There are only 2 ways for a flank steak to be edible...one is grilling medium rare and the other is cooking it forever....and I do mean forever. That's a tough piece of meat and once you cook it past medium rare it gets very chewy.
Linda C

I doubt it's a skirt steak but if it's a flank steak I have a recipe for a stir fry at home that I believe uses flank steak. It's from Wms Sonoma's "Meat" cookbook, and it has julienned ginger root in it which gives it a nice kick. I haven't made it in a while but it used to be one of my favorites; if it sounds interesting I'll be happy to post it this evening. I wasn't able to find it online.

I buy this cut all the time, but I don't grill it. I usually treat it like a roast and either pressure cook it or throw it in the slow cooker. I add a can or two of whole potatoes, and a mixture of 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce, and 1/3 cup water, sprinkle the meat with that and some garlic and onion powder, and cook. If I slow cook it, it will be for about 6 hours on low. If I put it in the pressure cooker, I cook it for about 15 minutes per pound of meat (i.e 2 lb London Broil, 30 minutes jiggling).

The London Broil comes out tender as could be, every time.

DonnaR/CA

I'll buy those when they are on sale. They make decent chili meat! It can also be eaten shredded in tacos, burritos, and bbq sandwiches. Put it raw into a covered pot and cover it with about a quart of tomato juice. Low boil for a couple hours. In time the tomato acid will make the meat fall apart into shredded beef. A little work with a wooden spoon and/or potato masher can make it break down quicker. The meat will soak up most of the tomato juice so you wind up with a pot of very moist shredded beef that is perfectly lean. I hate a bunch of fat and gristle in my bbq sandwich. This also works with pork loin and round roasts. My leftover turkey from T-day got carefully cleaned of bones and put into a pot of meat just like this... made an excellent combo meat.

This creates a building block for several dishes. The meat will soak up an amazing amount of tomatoes. If making chili with canned tomatoes I go with a 6 1/2 pound institutional size can so that there is some juice to my chili. Hard spices like black pepper and cumin can be added at the start of the boil... hot peppers to. I hold back my beans and other veggies until after the meat has cooked so I don't boil them into a paste.

One of my new favorites is hot spicey shredded beef mixed with partially cooked cabbage and put in a flour tortilla. Little cheese and other taco stuff and it is way good. The cabbage adds its own "heat" to the sandwich. Reheats nice in a microwave for those at-work lunches.

Advantage over ground meat is the meat cooks into fibers that hold well in a sandwich. Chili as I make it is often eaten with a fork. Obvious advantage is it lets me use meat bought on sale which was the thing that got me into doing it. I have a round roast in the fridge at the moment bought for 2.50 a pound waiting for the pea soup made with leftover christmas ham to finish cooking. I'll cook it into shredded meat and freeze it for later use. Nice that way because the meat and spices are all cooked and ready to go on another day.

I've also been working on a saurbraten type dish and have used "london broil" for the steak. Pan fried on high heat until crispy on the outside and still pink inside. Douse with sweet white basalmic vinegar to cool the pan. Figured this out during one of those brainless moments when I left a pan steak on with the heat all the way up. I checked on it when the pan was just seconds away from burning the meat beyond recognition. Nothing my panicked brain could see to cool it with other then a bottle of vinegar sitting on the counter. The meat was so-so but the sauce it produced was eaten from the pan on bread. One of those moments when you are glad nobody is around to see you eating with your fingers from a pan on the stove. Working to recreate that taste I've made pickled steak a couple times and that is not bad. Good with mashed potatoes as they balance the tangy vinegar flavor... think hasenpheffer.

: )
lyra

It's highly unlikely that it is skirt or flank as both are pricier (and much better)than whatever that london broil is, which is some kind of round I think. Just treat it as a tough cut.
Years ago, flank used to be commonly sold as London broil until it was "discovered" and now it's always sold on it's own and it's expensive here.

I agree with bumblebeez -- I buy beef labeled as london broil frequently, and at least here it is certainly not flank or skirt steak. It doesn't have that same type of very strong grain to the meat. I have NOT had lyra's experience -- I don't think there is nearly enough fat in what is labeled london broil here to make stewed or shredded beef. Long slow cooking, even in liquid, would just make the cut I buy VERY tough.

I love it sprinkled with lots of Lawrys seasoned salt and broiled until still quite pink in the middle... Mmmmm.

Originally London Broil (means a cooking method) was usually associated with Flank steak, but as someone above said, everyone discovered flank steak, and it went into the $4.75 plus in my area!
Nowadays they cut "Top round" thick and label it as "London Broil", $4 to $6.00 in my area! They cut top round not so thick and call it "top round steak" (my area on sale at $1.99 a pound", sometimes you will see top round roast for $169.00 a pound. The above cuts are ALL from the Top round!!
If you don't believe me, print this and take it to a butcher at a supermarket and let him read it.
What I'm trying to get across is you guys should really take a course/buy an illustrated book on the various cuts of meat from beef, hogs, lamb.
Bottom line, it's all from the same area of the "steer/cow", ignorance on the part of the consumer has been letting them get away with this and it's going to get a lot worse!!
In my area we have most of the major grocery stores and "SAMS/Costco". The latest thing I get a kick out of is they are now selling Bottom round and Eye of round as steaks, cut as steaks!!
Wait till you wrap you dentures/teeth around this cut of beef, you'll learn very quickly that it is not a tender cut of meat of steak quality!! It is only good for slow cooking as a roast to be cut "very" thin or as a stir fry cut "Super thin"!! Don't believe me, buy one and try it.
Changeling

I agree with Changeling on the "cut"..Here it's top round that's thick.
Flank and skirt usually have "grain"..while top round is basically smooth with little obvious grain to the meat, and usually some "fat" around the edges of it.

Eye of Round is sold here in "steak" form too..seared or grilled super fast..it would be fine. Like a just 2 minutes a side!

But if you get a good price on Eye of round roast.. follow Sol's method for cooking it..

Basically all you are doing is "searing" in the juices and greating a "crust" around the edges..and sliced thin..it's almost butta! and delish!!!

Pineapple juice in a marinade does wonders for tenderizing and adding flavor.

I freeze "London Broil," then cut it paper thin (when frozen) agaist the grain for stir fries.

London broil is expensive around here too but when on sale it makes super Swiss Steak.

Changeling, I agree completely. BJ's always has cubes of round steak labeled as Round for Shish Kabob. I asked the butcher "isn't that going to be tough?" "Yeah, but they think its good because they don't see any fat." Sandy