Who needs grill grates? This caveman style flank steak is cooked directly on the coals, just like our ancestors intended!
**Post written by The BBQ Brothers. For all meat prep, grill set up, temperature and humidity control, recommended tools, and techniques for The BBQ Brothers recipes, check out The BBQ Brothers Beginner’s Guide To Grilling first, then get to cookin!
When it comes to grilling, who doesn’t love a fresh steak. The caveman style of grilling is super easy and super cool looking to impress your guests as they will be very impressed and curious to see their steak cooking directly on the coals.
**Disclaimer** Please use only NATURAL LUMP CHARCOAL!
We want to use natural lump charcoal for two reasons. The first reason being it will get to a higher temp (when we used our Thermoworks infrared thermometer we found our coals were above 1,000 degrees!). We want as high of a temp as possible so we can get a good sear on our steak. The second reason is that there are no chemicals in the natural lump charcoal, and since the meat is being placed directly on top of the coals, it is a safer and healthier way to cook.
As far as prepping the meat, all we want to do is season our steak with salt and pepper and let it get to room temperature. We purchased two very thin flank and skirt steaks, which we planned on topping with our homemade chimichurri sauce, so we don’t need a lot of flavor added to the meat since it will be provided by the sauce.
Now to make this very simple, all we need to do is get our kettle out and start a full chimney of lump coals. Once they are glowing red in the chimney starter, we want to spread them out on the bottom of our grill and let them heat up so that they are glowing white. As stated before, if you have an infrared thermometer you will see the temp of the coals will be near 1,000 degrees!
Now that our coals are nice and hot, we want to throw our steaks on the coals for about 2 ½ minutes per side for our flank steak and 2 min per side for our slightly thinner skirt steak. Once you have done that, remove them from the coals and wrap in foil for about 10 min to let them rest so the juices of the meat can redistribute.
Now for the best part...remove from foil and slice against the grain into slices, then top with some of our chimichurri sauce! This is a great idea for a small get together where you can lay the sliced steak out on a platter, pour some nice wine and allow your guests to grab as many slices as they wish!
If you're not feeling ready to tap into your caveman side just yet, you check out our recipes for reverse sear steaks and big green egg steaks!
PrintRecipe Card
Caveman Style Flank Steak
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Caveman, Direct Charcoal
- Cuisine: American
Description
Who needs grill grates? This caveman style flank steak is cooked directly on the coals, just like our ancestors intended!
Ingredients
Meat used: Flank steak (We also did a skirt steak)
Seasoning: Salt and pepper
Wood Used: None, just natural lump charcoal (be sure to use natural!)
Grill Temperature: Coals will reach over 1,000 degrees
Smoke time: 2 ½ minutes per side (a little less for skirt steak)
Instructions
- As far as prepping the meat, all we want to do is season our steak with salt and pepper and let it get to room temperature. We purchased two very thin flank and skirt steaks, which we planned on topping with our homemade chimichurri sauce, so we don’t need a lot of flavor added to the meat since it will be provided by the sauce.
- Now to make this very simple, all we need to do is get our kettle out and start a full chimney of lump coals. Once they are glowing red in the chimney starter, we want to spread them out on the bottom of our grill and let them heat up so that they are glowing white. As stated before, if you have an infrared thermometer you will see the temp of the coals will be near 1,000 degrees!
- Now that our coals are nice and hot, we want to throw our steaks on the coals for about 2 ½ minutes per side for our flank steak and 2 min per side for our slightly thinner skirt steak. Once you have done that, remove them from the coals and wrap in foil for about 10 min to let them rest so the juices of the meat can redistribute.
- Now for the best part...remove from foil and slice against the grain into slices, then top with some of our chimichurri sauce! This is a great idea for a small get together where you can lay the sliced steak out on a platter, pour some nice wine and allow your guests to grab as many slices as they wish!
Notes
Please use only NATURAL LUMP CHARCOAL!
So let us know what you think….did this recipe smoke the competition or go up in flames? Leave a comment below! 🙂
Ken says
What about the charcoal that will be left on the food?
cutsandcrumbles says
Hi Ken! The charcoal is so hot in this case that hardly any of it will stick to the steak, and if any does it brushes off pretty easily. Remember to use natural lump charcoal as well! Hope you give it a try! 🙂