Main · Year-round
Hanger steak with chimichurri
High heat, short heat, long rest. Beef the way it should be.
I learned this from a friend's birthday in Madrid, four or five years ago. He was Argentine, lived in Spain twenty years, missed home loud and often. For his birthday he insisted on cooking, refused all help, walked us to a carnicería near Plaza Mayor and pointed at a single piece of meat: una entraña, 400 g, against the grain, please.
Back at his flat he gave me one set of rules, in Spanish too fast to argue with. Meat at room temperature an hour before. Pan on the highest heat possible. Three minutes one side, three the other, no moving. Eight to ten minutes rest on a board. Not on a plate, not under foil. Then chimichurri, made an hour earlier, and a sharp knife, and bread, and red wine, and the rest is conversation.
Every word of it was true. This is the simplest piece of red meat you can make at home and the easiest one to ruin. Rest is as important as searing. Without rest you get blood on the board and dry meat on the tongue. The chimichurri is the second half of the dish, not a garnish.
- Total time
- 46 min
- Serves
- 2 people
- Difficulty
- 2 / 5
- Pair with
- Argentine Malbec from Mendoza, or a young Mencía.
Ingredients
Meat
- 1hanger steak (around 400 g), trimmed
- as neededolive oil + coarse sea salt + black pepper
Chimichurri
- 1 bunchflat parsley, finely chopped
- 3 clovesgarlic, crushed
- 1red chilli, finely chopped + 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbspred-wine vinegar + 100 ml olive oil + salt
Method
- 1
Chimichurri: mix everything in a bowl. Rest at room temperature 30 minutes minimum. Do not blend. Coarse is the point.
- 2
Meat to room temperature (1 hour out of the fridge). Pat dry, rub with oil, season hard with salt and pepper.
- 3
Pan or grill on flame-red. Meat down. 3 minutes one side, no moving. 3 minutes the other side. Medium-rare = core 52 °C.
- 4
Rest on a board 8-10 minutes. Do not cover. The crust must stay dry.
- 5
Slice thinly against the grain. Onto a wooden board. Generous chimichurri over the top.
