Let's Roll One Up!

If the title just piqued your interest, you may have been, or possibly still are, a Cheech and Chong fan.  Sorry but it's not directly that kind of post, although from what I have heard you might enjoy having the food a bit later, as this recipe is way better than potato chips or pizza.  This post is more about my recent obsession with rolling things up in various kinds of meat, and smoking it........ yep, that just happened!  Now for the purist we are actually rolling meat up and grilling it, not smoking it, but that isn't as fun to say, and sometimes one has to take a bit of artistic license to keep the flow of ideas going.

A while back a mentor and friend of mine, Chris Grove (@nibblemethis), turned me on to roulade making.  A roulade is the french word for roll, and can be savory or sweet.  Savory versions generally include meat, stuffed with various things then rolled up and cooked.  Sweet versions often involve sponge cake, stuffed with cream and fruit filling and rolled up, and we called them jellyrolls when I was a kid, they probably still do today.  I bet those still reading thinking it was an "Up in Smoke" type of post could answer that question for us.  Anyone?  Anyway, the savory versions that I have cooked over the last year or so have become my "go -to' dishes for when friends and family come over, and the main two cuts of meat I have been using are beef flank steak and pork loin.  You could do this with a beef tenderloin, but why would you do that to such a special cut of meat? For this post I want to focus on the flank steak roulade, everyone seems to love them and I have probably cooked more of these in the last year than just about anything else.

FLANK STEAK ROULADE:
First is buying the flank steak, I usually get the biggest one I can find, the closer to 2lbs you can get the better.  I have had to ask the butcher to go in the cooler and see if he/she has any that are bigger than the ones that were in the display cooler.  Now the next step or two can vary depending on your knife skills, and the level of tenderization you are seeking.  However you decide to accomplish this you ultimately need the flank steak butterflied or completely sliced in half, and tenderized.  My knife skills are awful, in fact I chop things only slightly better than the comedian Gallagher does with his Veg O Matic.  I typically ask the butcher to do this, and every now and then I will get one that happily takes it and grabs a knife and slices right through the middle without hesitation.  I am always impressed by this as flank steak is a thin cut of meat to begin with, and some of the "chain store" butchers balk at this practice.  In fact, I often send my wife, Liz, to get the flank steak sliced, typically because most "chain store" butchers always look at me like I have just slapped their momma when I ask them to do it, and often act like they can't.  This refusal rarely happens to Liz, I get it, she is much prettier than I am.  She has learned that if they even look like they are thinking about balking at the request she is quick to smile and suggest they put it on the slicer, you know the one that looks like its used for slicing deli meats.  Then after the slicing, she will get them to run each slice through the tenderizer.  The tenderizer runs along the direction of the grain of the meat.  This works out perfeclty because when you roll it up, and cut it after cooking, you are slicing against the grain, which also helps with making it more tender.  After slicing and tenderizing, don't worry if it's quite thin in places, as long it's more or less intact.  From this point on be careful handling each slice because if you pick up these slices like you would a normal flank steak, some of the meat fibers could pull apart causing a hole, it is that thin sometimes.  Now for the marinade.

Here is a flank steak that has been sliced in half, and tenderized.  The two halves are stacked in top of each other and that's why you can only see the top slice here.

 RECIPE:
2lb beef flank steak (butterflied, or cut in half, and tenderized)
1/4 cup soy sauce (consider low sodium soy if using a rub with salt)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tps of favorite beef rub (we like to make our own rubs that are salt free to use with soy sauce)
8 oz thinly sliced provolone cheese
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 6-8 oz bag of fresh spinach leaves (we love the baby spinach)
8 oz box of fresh sliced mushrooms (we have used all types of mushrooms)
1 red bell pepper seeded and cut into pieces (we often roast it on grill before seeding and slicing)

PREP:
In a ziplock bag combine the soy sauce, olive oil, and the half the rub.  Mix well, then add the flank steak one slice at a time ensuring each slice is covered (remember to be careful handling the meat).  You may be tempted to add more soy here, as it may not seem like enough......don't, trust me, it will be too salty.  The slicing and tenderization really increases the surface area of the beef and it really absorbs the soy.  Now remove as much air as possible, put in fridge for as long as possible, shoot for at least 4 hours.  Squeeze, squish and turn bag occasionally while marinading. 
About an hour before you want to put on the grill, slice your bacon into small pieces and cook the bacon.  When the bacon is almost done add the mushrooms.  When the mushrooms have cooked down, add the bag of spinach and stir it all around in the bacon and mushrooms while wilting the spinach.  After all has cooked down remove from heat.  Time to light the grill!
For a traditional grill light a full chimney starter, and prep grill for 2 zone cooking.  I typically cook this on my big green egg, and I usually use any leftover lump in the grill assuming it is at least half full.
While the coals are getting ready, remove the flank steak from the marinade and lay out the two slices, aligning and overlapping the sides.  Sprinkle the rest of the rub over the slices.  Place the provolone slices over the beef slices leaving an uncovered edge all of the way around.  Now cover the cheese with the bacon, mushrooms, spinach and red pepper slices.

Lay the two slices side by side slightly overlapping so things stay together when rolling.  Spread out all of the ingredients as evenly as possible.  You can see in this picture we typically lay out the strings underneath the slices, the strings help keep everything rolled up.

Now start at the end closest to you and begin rolling away from you (think rolling up a sleeping bag), taking a large bread or brisket knife keeping it in front of where you are rolling to try and keep everything in.  This may take two people, I have tried it by myself and I needed one more hand to get it all done, so I used my foot! Just kidding just wanted to see if you were still paying attention, I actually ended up waiting until someone else got home to help.  Try and keep as much of the stuffing in while rolling, but if some stuffing falls out its no big deal just stuff it into the ends after you get it rolled.  Use the stings to tie it shut, so to speak. 

Get it rolled up and start tying tight knots with middle string being first, then the two end ones (tie one end then stuff anything that fell out into the other end before tying it), then one or two more strings between the middle and the end, should hold it all together.

COOKING:
It's finally time to cook, and I promise that all of this work will be worth it.  I sear it all over on the hot side first, then move it over to the indirect side.  When using my egg, I get the grill up to 450 degrees or so, and sear it all over then I take it off the grill and put in the plate setter and finish the cook, indirect at about 300 degrees, turning occasionally.  This usually takes around 45 minutes or until my Thermapen (not a sponsor, but they could be, they do make first class thermometers) reads at least 135 degrees all the way through the thickest part. Note: my experience is that the roulades have very little, if any, carryover cooking.  Meaning that they will not continue to cook after taking them off of the grill, so in this case 135 degrees means 135, and not 130 coasting up to 135.  Let rest just a few minutes and it's time to eat. Slice it so that the width of each piece is just under an inch or so, like the "pinwheels" you sometimes see in the butcher's display case.

Sometimes I put a chunk or two of hickory in with the lump and get just a touch of a smoke ring.

 Making this roulade is simpler in practice than my description makes it out to be, so do not be intimidated, you can do it.  It is worth all of the steps I assure you.  Your family and friends will be impressed not only with the taste, which is awesome, but with the presentation.  The look of "pinwheel" slices when plated will make even a novice griller look like pro!  I hope you will consider adding "let's roll one up" to your vernacular, and I don't mean Willy Nelson style!