You probably already have most of the ingredients for this recipe's marinade in the house. If you can just manage to find yourself a skirt steak, you will really be in business. You may have loved skirt steak and not even known it when it was served to you at a restaurant and called fajitas. Now it's becoming much more readily available to the home cook. Skirt steak is long and thing and has great beef flavor. It is perfect for grilling or a quick sear in the pan. Tough but flavorful (like flank steak and hanger steak), skirt steak should never be cooked beyond medium-rare. Let it rest for a few minutes before you carve it, then slice it very thin and at an angle. If you don't find skirt steak at your supermarket, ask the butcher to get it for you. (You'll be surprised at how much power you can wield as a consumer.) Cellophane noodles, also called bean thread noodles, are made from the starch of mung beans. When they are soaked, they become soft, much like cooked pasta, and when quickly fried, as they are here, they puff up into crispy white strands. They absorb the flavors of the foods they are served with. Here they provide a dramatic-looking backdrop to the beef. If you can't find them, serve the beef on plain rice or on the boiled noodles of your choice.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 3 scallions, white and 2 inches of the green parts, finely chopped, plus additional chopped scallions for garnish
• 2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Asian toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 pounds skirt steak, in two pieces
• Vegetable oil, for deep-frying the noodles plus 3 tablespoons for sauteing the beef
• 1 1/2 ounces cellophane noodles (bean threads)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions