- [Andrew] This episode of Basics is presented by The Singleton. Great neat, over ice, or
mixed into a cocktail, The Singleton is a versatile
award-winning single malt. It's perfect if you're new to scotch, light and slightly sweet from being aged in bourbon oak barrels. I collaborated with The
Singleton to create a series of food and cocktail pairings. Across these episodes, I'll
show you how to utilize three different cuts of
meat in different ways. Today that cut is flank
steak, which I'll be using in three delicious variations
for steak pinwheels. Let's get down to basics. (jazzy music) (smooth music) - So flank steak is perfect for pinwheels, because of its size, shape,
intramuscular fat content, and the distinct grain
of its muscle fibers. First we want to trim off
any excess fat or sinew, and then we're gonna butterfly it. Basically, cut it in half widthwise and open it up like a book. And do you want to do this
with the grain of the meat. That is, you want your knife to be aligned with the direction the
meat fibers are pointing. Just make long, careful cuts
starting at the thinner side of the piece of beef, leaving
about a half inch uncut at the end so that you can
open it up like a book. Then if you want extra
super tender pinwheels, you can use one of these
scary-looking devices. This is a needle beef tenderizer, normally used for making
chicken-fried steak. Very optional, but it
will make your pinwheels very tender indeed. Then, most recipes call for
you to trim off the ends at this point, making a
perfect rectangle of beef, but I like to trim these off
after rolling up the beef, which I will demonstrate later. Before stuffing, we're gonna
generously season on both sides with kosher salt and
freshly ground black pepper. Then we're gonna let it
sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, which
is both gonna deeply season the beef and help it retain
moisture when grilled. It is during this time that we can begin to discuss stuffin's. Let's start with a very
elegant steak pinwheel Shiitake mushrooms,
spinach, and gruyere cheese. Got about a pound of shiitaki mushrooms that I'm going to thinly slice. And likewise, my gruyere, which I'm also going to thinly slice. Sliced cheese is gonna hold
its ground a little bit better in the steak than shredded. Then, in the vast majority of cases, you're gonna want to pre
cook your ingredients. Mushrooms, onions, peppers,
spinach, all these things contain a whole lot of moisture
that we want to cook out before we stuffed them inside a steak. There's also just no
way that they're gonna cook through on the grill. So I'm sauteing these mushrooms
for about five minutes, until they've given up their moisture, adding a whole lot of spinach, way more than I think I need,
because this stuff shrinks, and cooking two to three
minutes, just until wilted, or about 1/1000th of its original size. Then I'm gonna crush a few
cloves of garlic in there and saute those for another 30 seconds to one minute until fragrant. Then, since we don't want
these things cooking the steak from the inside out, we're
gonna let them cool completely by spreading them out on
a rimmed baking sheet. Once cooled, we can get to stuffin'. We're gonna start by aligning our steaks so that the grain is facing side to side. Spread our mushroom and
spinach mixture all over, leaving a one-inch border on each side. Shingle our cheese on top
of that and begin rolling. Now, it is imperative that
you're rolling this tightly, evenly, and so that the
grain runs down the length of the roll. Then, seam side down,
we're going to tie it at one and a half-inch intervals. You want to tie as tightly as possible, so you get a nice clean
spiral in every pinwheel. Then, optional but especially
helpful if you're grilling, you can pierce with a
metal or wooden skewer right below each string. Then, the most satisfying part
of our day, it's time to cut. And this is why I like
to leave the trimmings on the outside of the
beef until this stage. You're gonna have to cut
some off any way to get a nice clean facade, so you
might as well do it now. And as long as you've
rolled and tied tightly, you should have yourself a real
nice looking steak pinwheel. Keep chopping 'em up
with a long sharp knife, arrange them on a rimmed baking sheet, and these guys are ready for the grill, where we're gonna utilize
the indirect heat method. Basically, start by blasting
one side of your grill on maximum heat for 15
minutes, scrub it clean with a grill brush or some
steel wool, soak a paper towel in vegetable oil, and use
it to wipe down the grates. Then we're gonna plop our steak pinwheels in the very hottest parts of the grill and sear on each side for
about three to four minutes. This should hopefully
