Cast Iron Skirt Steak

-SN

Skirt steak, or flank steak, rules. It's very affordable ($8/lb or so), relatively lean, and really tender as long as you cut it thin across the grain. I like to use the grill, but we live in the desolate hell-hole of Michigan so that's not possible 6 months out of the year. Enter the iron skillet.

Ingredients
Uh, Steak? Like a pound?

Whatever goes in your marinade. Worcester sauce is good, I like minced garlic/oil/soy sauce/salt, don't even bother marinating if you don't want! Go nuts.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F.

If you have an exhaust fan, turn it on. If you don't, just go ahead and take the batteries out of your smoke detector now. Ready? Good.

Add a couple tablespoons of canola or some other high smoke-point oil to your skillet (grapeseed works too, I think). Crank that heat up to 11. Don't be afraid. IT'S JUST SMOKE AND FIRE WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN.

Once the oil starts to smoke, throw your steak on. It might pop/smoke but don't worry. Cook for 2 minutes until you develop a nice crust on the bottom. Flip and cook for two minutes on the other side. Resist the temptation to turn down the heat because you know you want that delicious crust. Pop the whole skillet into the oven for 5 minutes. If the steak is about an inch thick, this will give you a nice medium rare. Cut the oven time down if it's skinny. Remove from oven, let the steak rest for ~5 min, then slice thin against the grain, and enjoy.