a delight to their palate."  Dave Nichol has a line of
'international beers', and these are available through the Beer Store in
Ontario, and likely in the States wherever President's Choice foods are
available.

I threw in onion soup mix, but didn't measure at all.  I threw in the
remainders of two left over packets (we use it regularly for a
rice-and-chicken casserole).  I then sealed up the foil as best I could
(the foil wasn't much wider than the meat - this was a problem later).
I put the whole thing (meat/soup/beer in the foil sitting in a glass
baking dish) in the fridge 'til morning.

We used our oven timer for the first time this morning -- Julian set the
timer and put the meat in before he left for work.  He even called me at
my office to ensure he was doing it right! That's one well trained
co-chef!!  As I had noticed just before going to bed, the beer had
started seeping out.  He fixed the foil the best he could, set the timer
to allow for a 7pm dinner time, and also loaded/set the breadmaker....a
perfect meal was just hours away.

A little while after  I got home, I checked the meat and noticed that
the beer/soup had leaked out and got stuck to the pan.  There was very
little "juice" in the foil so we couldn't make gravy this time :-(

The meat literally fell apart when I cut it.  I took this as a good
sign, turned off the timer and just left the meat (wrapped up) in the
oven to keep warm until DH arrived.  In the meantime, I cooked cut beans
and made some mixed mashed potatoes -- these were also a first time for
us (but without a recipe!)  I just boiled a large sweet potato and a
small white potato (all we had!).  After cooking them for ~20 minutes, I
drained them and added a tablespoon or two of brown sugar.  I hand
mashed the potatoes and sugar, adding a little milk (just a splash -
maybe two-three tablespoons?  no idea, really!).  They were just
perfect.

Thank you, Karen, for a delightful and flavourful meal suggestion.  Next
time, we may even try the chiles and rice!

BTW, does anyone have any suggestions for making sure the soup/beer
stays inside the foil?  Any tips welcome.

Cheers,
Barbara (very much looking forward to tomorrow's leftovers!)



Karen Simmons, September 13

> BTW, does anyone have any suggestions for making sure the soup/beer
> stays inside the foil?  Any tips welcome.

Tear off 2 pieces of foil about equal length (roughly the same length as
a 9 x 14 baking dish).  Lay the pieces on top of each other and fold
over one long edge three times (sort of rolling) - about 1/8 of an inch
each time.  Then "open" the two pieces of foil that you've just sealed
together.  (YOu need to fold it three times or it leaks.)  Now you have
one almost double wide piece of foil.  then I take this foil and line
the pan with it, pressing it close to the sides, but being sure not to
tear the foil.  After the meat and stuff are in, I fold over the top and
"roll" it shut just like I did the bottom seam.  That way the foil isn't
pressed to the meat and there's room to "steam".  Tuck up the ends and
it seals tight.

It sounds like a lot more work than it is... I can actually do it in a
matter of seconds.

Karen



Jean Peters, September 26

Yes, I'm slow!  I wasn't going to do the flank steak recipe, because
it's very similar to a recipe I use for round steak with red wine, but I
finally made this today.  I couldn't get flank steak or dry onion soup,
so I used a pot roast and dried onions, together with an Irish ale.  Can
we all say delicious?  It will be made again :-).

Nice one, Karen.

Jean



jess h., September 27

We made this on Saturday.  I was a little nervous about leaving the oven
on all day while we were out (this isn't something we normally do), but
of course it was fine, and the house smelled wonderful when we got home 
for dinner.

We used a bottle of some sort of pale ale, and Lipton's onion soup mix.
I thought the steak might be dry, since I wasn't able to get the foil 
folded well enough so that the liquid didn't leak out, but when we 
opened it up at dinner time, there was still plenty of liquid inside.
We served it with mashed potatoes to soak up the gravy, and it was 
yummy.

Thanks Karen... it was great to eat something that required so little 
preparation!  I still want to try the rice and green chilis sometime...

