Smoked London Broil

Growing up in my mom’s kitchen, we ate a lot of pasta. And I’m 100% ok with that. My Italian heritage has made it possible for me to eat pasta all day, every day and be perfectly content. However, there were times when my mom would make some more meaty dishes. One that I remember in particular was her london broil, which was tender and delicious every single time. 

Now that I’m a grown up with my own husband to feed, I have a much better appreciation for my mom’s london broil. This is a piece of meat that is seriously easy to ruin. In fact, this cut of meat is actually flank steak or top round, depending on your butcher. Although it is commonly referred to as “london broil” the name really refers to the cooking method.

When you buy a london broil, you are typically buying a nice thick slab of beef. This type of meat deserves to be treated like a lady. Meaning, show her some respect and at the very least, give her a nice rubdown before the main event. Marinating london broil really helps boost the delicious meaty flavor. Also, when you cook it, you’re going to want to get your sear on. At least to begin with.

As with a lot of my culinary endeavors this summer, I ended up throwing this lovely lady on the smoker. However, the recipe is very similar for a normal grill. I also slightly adapted a recipe from Traeger Grills. They sent out this recipe in a weekly newsletter type deal and I could not resist giving it a try. And I am SO glad I did. It was a winner.

Smoked London Broil w/Bleu Cheese Butter

Serves 4-5

For the Marinade:

2-3lb london broil
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup water
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp freshly ground black peppper
1 tsp sugar

For the Bleu Cheese Butter:

¼ cup bleu cheese crumbles
4 tbsp (½ stick) of butter at room temperature
1 tsp granulated garlic
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients for the bleu-butter together in a bowl, then cover it and put it in the fridge. This can be kept in your fridge for about a week. So it’s an easy make ahead.

Place all of the marinade ingredients except the meat in a gallon size Ziploc bag. Make sure everything is mixed together. Then place the meat into the bag and make sure the marinade is all over the place. Put the bag in the fridge, and marinate for at least 8 hours. I prepped this before work and then smoked it that night, but you could even marinate it overnight if you wanted to.

When you’re ready to get going, prep your smoker, and then lay the london broil on and smoke for an hour. When the hour is up, take the meat off the grill, and increase the temperature to 400 degrees. Place the meat back on the grill, leave for 7-10 minutes, then flip and repeat. In total, you’re going to grill for 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your meat. When the internal temperature of the meat has reached 130 degrees, pull it off the grill, put half of the bleu cheese butter on top and cover it with aluminum foil. Let it rest for about 5 minutes.

Awww yeah baby.

Transfer the meat to a cutting board, and cut it against the grain into thin slices. Cutting against the grain ensures that your meat will be tender to the bite. When you cut with the grain, you end up with stringy, chewy pieces... Not great. Place the slices onto a serving dish and crumble some extra bleu cheese on top. Serve it with the additional bleu-butter. Watch as your friends and loved ones inhale it. Voila.

XOXO,

Marga