[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Silock

I have a slight variation on most of the GOOD advice in the thread, but I always get compliments.

1) Set meat out to come to room temp. It's not strictly necessary, but I find it helps make an even cook. Salt at this time. And you want to use either sea salt or kosher salt. Both are fine. And you want to cover the meat in salt as much as possible. It doesn't dry out the meat and anyone that tells you it does has no idea what they're talking about. I've been known to leave it out as long as 4 hours at this point. The salt keeps bacteria from growing on the meat, and even if it did, the heat would kill it off. There is zero reason that this small amount of time outside of the refrigerator would grow bacteria that would be harmful. If you get sick from the meat, it was already contaminated.

Also, if you're not going to be able to salt ahead of time, don't grill the steaks. You need at least an hour of them salted for it to do what it's supposed to, which is to begin to break down the fibers of the meat and season it.

2) Preheat the grill. As hot as possible.

I also don't sear on the grill grates. I use a seasoned cast iron grill pan/plate. It's completely flat to maximize contact with the meat and get the best crust possible. I usually wait until the plate is about 900 degrees or so. Pretty easy to do with a standard grill and a nice, thick cast iron plate.

3) Right before they go on the grill, I rinse off the salt and dry the steaks with paper towels. It doesn't need the salt on there at this point. It's already in the meat. But you don't want the steaks to be wet, either. That only interferes with the meat getting a nice crust.

Then, I rub them with olive oil. A teaspoon or so per side, but that's not a strict rule. Just make sure it's covered.

4) Grill. Usually 3 minutes per side, and then off. That goes for about 1" thick steaks.

5) Rest the meat for at least 5 minutes. As soon as the steaks come off the grill, put a small pat of butter on top to melt off and become to sauce for the steak.

It always tastes amazing and only gets compliments. I get people asking if they can pay for my steaks because they taste so good.