Jessica



Jenni, October 8

I made Karen's Flank Steak recipe yesterday for last nights dinner.  I
followed the instructions exactly and it turned out wonderfully!
Everyone raved about it.  The only problem was I was at home all day and
had to smell it cooking!  I was so hungry!  I used Shiner Bock Honey
Wheat beer and Liptons onion dry soup mix.  Thanks for the great recipe!
We loved it!
 
-Jenni



Shelly, October 8

fdrc wrote:
>For anyone who's made this recipe, I have a question -- how do you go
>about sealing the foil properly?  I'm making it today for the third
>time, and I just can't seem to make a tight enough seal, no matter how
>neatly I fold the foil.  I haven't burned anything yet, but it always
>leaks somewhere.  
 
I didn't have any trouble at all...what I did was to line my pyrex dish
with 2 pieces of foil that made the shape of a cross in the pan.  I put
the meat on top of the crossed part, and then sort of created a "box"
with the free ends.  I rolled/folded all four sides together and didn't
have a problem with leaking (i.e., I didn't even need to wash the dish -
just pulled out the foil and threw it away!).
  
HTH - 
Shelly



JulieD3964, November 8

Today we tried Karen's flank steak recipe and Matt loved it. I wasn't
too keen on it and I'm probably the only dissenting opinion out there
since everyone else seems to love it too.

We bought a 1.52 lb flank steak from the grocery last night. They were
out of Lipton's onion soup packets as well as all other brands of French
onion soup so we went with the store brand's regular onion. We also made
a special trip to the Wine Seller to buy Shiner Bock beer.

This morning, I layered the meat with the onion soup mix and the beer
inside the aluminum foil and set the oven. Spent the day cutting down a
tree. Each time I came inside I was so nauseated by the smell of onions
permeating the house from the oven.

Thankfully, the smell dissipated when I shut the oven off and unwrapped
the meat.

I was expecting the meat to be more tender than it was - I did cook it
from 10:30 am until 6 pm which was in the range that the recipe called
for. The meat still was tender but wasn't the falling apart with a fork
that others had reported. We scraped off as much of the onion as
possible. 

Matt attacked the meat and we have perhaps an eighth of a pound of meat
left. I ate about four bites total because the onion was just too much
for me. He loved it and has requested that I make it for him again. I
think if I try a different type of seasoning other than the onion soup,
this will be a really great recipe for us. I like the amount of work
required (almost none)! 

We were also going to make the casserole with this but could not find
green chiles ANYWHERE in the store - we even asked the manager. We'll
try a couple of other places to look for it.

Instead, we served this with canned green beans, fruit cocktail and the
beer bread that Robyn provided the recipe for. Matt gave a thumbs down
to the bread so I'll go back to our regular recipe. I thought it was
pretty good. 

Julie 



Michelle, November 8

I did this recipe last night with a few modifications. 

- I used only water instead of beer because the only beer we had in the
  house was leftover beer that DH says is really disgusting. 
  
- I used a Sirloin Steak because my parents bought us a 1/4 beef as a
  gift and it didn't have Flank steak in it (unless it's completely
  buried under the other packages). It would have been more expensive to
  buy the Flank steak than use our Sirloin and since we don't eat steak
  very often, we didn't mind this. I don't know the weight of the steak.

- I was going to do the rice recipe with it, but DH wanted to do scallop
  potatoes.  So, I didn't buy the necessary ingredients, and DH forgot
  to do the potatoes, so we ended up making some plain rice to go with
  it.

Delicious! The steak did break into parts really easily. I have left
overs for lunch (Only enough for one of us, hopefully DH will forgive me
for taking it). We didn't have enough gravy to do anything with it. DH
did make a comment that he wouldn't have his steak this way all the
time, but I would! I just don't think of making supper long enough in
advance to do it this way!

Thanks for the recipe!! 

Michelle 



Christina Ambrenac, November 8

I tried Karen's recipes yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised. This
was the closest thing to a roast that I have ever made. Even though it
was fairly effortless, I am quite pleased with myself. The only problem
I had was the beer kept on leaking out of the foil, and I was so looking
forward to the gravy! DH couldn't stop raving about the rice dish. Great
suggestion Karen!



