Grilling steaks over-rated?

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Shame on you, Randy. For daring to discuss health & grilled steak in the same thread.

Ian

throw some tofu - I'll dodge it

I bought some Waygu (or is it Wagyu?) beef the other day - them lil' muthas cost $25/lb. - they were good but not that good; back to skirt steak...

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by javadog

This is what you don't want and what you usually get if you use too much heat:

The sear time is totally dependent on the thickness. My Guide: For the near-useless supermarket 1/2" - 3/4" a 30 second sear. A good 1 1/2" - 2" is a 1 - 2 minute sear. A thick 3" is 3 minutes. So about 1 minute per inch. Then into the oven to finish.

Ian

[jyl]

No-one refrigerates their steak before searing?

[tadink]

best and easiest marinade ever -

a little balsamic vinegar over the steak, then garlic powder and pepper, turn it over, same on the other side.

let is sit and warm up to room temp -

then onto a hot grill (or low and slow in the oven) either way - tender and delish!

easy and super great! Best with Cabernet Sauvignon - Dos Lagos Vineyards of course!

Uncorked Ventures - Blog - Dos Lagos Vineyards

td

[javadog]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

The sear time is totally dependent on the thickness. My Guide: For the near-useless supermarket 1/2" - 3/4" a 30 second sear. A good 1 1/2" - 2" is a 1 - 2 minute sear. A thick 3" is 3 minutes. So about 1 minute per inch. Then into the oven to finish.

Ian

Think about this for a minute. You are just browning the outside surface, which is the same regardless of thickness. Once it's brown, you're done searing.

Originally Posted by jyl

No-one refrigerates their steak before searing?

Hell no. It makes the problem of over-cooked outside/under-cooked inside worse. Some people bring the meat up to temperature first in a very slow oven, then sear it. The thicker the steak, the better this works.

If you had a really thin steak, then what you suggest might work, if you are trying to get good browning on the outside before the inside gets too cooked. But then, I don't buy thin steaks.... so, no.

JR

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by javadog

Think about this for a minute. You are just browning the outside surface, which is the same regardless of thickness. Once it's brown, you're done searing.

Very true but as you graphically pointed out, it cooks inside as well. We like a real crust & that takes time. Unfortunately on a thin steak, a good searing will cook it completely & you have leather. That is why I buy roasts & cut to my own desired thickness. With all this steak talk, I have one out for tonight. A nice 2 1/2" strip . . . with a coffee/chili rub, it should be great.

Ian

[greglepore]

Sous-vide steak at 135 for 2 hrs or so with a little butter or olive oil, sear quickly in a pan of butter. Medium rare from edge to edge, due to the sous vide, and the juices are sealed in by the vacuum.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

A nice 2 1/2" strip . . . with a coffee/chili rub, it should be great.

Ian

Can you post your recipe?

[imcarthur]

COWBOY STEAK WITH COFFEE AND ANCHO RUB

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ancho chile or regular chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely ground espresso coffee
• 1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

This is enough for one family-sized steak.

Ian

[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?

[javadog]

Not much. The trick to steak cooking is to bring it up to temperature evenly. Searing works against that. Freezing it, then searing, makes it worse.

Experiment with steak doneness. I think you'll find that raw meat has less flavor than properly cooked meat. Over-cooking meat loses flavor also. There's a happy medium in there.

Hamburgers also benefit from a certain doneness, although they taste better when cooked closer to the medium side of medium ra A rare/rare plus hamburger doesn't have as much flavor as one cooked a little longer.

JR

[greglepore]

Try adding just a touch of corn starch to the rub, you'll get an even better crust. Oh yeah, and dry the steak before searing.

[Pazuzu]

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?

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.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by jyl

No-one refrigerates their steak before searing?

sure, sometimes - it allows you to turn the outer surface into a nice n carcinogen laden sear, while keeping the interior close to raw!


I keep thinking of just using a MAPP torch on one... someday.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

Pull & wrap in foil for 10 minutes.

Ian

Originally Posted by Don Ro

"Pull & wrap in foil for 10 minutes."
~~~~~~~~~
Sometimes I'll put hot steaks in tupperware...seems to make them tender/moist.

Both "America's Test Kitchen" and Anthony Bourdain say you want to let a steak sit for 5 or 10 mins or so after pulling it off of the heat before you start cutting into it.

I've also heard that you should let a steak come up to room temp before you start cooking it.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by greglepore

dry the steak before searing.

Absolutely, you don't want liquid on the outside when you sear. If there's liquid on the outside (even if it's oil) then the heat that should be searing meat is used to heat, and vaporize the fluid. If you want a good sear, the meat and surface that you're throwing it on needs to be dry.

[docrodg]

I am a geek, and take it with me into the kitchen. The best method I have found indoors to grill a steak:

Crank oven as high as it will go (550 on mine) with cast iron skillet in it. let it sit for a bit after it says it reached temp.

Prep steaks. Place on counter to let warm up, pat dry then salt with kosher salt to help draw out the proteins that create that sear (maillard reaction in science terms).

Once pan is rocket hot place on stove with burner on max. a (very) little pnut or safflower oil (high smoke point) on steaks to help not stick and conduct heat. Moisture is bad, but oil is ok for this. Water dissolves the crust created, but oil won't.

Place steak in for about 1 or 2 minutes per side. Do not move it around and only flip once.

After second side done back into oven for another 1 to 2 minutes per side to finish.

Place on a rack to let moisture drip away and cover lightly with foil. A lot of energy (heat) was pushed into the steak, this rest gives it a chance to reabsorb some moisture and finish cooking as it coasts to a perfect medium rare).

Add pepper and plate. Pepper burns so leave it till last, same with garlic etc. Salt won't burn... it is a rock.

Eat.

[Hydrocket]

Since I've had my smoker, we smoke our steaks. Smoke for ~1.5hours, then on the grill (on Grill Grates, of course!) for 1 minute per side.

Done. Melt in your mouth buttery tender...with a nice smokey taste. Heaven.

For those of you that have a hard time keep steaks moist in a pan, give them a quick Jaccard before cooking.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by ltusler

The reverse sear method works well also.

+1

Had a friend do some thick ribeyes on the grill this way. Best steak I remember in a while.

The upside of the reverse sear is that the steak is a) cooked nice and evenly throughout and b) crunchy on the outside.

On a regular cooked steak, you are loosing b) striving for a). Yes, the regular method supposedly seals in the juices, but if you cook indirect slowly, that's not an issue at all.

G

[billybek]

Originally Posted by RWebb

sure, sometimes - it allows you to turn the outer surface into a nice n carcinogen laden sear, while keeping the interior close to raw!

I don't think the sear is actually the cause of carcinogens in or on the meat. It is the by products of fat burning off of the hot surfaces of the gas grill or charcoal that causes it.