create a crispy barrier through which your cheese
and vegetables cannot escape. There will inevitably be some
filling loss, but don't worry, about 80% of what's in
there is staying in there. Keep the lid closed
throughout this process, and once your steaks are seared, we're gonna move them over to
the cold side of the grill, where our burners are off
and the oven-like heat can continue cooking the steaks through without burning them. Then it's time to bust
out the thermometer, 'cause there's really no
way to know when these guys are done apart from
taking their temperature. About a billion different
factors can change cook times. The power of your grill, the
thickness of your pinwheels, the digestive health of
your many, many pet ferrets. I personally want medium rare,
so I'm shooting for 125, 130. Then all there's left to
do is let these guys rest for five to 10 minutes, take
off the string, and dig in. You can definitely serve
this with a light salad or some kind of vegetable side, but it's really an all in one meal. It is beefy, it is
cheesy, and it's got loads of flavorful veggies, and
it's gotta be one of my very favorite utilizations of my
grill this or any summer. And this one is so good
that even though we had impending dinner reservations, Jess and I ate the whole thing. But this is our fancy pants pinwheel. What other familiar steaky flavors can we put in pinwheel form? How 'bout fajitas? For this, we're gonna start
with some fajita vegetables. All manner of peppers and onions, thinly sliced and ready to be sauteed. And then for cheese, I thought we'd use this lovely oaxaca cheese. Basically sort of like
a Mexican mozzarella. So if you can't find oaxaca, string cheese will
actually work in a pinch. To that end, I am shredding
this cheese into strings, which are long and will probably stay in the pinwheels more easily. The peppers and onions
are being simply sauteed in some vegetable oil, about
10 minutes over medium, medium-high heat until soft and blistered and starting to caramelize. Then I'm lowering the heat,
crushing in a few cloves of garlic, adding about a
teaspoon of Mexican oregano and ground cumin. I'm also gonna add a teaspoon
of ground ancho chili powder and some freshly ground pepper and give these guys a
toss over medium-low heat, just so that their flavors
can get to know each other. Once the spices are toasted,
we're gonna season to taste with kosher salt, give 'em one last toss, and like the previous fillings, we need to let them cool completely. So we're gonna spread 'em
out on a rimmed baking sheet. When it comes time to
stuff, I'm gonna start by hitting the flank steak
with the zest of one lime. Then it's pretty much the
same procedure as before. Pile on our sauteed veg, follow
that with a generous piling of our cheese, once again
leaving a one-inch border around the outside, most
importantly at the top, and then beginning to roll tightly. And with this particular
flank steak, I had a hole. You're gonna see it by my left
hand, your right, right now, but this is not the end of the world so long as we roll tightly
and tuck the hole in underneath the seam, like so. Then it's the same old
procedure of tying it up, sticking it with skewers,
and slicing into pinwheels. Then you might notice that
I'm tying this steak up at much larger intervals,
resulting in much thicker pinwheels, and I want to assure you that I totally did that on purpose. It's not at all because this was actually my first ever steak pinwheel and I did not know what I was doing. However, these super thick
pinwheels actually present a great opportunity,
that being how to make steak pinwheels indoors. It's the same concept. We want to start by blasting
'em with super high heat, so over a medium-high
flame, we're gonna heat some vegetable oil until it is
smoking, plop down the pinwheels, and sear for three to four minutes. And you might be saying, wow,
dude, you just put cheese in a frying pan, way to screw this up. To which I would say, hold
your treacherous tongue! Thou wouldst be advised to
speak less and listen closely! Just like on the grill, but
perhaps even more efficiently, these have formed a leak-proof crust, and once we give them one to two minutes on their second side, we're
gonna plop this whole thing into a preheated
375-degree Fahrenheit oven to finish cooking through. Again, really the only
way you're gonna be able to determine when they're
done is with a thermometer. Let them rest for 10 minutes
before removing the skewer, the string, and serving. And this one's also great. It's got all the flavors of steak fajitas with oaxaca cheese built right in. And despite its ridiculous thickness, it is cooked to a perfect medium rare. But now for the pinwheel
