Pssst BCD...



Don't listen to them Vail you will have the perfect steak if you soak your steak over night in some Anti-Freeze you can trust me :D

:shake:Should I go with Prestone?

Sure can't go wrong with Prestone.

50/50 premixed is best.

Thanks for the marinade advice guys. I'll wait till winter and give it a try.

As I've read along I see some folks put oil on their grates - really?

When I was in college we'd dick around with oil. Either fresh garlic and olive oil directly on the steak or brushing the grates with oil before putting the meat on.

In the end, I've decided it's just a nice little source of flareups and very little else. 'It gets the grates hot' - huh? There's no type or amount of oil you can put on the grates to get them any hotter than the fire's going to get them already, a hot fire will burn off that oil in a snap. A hot fire does that work for you. 'It releases the steak' again - huh? WTF kind of steaks are you cooking that won't come off a grill?

About the only utility I can find for the oil would be that it probably does help loosen up some of the crud on the grate so it can help clean it. I'll buy that. But I just can't see any other use for oil when grilling steaks.

Yeah nothing sticks to my grates, not sure I need oil. I Pam for chicken but the non stick generally works.

A 'doneness' tip that I think I've mentioned around here before:

If you make an 'okay' sign by lightly touching your pointer finger to the tip of your thumb, the 'firmness' in that fleshy area at the base of your thumb is about how firm a medium-rare steak will be.

If you're looking for medium, press your middle finger to your thumb and touch the fleshy area at the base of the thumb; same story - that's about as firm as a medium steak will be. If you're looking for anything above that - **** you. Just drop it in the coals and walk away.

This is by no means a foolproof method, but if you're cooking over an inconsistent fire or don't have a good instant read handy, this will do in a pinch. Don't 'press' the fingers together, just touch the ends.

My grates are well seasoned. I'd never lube them up.

I do sprinkle a little rub on the grates right before I throw down the meat.

Haven't read the whole thread. I don't know about actual cook times and all that, but I have a friend that puts cracked pepper, garlic, and a little spicy montreal steak seasoning on. He usually refrigerates that for 20 minutes before throwing them on the grill.

Thanks Luv!

be sure to slather it with Ketchup before putting it on the grill.
or don't; but be sure to serve it with ketchup.

Oh for sure. But here in AZ ketchup= hot sauce.
Nothing but the best Clark.

I don't know if mine was terrible or not, but it works for me. Color of the moisture on the top of the steak after the flip. Find what you like and go with that color. For me it is just as it starts to get clear. No longer. Works for any thickness of steak that way.

On a real note though I sent the girl for steaks. She came back with bacon wrapped shrimp as well.
Reward has been earned.

I liked that tip.

is that 'real' tomato ketchup Eddie?
LMAO

Boom!
Don't know why they call it hamburger helper, does just fine on it's own.

Purchase and use a good meat thermometer.

I like to put a little salt, pepper and dash of lowry's on KC strips that are just below room temp. Get the coals nice and glowing red hot, then hit each side for about 2 minutes with the lid up. Then turn again and rotate 90degrees and give it another 4 minutes with the lid down. At that point, there should be red juice showing and I check (only once) the temp, flip the steak over one last time (rotate 90degrees), close the lid and give it about one minute, plus one minute for every five degrees away from 145 center temp. Take off the steaks, give them at least 5 minutes to rest, and enjoy a perfect, juicy, medium-rare steak with beautiful cross-hatched grill marks.

Bill Murray was balls. Blues Traveler rocked as Amish.

Thanks man. I do have a good corded thermo but I want to be able to do it by eye.

Watch this and thank me later.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/t4aI_O8kcN8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

this. marinate is a key, room temp before grilling it, and letting it rest lets the moisture return to the muscle tissue so it doesn't end up all over the plate.

Most restaurants baste their steak with melted butter as it cooks btw. I don't do it routinely, but it does make a difference

To get a good crust, I like to dry the steaks in the fridge for a few days. I take the steaks out of the wrapper when we get them and put them uncovered on racks in the fridge for 3-4 days (for thick steaks - 1-2 days for thin cut). It slightly drys the outside, which makes a great crust. The drier outside also seems to seal in the juices in the middle.

