Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
To take an extreme example of the refrigeration idea, suppose you took a thick steak and froze it solid. Then dropped it in a blazing hot skillet. Pull it off when the outside surface is adequately seared (brown, crusty). How much will the inside have cooked, or even thawed?
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That's basically how I do it. I stole this from America's Test Kitchen and haven't gone back since.
1) Dry steaks with paper towels (you waste energy and heat boiling the water in the surface instead of putting it towards the Maillard reaction).
2) Coat steaks with 50/50 mix of salt and corn starch. About 1Tbsp of each for 2 thick steaks. Coat liberally and everywhere, roll the steak in it, get it in all of the cracks and crevasses, you want that steak looking white. No nee to season later, and the corn starch dries the surface even more, while helping create the crust. Also, the salt acts like a brine. You can add whatever else you want to this rub.
3) Toss steaks in freezer. You're going to abuse these steaks on the grill, freezing them dries them even more, AND prevents the center from warming up while you char the hell out of the outside.
4) 30 minutes later, start grill and get it blazing.
5) toss steaks on, 3 minutes per side turning halfway for crosshatching. Then 1-2 minutes more per side for preference. If the steaks make a sound, you messed up, they should be dead silent (no sizzle, because no water or oils turning to steam).
5) Let sit, then eat. Steaks will be well crusted, have lots of salt flavor, and be rare inside.