Hi All,
I picked me up a 3 lb natural London Broil on sale yesterday. I only have available a stove top (no oven or broiler). I was thinking of sticking it in one of my Saute Pan with salt, pepper, onions, garlic and cooking it on low for 8 hours.
Your thoughts?
Many thanks,
-T
The method you mentioned will probably help, since London Broils tend to be a bit chewy, and the ones I see have little fat as well, so slow cooking will definitely assist in softening it up some. I’m not a big fan of the cut of meat myself, but my Wife does pick some up here and there. She will usually now put them in the Sous Vide for quite a while to help break them down some, but If you also have a Crock-Pot/Slow Cooker, they also do well in one of those similar to how she does a Roast. Especially with the sides you mentioned. - They do better when she slow cooks them overnight and sometimes also through the day.
But they still never really break down as well as other cuts do. … But yes, any slow & low temperature longer cook will help some with this cut. - If you do use the Saute Pan method you mentioned, you can also lay strips of Bacon on top to help keep it from drying out, since it’s not submerged. The bacon fat will also help add flavor, as well as the drying out issue. This can be used for Roast in an oven as well.
You could add some stock, and this might help to add some moisture, maybe half way up the sides or so.
Another trick that works with brisket, though I’ve never tried it with London Broil, is to cook one day, cool down, put in fridge, eat 1+ days later. We usually take out the brisket, cut across the grain, put it back, heat it up gently.
I really like London broil but I usually go the other way with it. Salt and let the meat warm up to nearly room temperature, hot hot pan (I like cast iron myself), sear, flip, sear, and continue flipping frequently until desired doneness. I usually take it pretty rare, more so than other cuts which seems to help a little with toughness, besides there isn’t much fat to render. I pull it around 118-120. Slice it thin (1/4") and across the grain, this is the key.
There really isn’t any connective tissue in it to break down and benefit from a low and slow cook, IMO. Maybe a long braise but I still don’t envision anything resembling tender coming from it.
I usually just sous vide mine, though I don’t think Todd has a sous vide. That would not be a bad purchase, though.
It is a lean meat. While testing higher protein, low fat, I fasted about 32 hours, exercised, and ate around 36 hours. I ate about 1.5 pounds of London broil, which is 200-220+ grams of protein (depends where I look; the values are actually all over the map). That’s the one and only time I got physically sick from too much protein.
I will say I have not tried these long-cooking techniques. Most of the recipes I see are marination + quick cooking, though there are a few long cooking times. Not many though.
Here’s a braise that uses the oven, but I assume you could do this on the stove:
I basically always do long cooking in the oven, but that’s because my cook top sucks. And, it’s “set and forget” in the oven, as long as you get a good temperature going. With the stove top (for my crappy cook top), I have to adjust things.