1. Place soy sauce, honey, vinegar, oil, optional garlic, and about a teaspoon of black pepper into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag.

2. Cut some diagonal slits into both sides of your flank steak, about 1/4 inch deep and 1 inch apart. Place steak in Ziploc bag with marinade, and let sit overnight.

3. Heat a non-stick skillet on high, get it as hot as you can. No need to grease or oil the pan.

4. Remove flank steak from marinade. Set the marinade aside and save. Coat both sides of the steak in a good amount of kosher salt and black pepper, to help form a nice crustiness.

5. When you pan is as hot as it can be, drop the steak into the pan and DON’T TOUCH IT! It will be very smoky, so have a fan on, and some windows open. Take the batteries out of your smoke alarm.

6. After 5-7 minutes, slide a large turner under the steak, and flip it over. You can decide if it should be 5 or 7 minutes by lifting up and edge and checking for blackness. It should be VERY black. The steak will look ruined. It will look totally black and burned. Don’t worry! if it looks burnt, you’re doing it right.

7. So, same thing on the other side. Leave it be, in its place, getting all black and filling your house with smoke. You’ll probably want to leave it for a minute or so less than the first side.

8. Remove it from pan, turn down heat on pan to medium-high, and let the steak sit, resting, for 5-10 minutes.

9. While it rests, throw the marinade from the Ziploc into the pan, cooking away the meat germs and deglazing the pan. Let it boil away for a few minutes, until it thickens slightly, becoming a nice sauce.

10. Slice the steak on an angle into thin but wide strips, and serve with the sauce poured over the slices.

11. If you like broccoli, serve this with broccoli. The sauce left on the plate goes great with broccoli!

I adapted this recipe from a magazine a few years ago. It’s been evolving, and we’ve finally hit the perfect spot! This is the most delicious flank steak you will ever eat!