Vicky Larmour, December 13

On Saturday I made an adaptation of Karen's flank steak recipe - instead
of wrapping it in foil I just put it in a casserole dish with a lid, and
I added sliced carrots and chopped onions to it.  The sauce was a little
watery because of the extra water out of the vegetables, so I thickened
it a little before I served it, and we had it with a huge pile of mashed
swede (rutabaga). Yum yum :-)

Barbara wrote: 
> We werew wondering how this steak might turn out in a casserole dish
> (with tight fitting lid) instead of foil. We've made it three times,
> but twice we've ended up with virtually no liquid / gravy. The first
> time, we thought it was because the foil was too small, but that
> definitely wasn't the case last time (last week, in fact). If a tight
> fitting lid seems to do the trick, then we'll try it that way next
> time...it's much better *with* gravy than having beer-and-onion-soup
> residue stuck to your steak!

Well - our casserole doesn't have a *very* tight fitting lid, but it
seemed to work OK.

How much beer are you using?  This time, I used a bottle of Becks which
was 500ml (a bit less than a UK pint). Last time (when I did the foil
thing) I used a tin of Old Speckled Hen which is also around a UK pint.
We had plenty of gravy both times! 

Vicky -- 



Michelle, Jan 13

I know it's been a while that this had been posted, but I thought I'd
share my thoughts on this [Rice and Green Chilis].

I served the rice with some pork chops this weekend. It was really good
and appropriate with the pork chops.

I found that there was too much cheese, or maybe that I should I chosen
a milder cheese (used old cheddar). Also, I didn't use a 9x9 inch pan. I
put the rice in a smaller casserole dish, so the mixture was thicker,
therefore it a) took longer to brown and b) a smaller part of the
mixture actually got browned.

I am definitely keeping this one, but next time, I will try a different
kind of cheese.

Thanks for the recipe! 

Michelle 



Karen Simmons, April 3 

cjr wrote: 
> How many does the initial recipe serve? I've got 5 people coming.

The initial recipe serves 4 people w/ a bit left over. 

> Also, I have a paranoia about leaving the stove on while I'm not home,
> but as it'll be a weekday it can't really be helped if I want to make
> this. Can you all reassure me it'll be ok?  
                                                  
Well, I do it all the time. The oven is on very low and there's nothing
in the recipe that can catch fire. Don't know if it helps reassure any,
but I've never had a problem. 

> And if I double the recipe, will I need to cook it longer? I never
> cook beef, so am not terribly knowledgeable about such things... I
> gather the overall increased volume in the oven may require a slightly
> longer cooking time, but then if it's two steaks instead of one bigger
> one, maybe not?

I've doubled the recipe (using two pieces of meat) and added about 1-1/2
hours to the cooking time. You don't want to cook it any longer than
that because you'll cook off all the juice (which is the best part). 

> Any veg recommendations for side dishes?

In Kevin's family it's a tradition to serve it with parslied potatoes
(boiled, cubed, mixed with a bit of butter, and sprinkled with parsley)
because that's what you spoon the juice over. I've also served it with
baked acorn squash, steamed mixed veggies, or a big green salad. I've
never served it with rice before, altho I'm sure it would be fine. 

Karen 



Barbara, April 3

cjr wrote: 
> How many does the initial recipe serve?  I've got 5 people coming.  

If you'd like leftovers, or want to make sure you have enough, I'd
budget" on 1/3 pound per person.  

> Also, I have a paranoia about leaving the stove on while I'm not home,
> but as it'll be a weekday it can't really be helped if I want to make
> this.  Can you all reassure me it'll be ok?  

We've done it lots while out of the house - typically, one of us pops it
in the oven before leaving for work, and the first one home makes the
side dish(es) when they get in.  I would, however, not recommend putting
it on a timer, as the increased time sitting around seemed to make the
beef soak the juices up.  We didn't get much juice/drippings for gravy
the first couple of times we made it, but have had great success by (a)
preparing the meat right before it needs to go in the oven (ie in the
morning) (b) using a small casserole dish instead of foil. 

