Combine marinade ingredients in a baking dish large enough to comfortably hold the steak. Dip both sides of steak in marinade to coat, then lay steak in dish. Cover dish with foil or plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1-24 hours.

Bring steak to room temperature before cooking.

Steak may be broiled, stir-fried, barbecued, or prepared in a grill pan. If you are oven-broiling or stir-frying, slice steak thinly. Cook in about 6 tablespoons of the same red wine you used in marinade and a little flavorless cooking oil. Sunflower, grapeseed, or peanut oil are best here. The steak will cook within minutes.

Serve flap steak with a port marinade with a salad, potates, flatbreads of your choice, and/or rice. I write at the end of July, when a tomato salad makes a fine accompaniment to the steak. In cooler months, serve flap steak with rice and a cooked vegetable. Spinach, cooked winter squash, or broccoli rabe would all complement the meat.

Leftover flap steak may be refrigerated in a covered container up to four days or frozen up three months.

Notes:

The marinade may be used for other steak cuts, pork, chicken, or tofu. Do not consume uncooked marinade after placing raw meat in it; cook it first. We all have enough going on without getting food poisoning.

The variations to this dish are many. You could marinate the steak in fish sauce and lime, or soy sauce and a quarter cup (60 ml) tamarind. You could lightly salt the meat a few hours before cooking, then give it a quick sear in a blazing hot cast iron pan with some excellent butter, a few drops of cooking oil, and shot of brandy.

Flap steak is delicious in stir-fries and Mexican dishes like tacos, too.

I hate gunky bottle rims, so wipe them off with a rag dampened with white vinegar.