Lava Cooking

There is nothing like getting a good sear on a steak. It helps to hold in the moisture, and gives it a great taste. In order to do this, though, you need to get your grill up to a very high heat. My grill is pretty good, so I can get the surface temperature of the cooking grate over 500 degrees. I’ve got nothing over the guys at Syracuse University.

Professors Robert Wysocki and Jeff Karson run a group at the university called the Lava Project. They create lava flows to best understand properties of lava and to also use lava in art. Recently, the Lava project teamed up with British designers Bompas & Parr and used lava in a whole new way – to cook a steak.

The 2200 degree lava flow created an instant sear and cooked the steak to a medium-rare state in a minute. Take a look at the article (and video) here.

Grilled marinated flank steak

I didn’t have lava at my disposal, but still cooked a pretty good steak.

The lime juice is a key ingredient.

Flank steak is a very tough piece of meat. Proper marinating will help to make it much more tender. The acid in the lime juice is a key part of that.

I prefer to vacuum seal meat in marinades. It speeds up the process and really gets the flavor infused into the meat.

A beautiful sear on this guy.

Slice it across the grain to aid in the tenderness.

Grilled marinated flank steak

Prep Time: 1 hr 15 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins | Servings: 6 | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

1/4 cup  extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 1/2 pounds  flank steak
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges

Directions:

1) whisk the oil and all the other ingredients except the steak and lime, together in a bowl and transfer the marinade to a plastic bag with the steak.

2) Marinate the steak in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to overnight. 

3) When ready to cook, preheat grill to high. 

4) Remove the steak from bag and discard marinade. 

5) Grill steak for 7 minutes per side, turning once. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting across the grain on the meat. 

6) Serve with or without tortillas. 

Source: Eating Stella Style