> And if I double the recipe, will I need to cook it longer?  I never
> cook beef, so am not terribly knowledgeable about such things...  I
> gather the overall increased volume in the oven may require a slightly
> longer cooking time, but then if it's two steaks instead of one bigger
> one, maybe not?  

i'd check it at 1 hour extra to see what it's like - you may not need
the extra time, depending on the conditions.  I agree with Karen that
the extra time can create less juices/dripings/gravy than the usual
time.  

> Any veg recommendations for side dishes?

We serve it with herbed rice (see Karen's AN favourites for our recipe),
and usually corn too.  I've done mashed potatoes with it too -- yum!  

--Barbara 



cjr, April 6

Thanks for the tips. I finally made this last night for a dinner party.
My house didn't burn down despite leaving the oven on all day. It was a
big hit. I always like to have leftovers and always worry about not
having enough, so I bought more than enough meat - 2 steaks, one was 1.6
lbs, one was 1.2 lbs for 5 people. I used one packet of Lipton Onion
Soup Mix for each, 1 bottle of Backroads Brewery Autumn Ale for one and
Circle V Brickyard Red Ale for the other. Both tasted pretty much the
same. I put the steaks in the oven about 12:30, took them out at ~7:45.
They probably could have used another 1/2 hour or so but were ok.
Tender as can be.  My main problem was leakage - I thought I'd prepped
the foil really well, used two pieces, wrapped together, but still
leaked. I might try splitting the meat into smaller pieces in the
future, so I can use just one piece of foil.  Still had a bit of gravy
though. Not as much as I would have liked, but no one seemed to mind.

I served them with mashed potatoes and roasted winter vegetables
marinated in basalmic vinegar, olive oil and thyme. Only problem was
that roasting is to be done for 1 hour at 400F and my oven was already
being used at 225F. So I put a little bit in the toaster oven, the rest
in the big oven and increased the heat to 350 for about 1/2 hour, then
took out the meat and increased to 400 for another half and hour. Not
ideal.  Also served a salad (I need my greens!).

We started with mushroom-brie toasts. Everyone seemed to bring Aussie
red wines (sort of in honour of our Aussie new arrival, but also because
they're good and affordable wines!).

The best thing about this meal was that it was so dang easy! Good
weekday DP menu, at least with an electric oven. I don't think I'd feel
safe leaving a gas oven on all afternoon while I was out (had a hard
enough time with the elec. one...)

Thanks for the great recipe Karen!

C



cjr, April 6

liznjim wrote:
> I gave up on the wrapping in foil and now I just use a glass baking
> dish with all the stuff in it, and cover the dish with foil. Works
> just as well for me, if not better.

AH, ok, that's what I'll try next. I've done a fish dish wrapped in foil
and it works fine, but I only need 1 piece of foil per fillet, and
there's less liquid (the sauce is thicker), so that probably makes a
difference.

> > We started with mushroom-brie toasts.
> And of course you're going to tell us how to make them, right? :-)

Sure. Very simple. Saute garlic and onions in butter, add chopped
shitake mushrooms (or any mushrooms, really. I had dried-then-
rehydrated shitakes that I get from the asian store and they were
great). Saute a few minutes til soft.  Slice nice crusty french bread
into bite-sized pieces (important, so you can bit into it easily!).
Toast briefly <I forgot this part> then top with the mushroom
mixture. On top of the mushroom mix, place sliced brie.  Bake another 5
mins or so til the brie melts. I don't know what setting the oven was on
at that point, I think it's supposed to be around 325F.

C



Vicky Larmour, May 3

I made Karen's Flank Steak recipe at the weekend, and forgot to post a
report until now! I used a 1lb piece of organic braising steak from our
organic supplier (we get a vegetable box every week, I occasionally
order some meat as well). I used a packet of Knorr French Onion Soup,
and a 500ml bottle of Badger Brewery golden ale (Tescos had all the
bottled ales on offer at UKP 1.49 a bottle, so I just had to pick one
pretty much at random!). 

It came out as nice as the first time I made it (i.e. extremely!). I
don't remember what I served it with last time, but this time I did it
with fried rice (with onions, sweetcorn, peas, and mushrooms, and some
mixed herbs). The gravy went really well with the rice. Yum! 

Vicky