The Toy Box: Homemade London Broil With Macaroni And Cheese

London Broil is a cut of meat my mom used to make for us growing up, and would always serve it as a husk of well done leather. See, my mom doesn't like anything less than well done, and as such, she didn't make anything that wasn't. This resulted in a lot of dried out meal, that quite honestly, didn't taste good. It's because of this that I grew up hating London Broil.

After talking to my girl, she convinced me, that if done right, London Broil can be a tasty cut of meat. While I wasn't convinced right away, during one of my many trips to the grocery store, I picked one up. Which leads me to today's recipe sharing.

London Broil was a popular meat during the 40's and 50's because it was a cheaper, yet sufficiently sized cut to serve a family. However, even back then, it was notoriously known as a tough slab, and as such, people had to find ways to make it more tender. This often led to the use of vinegar, lemon or lime based marinades, as well as cooking it to rare / medium rare temperatures. Often, it was served with some form of gravy to add additional moisture.

With this in mind, I started with making a marinade which would not only aid in the tenderizing, but also add a lot of flavor.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
3 Tablespoons A1 Steak Sauce
1/8 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/8 Cup Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Pepper
3 Tablespoons Fresh Horseradish

Mix all that up, and add your piece of meat to the party. Thoroughly coat both sides, and put it in the fridge. You want this to marinate for at least twenty-four hours uncovered, flipping it over and spooning the marinade on top half way through. You want to take it out of the fridge one hour before cooking, and place it on a wire rack to allow it to drip and dry a little, as well as come to room temperature. Below is what mine looked like after the marinate process.

During this final hour, I'm starting my two sides; mac and cheese and some baked beans. The baked beans are going to go in the oven first, but they really aren't anything special.

I'm simply throwing a can of baked beans, drained Northern beans, and a few tablespoons of brown sugar together, and baking this at 350 for an hour. I'm starting these first, because they'll take the longest too cook.They'll eventually have the mac and cheese joining them in the oven.

Pro-Tip - My mom would layer her baked beans with raw bacon, which you certainly can do. You can also add barbecue sauce, pepper, etc. Whatever you like to flavor your beans. It's all good. The point being, put it in a casserole dish, and start baking.

Then I'm off to my mac and cheese.

Ingredients

12 to 16 Ounces of Uncooked Pasta
6 Tablespoons Butter
6 Tablespoons Flour
4 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream (2 one pint containers)
2 Teaspoons Pepper
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne
6 Cups Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
1/2 Cup Unseasoned Panko Crumbs
Olive Oil

Get a pot of water boiling, and add your noodles to it. Now the key here is that you don't want them to be completely cooked.

I'm using shells that take thirteen minutes for al dente, and fifteen minutes to be soft. I want neither of those. Instead, I'm cooking these for twelve minutes, straining them, and immediately drizzling olive oil on them.

Stir the noodles up, and periodically stir them to ensure they don't stick together.

It's roux time. Melt your butter

Add your flour, and whisk it around until it's nutty brown.

Add your cream, and keep whisking.

Bring it to a simmer,and add your salt, pepper and cayenne.

Keep whisking until you start to see steam rising. You want the cream to be just hot enough to melt cheese, but not to boil, as this will get too thick if it does.

Speaking of cheese, pour your noodles into a casserole dish, and sprinkle it with one cup of your cheese.

Reserving one cup more of your cheese, put the remaining into your cream mix, doing so a handful at a time to allow it to melt as you continue to whisk.

You want a smooth and velvety texture that falls off your whisk when held over the pot.

Pour this over your noodles.

Give it a gentle stir, then top with the remaining cheese.

Then sprinkle this evenly with your panko crumbs.

Pop this into your 350 degree oven, and bake for thirty minutes.

While this is cooking, take your marinade from your meat, and transfer it to a pot. Add a tablespoon of thyme and a tablespoon of corn starch.

Whisk this this together until fully disolved, and simply set the pot aside.

After one hour of cooking the beans, and thirty minutes for the mac and cheese, remove them from the oven, and turn the heat up to broil. Depending on the temp you're going for, and the size of your meat will determine this. I'm cooking mine for six minutes on each side.

Meat thermometers work well for checking temps, but I don't personally like these. They leave holes in food, which are escape paths for juices. Instead, I simply press on my meat with my finger to see if it is the desired temp I want it. This takes some practice, but I highly recommend anyone cooking meats learn this.

Simply explained, on the same hand, touch the tip of your pointer finger to your thumb tip, like you're making the"okay" symbol. Then gently touch the section of your palm just where your thumb connects. It feels "mushy". This is rare meat. Now touch the tip of your pinky to the tip of your thumb. Feel how much stiffer this next area is? That's well done. Same concept with your other fingers, with the middle finger and thumb being medium rare, and the ring finger and thumb being medium well.

While it's in the oven for the initial six minutes, I'm bringing my marinade to a boil, and adding 1/2 a cup of Marsala wine. Just as it starts to thicken, I need to do something about this being highly acidic. For this, I'm adding five teaspoons of sugar, but you're going to want to do this to you taste liking. I'm not looking for sweet. I'm just looking to cut the acid.

Then I'm transferring this to a serving dish.

For the last six minutes of the meat, I'm flipping it over, and putting the mac and cheese in with it.

Looking for that mac and cheese to come out golden brown and delicious.

As for the meat, let it sit on a cutting board, tented with foil for ten minutes to redistribute the juices. Slicing this in half, you can see it's a nice rare temp.