Admittedly, I do this mostly for pan frying since I don't grill steaks that often. Drying/aging the steaks saves you from trying to fry a steak in a puddle of water.

cut a clove of garlic in half. rub cut half on steak to get the garlic oils onto the steak. then just salt and pepper. When grilling, turn it at 45 degrees to the steakhouse grill marks, which add more area of carmelization.

Thanks man.

There used to be a steak house here that would cut slits in the side of the steaks before cooking and they would slide slivers of garlic cloves into the slits and then cook. The steaks were amazing.

I can cook a steak in an iron skillet better than most people can cook on a grill anyway

After a couple times with the thermometer, you'll get a good feel for how long it should take and you won't have to use it every time. Also, it should be 135 not 145 for medium rare.

yeah, but can you juggle?.....I think not.

Can't juggle

I got a sous vide machine not too long ago. It cooks steaks perfectly. You set the water to the desired temperature, stick them in there for 45 minutes, then sear them on a super-hot grill or pan. On Saturday I put them in with some garlic, olive oil and basil in the sous vide bag. Beautiful.

45 mins? Thats a pot roast

Hah - I can.

NERD!!!!!!!!


:D

Guilty as charged

Too high.

If you take it off at 135, it'll climb to 140 pretty easily.

Even 130 is a little too high, IMO.

USDA temps and Chef temps are two very different animals. USDA temps will give you a shoe. Look up a good chef temp guide and use those figures instead.

Like I said - I generally recommend taking off at 125 for steaks and even lower for larger cuts because they'll continue cooking a little longer.

Stick a thermometer in a steak and you are helping make that steak tougher than it should be... Press that steak with your index finger to test. If you touch it and it bounces back quick it is rare, the steak will get harder the more it is cooked.

I prefer mine in cast iron too. Sear every side in bit of bacon fat, then throw it in the oven to finish. Makes a crust you won't soon forget.

Most people would rather look cool and manly with the fire and the grill :D Don't mess it up for these guys.

It's not that. I spend almost all my time outside, never touch the stove. Watch football on the patio, grill is my cooker.

Where's that news gif when we need it?...

Doubtful. You cannot replicate the flavor of cooking over charcoal/wood.

There are so many variations in temps on a charcoal or wood fired grill, Iron skillet is consistent every time. Thats just my .02


Nothing pisses me off more than a high dollar quality piece of meat destroyed on a grill by someone who sucks at grilling.

3 ingredients

Kosher Salt (put on the steak when it is sitting out to get to room temp)
Fresh Cracked Pepper ( while it's cooking)
Clarified butter Brushed on steak after it's finished (let sit for 5 mins)

Who said anything about trying to replicate it?

Learn to grill - problem solved.

And frankly, you can suck at grilling and still make a decent steak. Hell, I think good hamburgers are harder to make than a good steak.

Steak's pretty easy to get right if you have any earthly idea what you're doing.

I have an infra red grill and a gas grill. Too lazy to charcoal. I'm not destroying steaks, just want to tune my cooking. My steaks are good, looking for great.

Or just finger test. Poke it with your index finger. If it smoooshes such at your finger pretty much pushes through the steak, , iit's rare. If it is tough, it's well done. Your medium rare should resist a little bit, but still be a little smooshy.

Much prefer the finger test over a thermometer. No messy clean up and helps figure out if certain areas of meat ended up cooking differently than others.

I have an infrared grill too , I liked it alot at first but after a while it's like it has lost it's appeal to me.

oh and the key to making juicy hamburgers is as simple as adding 3-4 tablespoons of plain water to the meat and mix it in before you patty it out. 80-20 meat.. don't buy that lean shit for burgers people.

I mix ground pork, onion, peppers in with my hamburgers. Frigging good.

Point is, grilling is always superior to cooking in a pan.

Flavor.

And it feels good!

