I would rather eat a steak at home than….ANYWHERE
This is a super big, super bold statement. Are you ready? My husband makes THE.BEST.STEAKS.EVER. Ever. Ever. Ever.
He does get a leg up in that 99.9% of the time we are grilling Snake River Farms American Wagyu beef – which – if you know you know…. And, if you don’t know – you could read all about it here on my Favorite Things page.
This post is going to be much less “recipe” and more “method” to share how Dave gets my steaks to perfection. Luckily he and I like our steaks essentially the same – so there’s not a lot of fussing that needs to go on when it’s just us.
So how does the master do it ?
Preparations for the Meat Prior to Grilling
Salt is Super Important to a well flavored Steak.
Pat dry the beef that you intend to grill. Salt LIBERALLY (all sides generously) and ideally salt and store beef in the fridge 1 day in advance. If you don’t salt them a day in advance – at least salt them the morning of the grill and place covered into the fridge. I asked Dave where he learned this and he said YouTube. Which is funny b/c I learned it reading the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat.
One of the main sections in this book is …. SALT. On page 40 there’s a grid showing a “Salting Calendar” – what should be salted when. Thick steaks are noted to be salted 1 day in advance. Further on in the book it says that salting meat for cooking — any time is better than none and more is better than some. Samin also says that time is more important for salting than is the amount of salt. A smaller amount of salt applied earlier will make a bigger difference than a large amount of salt applied later. So Salt the Steaks one day ahead of time…place them back into the fridge covered with plastic wrap.
For the salt coverage – Dave basically has a crust of salt on the steaks on all sides.
If you salt far enough ahead of time – you will be amazed on how much of the salt seeps into the meat and it will not taste over salted. The closer you get to cook time – IE you salt at 3pm – use much less salt – so that the meat is not fully covered as the taste of the salt will remain on the surface of the meat and will produce a saltier taste. If the salt is allowed to seep into the meet (24 hours) a less saltier taste will result.
Bring Steaks Up to Room Temp Before Cooking
Remove the steaks about 1+ hrs before grilling to allow the meat to come up to room temperature. You don’t want to put cold meat on a hot grill – it will seize up and cook inconsistently. Per the title, we love rare steak with a nice char on the outside – so starting with the meat at room temp helps us achieve our goals.
We love Chicago Steak Seasoning – and Dave also liberally adds that seasoning. For the Chicago Steak seasoning the meat should be almost fully covered. Again – we like the char and the seasoning this way. On your first cook with this product, you should probably go lighter and confirm your preferences / your taste instead of going too heavy on the first cook.
Now onto the the Big Green Egg and some Charcoal
Dave uses FOGO Natural Lump Charcoal that he gets from Amazon. It’s a big bag – 35 lbs or so and it usually lasts us a season of grilling. Last check the bag on amazon was about $35…
Once the charcoal is in the egg – Dave uses a Looftlighter (basically a super hot hair dryer that is pointed at the charcoal and starts the flame within 3-5 minutes). This is Dave’s preferred way of igniting the flame.
There are other ways to start the flame – using starting cubes or a plumbers torch or another method. However… NEVER EVER EVER use lighter fluid in your green egg because the lighter fluid will seep into the ceramic and your food will have a gasoline taste for a long time.
Once the Egg is up to medium high heat (~500 degrees-ish) then you start the cook.
Cooking Surface and Timing:
Dave has a green egg insert that is half a skillet and half a grate – both sides are cast iron. We bought this also from Amazon – Or – Santa did the other year…. Dave puts the steaks on direct for less than a minute a side. (Read that again.) Then the steaks go on the skillet for the remainder of time. We like the skillet because it gives a super heavy sear and even a thin coating of “bark”.
Here’s a picture of the green egg – it’s a different cut of meat – but I wanted you to see the contraption he uses.
The remainder of time is less than 7 minutes or so – but Dave uses a meat thermometer and targets 105 degrees internal temperature. This results in a rare steak – which is just the way we like it. Once the steak reaches 105 degrees Dave takes the steak off the grill, and tents the steaks for 5 minutes using tin foil. During this time, the steaks typically rise further to about 120 degrees which is – the low end of the “rare” standard for beef.
Medium Rare steaks should be pulled off at 115 degrees – which will likely raise to 130 after tenting. Medium steaks would be pulled off the grill at approx 120 degrees, raising to 135 or so after tenting. And if you like your steaks more than medium, you should not be buying snake river farms steaks because you won’t be able to appreciate the American Wagyu. (And Dave says we can’t be friends, but… we have some favorites who like their steak burnt. (Was that out loud ?)) 😀
We hope this helps you get your steak exactly the way you like it and hopefully you have learned something about grilling steak?! Having a fancy steak dinner is one of the easiest meals we prepare. Olive oil + liberally salt a potato – bake at 375 for an hour. Sear and cook the steak. Steam some asparagus. Open a bottle of wine. Easy Peasy. Fancy Shmancy.