that I've been excited for all week, the Philly cheesesteak pinwheel. We're starting with the usual routine, heating some vegetable
oil over medium high heat until shimmering, sauteing
a whole lot of onions. This is two medium onions,
halved and thinly sliced. We're gonna saute those for a few minutes until they re just starting to soften before adding some green peppers, likewise cut into long strips. Then we're gonna saute everybody together for about five more
minutes until really soft and starting to caramelize. Spread it out, let it cool,
and it's time to stuff. Peppers and onions down,
trim off the top edge so it's nice and even, and
then for the cheese element, I'm using very thinly sliced provolone. You could also use American cheese here, but I'm sorry, Philadelphians,
whiz will not work. Roll it up, tie it up, skewer
it through every inch or two, then give it a slice to
reveal a spiral so nice. And before I lose your good will with increasingly long rhymes,
we're headed out to the grill for good steak and good times. Anyway, usual procedure out here. Plop 'em on the hot side, make
sure they're good 'n seared all over before putting
them over to this cool side to finish cooking, cook
to your desired doneness, let 'em rest for 10 minutes, remove all the restraints, and serve. And there you have it, Philly
cheesesteak steak pinwheels. Probably don't need to
sell you on this one. It's steak, peppers, onions, and cheese. But for the ultimate pinwheel experience, we must now talk about cocktail pairing. So we're gonna make a light
summery citrusy cocktail I have christened the Zingleton. First up, gonna make a
honey ginger simple syrup, combining one cup each water
and honey in a medium saucepan, tiny whisking to combine,
and bringing to a simmer and letting cook until it
reaches 220 degrees Fahrenheit, skimming off the foam that accumulates towards the end of cooking. Then we're gonna kill the
heat and add three quarters of a cup of sliced fresh ginger,
covering and letting steep until cooled completely before straining and putting into our favorite
bottle for long-term storage. Then for the actual cocktail, we're gonna cut ourselves
an orange garnish. Nice. Then we're gonna grab two king cubes of the fanciest ice we
can find, wrap 'em up in a clean towel, and give 'em a smash. Just two or three smashes,
or until thoroughly smashed. Then we're gonna use this ice
to fill a cocktail shaker, shortly followed by
one and one half ounces of The Singleton 12 year old,
three quarters of one ounce of freshly squeezed lemon
juice, one half of one ounce of freshly squeezed and
strained orange juice, and one half of one ounce of our homemade ginger honey syrup. The top of your shaker and
make it live up to its name with a thorough shakin'. This not only mixes everything together, it aerates and dilutes the
cocktail, and you know that it's ready when the
entire shaker is frosty. Drop another king cube of
fancy ice in a rocks glass, strain your beautiful
summery cocktail over top, and garnish with an orange garnish. I'm just gonna slice a little
notch in my orange wedge, perch it on the rim of the glass, and there you have it,
the Zingleton, with a Z. Or if you're short on time,
you can always do The Singleton plus two, The Singleton plus
any two other ingredients, like club soda and lime
or bitters and vermouth. Thanks again to The Singleton, with an S, single malt scotch whiskey for partnering with me on this episode. If you're intimidated by scotch, don't be. The Singleton 12 year old is easy to enjoy and mixes well in a variety
of simple cocktails. Just a few ingredients and a few friends and you'll be celebrating
grilling season the right way. Stay tuned for more from The Singleton, and to get a bottle for yourself, head to the link in the video description.
I make a version of these with sun dried tomatoes, mozz, and spinach and they're really good.
If we don't have a grill and will be using the oven method, do we need to cut them thiccc like the fajitas big bois?
What the heck is he doing at 6:49? It almost seems like a Brent Rambo reference to me. I laughed so hard!
I had never even heard of these, but now I want one real bad
Green. Peppers. Don’t. Go. On. Real. Cheesesteaks.
Why in the everloving fuck does everyone who doesn’t live in Philly put green peppers on a cheesesteak? I have eaten, conservatively, hundreds of cheesesteaks from dozens of places and have never even seen so much as a single green pepper in any of them. I’ve seen pickled banana peppers a few times. Never a bell pepper. If I even saw a bell pepper, I would leave.
I never knew that I needed these in my life until just now.
what is the black pan he is using for sauteing the vegetables?