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Order now and secure your cuts. The first orders ship on Wednesday 4 November with SEUR Frío (refrigerated courier) and arrive the next day (Balearic Islands: two days).
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Flank steak · Bavette · Vacío · London broil
Flank Steak in Spain: Ask the Butcher for Vacío
If you have been asking for flank and getting blank looks, here is the word that works. Flank steak, which British butchers also sell as bavette, is vacío at a Spanish grill counter. It is part of the falda, the belly of the animal: a flat, long-grained piece with a layer of fat on one side. Ask for vacío and you get the whole cut, the way Argentines grill it. Ours is retinto beef, approx. 1.2 kg, vacuum-packed.
Buy vacío online Beef cuts in Spanish: full guide
- Whole retinto flank, approx. 1.2 kg
- Refrigerated courier at 2–8 °C, at your door on Thursday before 13:00 (Spanish mainland)
- Retinto: the native red cattle of Andalusia and Extremadura
Retinto vacío, plus the rest of an Argentine-style grill
The vacío is listed at €30.90 for a piece of about 1.2 kg. If you are building a full asado around it, the usual companions are on the same shelf: skirt (entraña), short-rib strips (tira de asado) and a whole picanha. We reopen on Thursday 5 November 2026, and orders placed before then get 20% off in the basket.
Skirt steak (entraña), retinto yearling beef, 1.5 kg
Entraña Añojo Retinto 1,5 KG44,90€ VAT incl.Add to basketWhole picanha (rump cap), 100% retinto, 1.5–2 kg
Picanha 100% Retinto, pieza completa 1,5 a 2 kg59,90€ VAT incl.Add to basket
One cut, two schools of cooking
Flank is the same piece of meat in Buenos Aires, London and Texas. What changes is how people treat it, and the two main approaches are close to opposites. Both work.
The Argentine way: whole, slow, fat side first
In Argentina vacío is one of the slow cuts of the asado. It goes on whole, fat side down, over medium embers that you can hold a hand above for several seconds. It stays there for most of the cooking while the fat renders and crisps, and is turned once to finish the lean side. Nothing goes on it but coarse salt. The result is cooked through rather than pink, with a crisp outside, and is carved across the grain into thick slices at the table.
The British and American way: marinate, sear, slice thin
The Anglo approach treats flank as a steak. Marinate it for a few hours (oil, garlic, something acidic, something salty such as soy), wipe it dry, then cook it as hot and as fast as you can on the barbecue (US: grill) or in a ridged pan. Take it off at medium-rare, rest it, and slice it very thinly across the grain with the knife held at an angle. London broil, which you will see in American recipes, is this method rather than a cut: marinated flank cooked under the oven grill (US: broiler) and sliced thin. In Spain, buy vacío for it.
| Method | Heat | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Argentine asado: whole, salt only, fat side first | Medium embers, slow. Roughly 40 minutes to an hour in all, most of it on the fat side | Crisp fat, meat cooked through, thick slices |
| Marinated steak on the barbecue or in a pan | Very high, direct heat. A few minutes per side | Charred outside, pink middle, thin slices |
| London broil under the oven grill | Maximum overhead heat, shelf close to the element. A few minutes per side | Much the same as the barbecue, without going outdoors |
Temperatures and the knife
- For the hot and fast methods, aim for medium-rare: 54–57 °C (129–135 °F) at the thickest point.
- Medium, 60–63 °C (140–145 °F), is the sensible limit for a seared flank. Beyond that it tightens.
- Rest the meat for five to ten minutes before slicing.
- The grain of a flank is easy to see: long fibres running the length of the piece. Always cut across them.
Flank is not skirt
The two are confused in recipes all the time. Skirt is the diaphragm, thinner and looser in texture, and in Spain it is called entraña; it has its own skirt steak page. If you are planning a whole asado, see also short ribs cut as tira de asado, picanha and the ready-made barbecue boxes, one of which includes a retinto vacío.
Questions about flank, bavette and vacío
What is flank steak in Spanish?
Vacío. That is the grill name; the cut is part of the falda, the belly. If the butcher hesitates, say you want vacío in one piece for the barbecue: “vacío entero, para la parrilla”.
Is bavette the same as flank steak?
In British butchery, yes: bavette and flank are names for the same cut, and both translate as vacío in Spain.
Is vacío the same as entraña?
No, though the confusion is common. Entraña is skirt, the diaphragm. Vacío is flank, from the belly wall. Both are flat and open-grained, which is why recipes often treat them as interchangeable.
Can I make London broil in Spain?
Yes, easily. London broil is a way of cooking flank, not a separate cut. Buy a vacío, marinate it, cook it under a very hot oven grill and slice it thinly across the grain.
Should I take the fat off?
For the Argentine method, no: the fat side goes down first and is the point of the dish. For a marinated, fast-seared flank you can trim it back so that the marinade reaches the meat.
How does it arrive?
Chilled and vacuum-packed, by refrigerated courier. It keeps in the fridge until the use-by date on the label, or you can freeze it on arrival. See the delivery page for the full process.