Hanger steak is a great misunderstood cut of beef, there is usually a thin coarse piece of gristle than runs through the middle, and so it is often slow cooked to tenderise this. But if cut correctly against the grain and discarding the tough bit, then this is such a good steak cut, very beefy and savoury with a lovely texture. These Hanger steaks were from Pipers Farm once again, and were outstanding in their quality.
The other thing that needs to be known is that they need to be cooked very quickly, as they toughen up if cooked past medium-rare, and the quicker you cook them the better. To this end, I decided to emply the “Afterburner” cooking method using a BBQ chimney starter, the heat at the top of one of these is ferocious once it gets going and this would be a great way to get BBQing for someone with limited space. So I fired up the chimney starter (which can be bought in most DIY chains) with Lumpwood charcoal until it was raging hot.
I had cut the steaks into long slithers, I popped on a little BBQ rub and slid onto some pre soaked bamboo skewers. Use a sheet of foil to stop the ends of the skewers burning, and pop them onto a grill grate from a BBQ.
These babies took simply seconds to cook, the heat was that intense, a simply amazing way to cook this wonderful cut, they were wonderful and deep flavoured, and about as tender as a steak gets.
Cheers
Marcus
