Grill Your Steak The Right Way
No matter what you preference 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 flavor so very low fat content in meat will tend to dry
it out and have much less flavor. You should not have to coat a
great piece of meat with sauce just to get flavor, 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 seasoning 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 you 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. 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. 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 it
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 you hand as a guide. For instance if you take you 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 you 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 and well done.
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. Brush the steak
lightly with olive oil and rub in herb rub.