Seriously watch that video I posted. It is the only way to do it.

Science FTW.

Sorry, meant to thank you for that. Going to watch it when I get back. Props.

I don't know if you're actually in Colorado or high up in the rocks but that does have an impact on cooking anything.

It forces you to completely change how you grill...

Word. The whole episode is on youtube somewhere. Basically goes in depth about the cut, how to select it, and the science behind prepping and cooking. Alton Brown is certainly an acquired taste, and he can be annoying as shit.

But I love taking the mystery out of food. Understanding exactly why you do certain things, because it allows you to truly take control of cooking.

I've watched a bunch of stuff about baking bread and pizza dough and man I just skyrocketed in ability.

I'm in Arizona, and it is definitely different.

Thanks much. I can do everything pretty well except steaks and want to get excellent.

:eek:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/cont...ad_203x152.jpg

:D

There's a huge element to this.

With no humidity it takes no time at all for that $3it to dry out.

Try the charcoal around coffee can full of water method.

Or you can screen in the bottom of the grill (below where to coals should go/where the grill vents) and add the charcoal there. Then throw a lasagna pan full of water above that.

Great tips, you apparently know your grill. But I'm too lazy to do the charcoal thing.

You don't understand sous vide at all. You can set it at 125 and leave it there all day and it will come out rare.

Sounds good. Does sound like a roast though.

Thats prime rib then

First off, this thread has me hungry as SHIT for a steak. Secondly, I've been wanting to get more into learning how to cook lately. It's time. Since I'm a KC guy, naturally a lot of that "cooking" will be grilling meats. So don't be surprised if I come here for much needed advice quite often in the near future.

Lots of good restaurants cook their steaks this way. The temperature is perfectly controlled so it will never cook more than you want it to. And because it only gets seared, it doesn't dry out as much.

So who is the best cook here on CP? And who wants to volunteer to answer all my idiotic questions on my quest to learn how to cook?

I actually learned to grill good steaks using T-bones.

Since you have the bone in element - they're less easy to dry out while you're learning how to grill a steak.

Also - all grills are diffferent. I've only owned two grills in my life, but both were a trial and error process to figure out what "worked".

When I get a grill, I really just want a Weber charcoal grill. That's all I've ever wanted actually. I just love charcoal grilled meats.

That video sent me on a Good Eats watching spiral.

I'm confident I'm going to brine my turkey for the first time this Thanksgiving thanks to my morning marathon.

Thanks for that.

Rausch has the best advice but if you can' take his advice, you might want to try a spray bottle to spritz the meat with to keep it from drying. The key is to NOT spritz it right away but wait until an exterior crust starts to form... which where you live could be pretty damn quick.

Cool thing about spray bottle is that you can experiment with different flavors of spray like 50% beer or Worcestershire (although don't expect it to make much real difference, the primary purpose is to just keep your steak from drying out too quickly)

Definitely. I used to have steak straight up, but there's alot of good stuff you can use to make it even better.

I own two of his Good Eats cookbooks. outstanding.

Thanks, for the heads up.

Most of the time when I do mine I just rub some sea salt and ground pepper and let it set out while the coals are warming up.

If I were to use a prepackaged steak mix the A1 Dry brand cracked peppercorn is pretty good.

Don't be wantin any bent lids, yo

Without reading through all of this, i'll just say...

let it come to room temperature before putting it on the grill

a few bastings of butter while it cooks never hurts

get a good sear on both sides

never pierce it

let it set for 5 minutes before eating

Do that and you should always have a great steak.

I'd recommend never closing off the top vent under any circumstances.

Too much smoke/creosote buildup in the dome and it creates a bitter taste in the food.

If you need to control air flow, do it through the bottom vents; less air in through the bottom can make up for unwanted air flowing in through the top. But in the end, if you're cooking something so precise that an imperfect seal in the top of the kettle ruins it, you're probably just going to need to drop the money on a BGE and be done with it.

For the vast VAST majority of anything you'll ever do, a little extra air in the top won't be the end of the world by any means.