Grilled Steakhouse Tips is also referred to as Flap meat or Sirloin Tips in, New England. It’s the cut of beef from the bottom sirloin part of the steer. With this recipe, the beef is marinated with brown sugar, soy sauce, plenty of garlic and a few other pantry ingredients. It’s quickly grilled over a gas (or charcoal) grill. The result is steak with a beautiful char and loaded with flavor. It’s one of our favorite summer grill recipes.
Before I talk about this grilled steakhouse steak tip recipe, let me jump in and say that this is one of the best grilled steak recipes I’ve ever had! Best of all, the marinade wasn’t too fussy to make, and the grilling process/time was super quick. Win! Believe me, you will want to make this. Stat.
The older I become, the more I find that I try not to eat red meat more than once a week– sometimes, even less. But, every so often, I crave a juicy steak on the grill.
I had bookmarked a recipe for marinated, skewered, steaks that sounded like something I’d like to prepare. I asked my husband to buy some skirt steak for me, while making a run to Costco for me. He returned with flap meat. Flap meat? “That doesn’t sound very good”, I thought to myself. I was dubious (and had to squelch my disappointment that I didn’t get the skirt steak that I wanted), but the butcher convinced Craig that it’s pretty much the same thing. Now, what do I do? Risk it or…
As luck would have it, our DVR recorded an episode on Cook’s Country for Grilled Steakhouse Steak Tips. Have you ever heard of steak tips before? Well, neither had I. Typically, steak tips come from the bottom sirloin, and that is where flap meat comes from.
The steak was long and thin, similar to skirt steak. The fatty side isn’t pretty to look at, but the scientific recommendation is to poke holes in it to break up the fibrous tissues.
Next, the meat is sliced into roughly 2″ chunks, because it needs to be marinated for at least 2 hours, and up to 24 hours.
The marinade was pretty simple to make: soy sauce, brown sugar, vegetable oil, tomato paste, plenty of garlic, paprika, and cayenne. Here’s the Cook’s Country explanation as to how these ingredients make this marinade work (a printable recipe is at the very end of this post):
DARK BROWN SUGAR Delivers depth, complexity, and a caramelized, crusty char.
VEGETABLE OIL Distributes flavors and activates oil-soluble flavor compounds, such as those found in garlic.
SOY SAUCE Its salt penetrates to deeply season the meat. Its glutamates boost meaty flavor.
TOMATO PASTE Adds background savor and enough body to help the marinade cling.
It’s important to tent the grilled meat, loosely, with foil and let it sit for five minutes. NOTE: I was ravenous by this time!
Craig was still grilling our fresh corn, and I just couldn’t stand the wait any longer. I had to cut into a piece of steak, to see if it was overcooked and I was anxious for a taste. As you can see, the meat is very juicy and it’s not overcooked. It’s just right!
TASTING NOTES: The overall flavor of this steak made the eyes roll to the back of my head. I did that “food groan” sound and did a little dance. The marinade has notes of a mild teriyaki flavor– minus the ginger. I used reduced-sodium soy sauce, and the steak had just the perfect amount of seasoning. I had cut back on the paprika a bit, afraid it might overpower the steak, and cut back on the cayenne pepper– because my taste buds are sensitive to heat. The marinade was perfection!
As for the steak– it was really tender. I was really surprised, and grateful, that the meat wasn’t chewy. I liked that these were small pieces, so I wouldn’t overindulge. I was tempted to eat more than three pieces, but I focused on my salad and fresh grilled corn, as well. The next time we have a BBQ, with guests, I know that a platter of these will be a welcome addition with our BBQ ribs and Spatchcock Chicken.
We only grilled half the meat, and tonight– we’re polishing off the second half along with a baked potato and salad. Cook’s Country– you knocked this one right out of the ballpark!
Grilled Steakhouse Steak Tips
Ingredients
1/3 cup soy sauce (I used reduced-sodium)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon paprika (I reduced to about 2/3)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I reduced to 1/8)
1 (2 1/2-pounbeef flap meat*
Instructions
- Whisk soy sauce, oil, sugar, garlic, tomato paste, paprika, pepper, and cayenne together in bowl until sugar dissolves; transfer to zipper-lock bag. Pat beef dry with paper towels. Prick beef all over with fork and cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces. Add meat to bag with soy mixture and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours, turning occasionally.
- For a charcoal grill: Open bottom grill vents completely. Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (6 quarts). When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour evenly over grill. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vents completely. Heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes.
- For a gas grill: Turn all burners to high, cover, and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes.
- Clean and oil cooking grate. Cook beef (covered if using gauntil charred and registers 130 to 135°F (for medium), 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer meat to platter, tent loosely with foil, and rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve.
- Note: We flipped the steaks at 4 minutes, and they were temperature ready at 8 minutes.
Notes
I've been wanting to ask the butcher what flap meat is, as well as sirloin tip steaks. Up until a year or so ago, never heard of them. Thanks! I too, would have worried about toughness. These look so juicy and delicious though!
Great job Debbie – it looks and sounds delicious, although I'd never heard of flap meat – not a particularly appealing name 🙂
I agree, Larry. Flap meat certainly didn't have my jumping for joy when that's what Craig brought home. Thankfully, the ugly name doesn't live up the flavor and inexpensive price!
Beautiful steak and perfectly cooked too. Like Larry, I'm not familiar with the term flap steak.
I crave steak from time to time and refuse to give it up unless my doctor demands that I do 🙂
Sam
I love using different cuts of red meat – I actually flash grill a chuck roast and it's amazeballs.
http://biz319.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/happy-friday-8/
Ignore the old shitty pictures in that post – but medium rare chuck roast is delish.
I've never heard of flap steak, but I'd sure eat it, especially if it looked like your photos! 🙂 I'm loving the marinade recipe. This is truly a great recipe, Debby! Love everything about it!
I will admit when I heard flap meat I did not think it sounded all that appealing but when you taste it you forget all about that. I have a friend that worked with a butcher and he said that is what the butcher took home – the most flavorful. When people found out about it they raised the price.
I know, right, Madonna. Just like flat iron steak. As soon as people caught on to how tender those are, the prices went up. So frustrating!
Am I missing something? I don't see a printable recipe anywhere..can you please provide a link? Thank you!!
Judy, did you scroll all the way to the bottom of the post? I can see the embedded recipe card on Mozilla, Explorer, Safari, my iPhone, my iPad etc. Usually people miss it, because they don't look at the last line, see my signature and then the card. Otherwise, please email me foodiewife@gmail.com if you can't see it.
Beautiful steaks! We tried flap steak for the first time last week…it is a great cut of meat…a bit like flank steak. There was an article this month in Fine Cooking. We had to try it and I have to try your marinade….sounds delicious!!
Thanks so much. An Okie by birth, I’ve been in Boston now for 25 years, we call it Steak Tips, not Flap, up here. I’ve made this a Summer routine, and cook it about 3 times a month. I learned a couple years ago, Heinz 57 Ketchup is a better replacement than tomato paste. I also started tossing in a few dashes of Worcestershire. So good. Thanks again.
I’ll give the Heinz tip a shot, thanks! We make this at least once, each summer. Flap meat doesn’t sound as good as flap meat but it sure is good!