Bavette from the BBQ is in The Netherlands very popular nowadays. And I understand why, because it is a delicious piece of meat! Bavette has a somewhat coarser structure than the more refined steaks. However, this also makes the meat unique in terms of taste and texture and cannot be compared to a tenderloin or rump steak. Bavette is a French cut and often translated as flank steak, although this cut isn’t exactly the same. But following this recipe you can of course go for flank steak if a bavette steak isn’t available. Bavette from the BBQ actually needs nothing more than a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and that's how I prefer to prepare it.

Grilling directly or reverse sear?

Do you prepare a bavette by grilling alone, or do you first have to BBQ indirectly and then grill it? In short: grilled bavette or reverse sear bavette? The answer: that depends on the bavette.

The bavette is often a relatively thin, but elongated piece of meat. In that case, grilling a few minutes per side is sufficient. But sometimes you have a bavette steak that is a lot thicker. You want to eat it warm at the core and then grilling alone is not enough. In that case you go for the reverse sear technique, where you first indirectly bring the bavette to temperature and then grill it for a nice crust.

But what do I do with the bavette I have? My rule of thumb is: up to 2 cm thick, only grilling is sufficient, everything above these 2 cm I prepare using the reverse sear technique.

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Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 45

Total Time: 1

Course: Main Course

Keyword: bavette, bavette steak, flank steak

Servings: 4 people

Ingrediënten:

1000 grams Bavette
Coarse Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Overige Benodigdheden:

BBQ with Lid
Core Thermometer

Instructions

The preparation of bavette starts with allowing the meat to reach room temperature. Therefore, take the meat out of the refrigerator at least an hour in advance. Is the meat vacuum packed? Then immediately remove it from the vacuum, so that the meat can "catch its breath". Now you can also decide right away whether you go for only grilling or the reverse sear.

Grilling only

Do you have a thin bavette and do you only grill? Fire up the BBQ and prepare it for direct heat and a temperature of about 200 degrees Celsius (392 Fahrenheit).
Is the BBQ at the right temperature? Put the bavette on the BBQ grid and grill it for about 3 minutes per side. Do this with the lid on the BBQ. Then measure the core temperature. At 52 degrees Celsius (125.5 Fahrenheit) core you have a nice medium rare result.
Has the meat not yet reached the desired core temperature? Then grill it a little longer. When the core temperature is reached take the meat from the BBQ, place it on a heated plate and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing it up! After slicing, sprinkle the meat with coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Reverse Sear Bavette

Do you have a somewhat thicker piece of bavette? Then it’s wise to go for a reverse sear. To do this, fire up the BBQ and prepare it for indirect heat and a temperature between 100 and 130 degrees Celsius (212-266 Fahrenheit).
Is the BBQ at the right temperature? Then place the meat on the indirect part of the BBQ and insert the core thermometer into the meat. Close the BBQ with the lid and gently cook the bavette to a core of 48 degrees Celsius (118.4 Fahrenheit).
Has the core temperature been reached? Then remove the meat from the BBQ and place it on a warm plate. Now prepare the BBQ for direct heat and a temperature of 230 degrees (446 Fahrenheit).
Is the BBQ at the right temperature? Grill the bavette for 1.5 minutes per side and then measure the core temperature. 52 degrees is a medium rare result, but continue if you wish.
Has the desired core temperature been reached? Then remove the meat from the BBQ. Because the meat has already rested when you prepared the BBQ for grilling, it does not need to rest again now. You can cut the meat right away. After slicing, sprinkle the bavette with coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

Cut on the grain

When cutting, make sure you cut the meat "on the grain”. Cutting with the grain can make the meat tastes tough, even though the quality was good and the preparation perfect.
Cutting on the grain means looking at the muscle fibers of the meat and cutting at right angles to them. You place the bavette with the grooves in the meat from left to right on your cutting board and you actually cut the muscle fibers. That means that all the fibers in the slice of meat are short and it tastes more tender.
In addition, cut slices of about 0.5 cm thick, because that also contributes to the length of the fiber and therefore the tenderness of your meat. Enjoy your meal!