There are cooked steaks and then there are grill steaks.
That smoky flavour will have you lining up every time with your knife and fork in hand.
But not many people know how to grill steak right.
Grill Steaks Beautifully
Grilling the perfect steak is more than throwing red meat on a hot flame.
No matter what you prefer in a steak, maintaining good moisture should always be your goal.
When searching for a good cut of beef, look for a cut with good consistent marbling.
Fat equals flavour so very low-fat content in meat will tend to dry it out and have much less flavour.
You should not have to coat a great piece of meat with the sauce just to get the flavour, in fact, you should avoid using a sauce at all.
You want to see visible grains of fat running through the meat but not large pieces of fat.
If you do see larger pieces simply trim them off.
As you cook your steak the fat will melt and naturally tenderize the meat.
After removing the meat from refrigeration season the meat with generous amounts of salt and pepper.
Many other herb and spice combinations can be added to your taste just be sure you have plenty of salt and pepper in addition to any other seasonings.
Allow the meat to come to room temperature before grilling.
When grilling your steak first make sure that you have your grill nice and hot.
This will give the outside a nice crust and will also help seal in its natural juices.
If your fire flares up at any point, move the meat off the flame.
While you want a hot grill, you do not want direct flame on the meat for any extended time period.
Steak Flipping
The worst mistake that most grillers make is to continually flip the meat time and time again.
Continually flipping the meat does nothing but cause the meat to dry out.
Flipping the steak over and over does not make you a grill master, doing it right, does.
In the end, you will flip your steak 3 times which will mean you have cooked both sides twice for 3 minutes on each side.
For cross-hatch marks on your meat simply turn it 45 degrees when flipping.
The total cooking time should be roughly 12 minutes.
This will achieve a medium rare steak depending on how hot your grill is.
Because every grill is different you will need to experiment to get the desired results.
There is no exact way to tell when the steak is done.
Without cutting the meat open and risking the release of its juices, the best way is to either press the meat to judge its tenderness or use a meat thermometer.
If you choose not to press the meat, you can use your hand as a guide.
For instance, if you take your index finger and touch the fleshy part of your palm right under your thumb, that is what rare should feel like.
Conversely, if you touch your pinky to that same part of your palm that is the consistency of well done.
So from finger to the next starting with your index finger and ending with the pinky, it would be:
- rare
- medium-rare
- medium
- well done
The Herb Rub
Herb rub:
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons mustard powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion
Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.
Then brush the steak lightly with olive oil and rub in herb rub or herbs.
These grill steaks are just delicious, aren’t they?
We all have preferences as to how we like our steaks done, so I hope that this guide will help you on your way with that.