Grilling steaks over-rated?
 

last night I did something different. Retro different, old-old school but new to me.

I had a couple of 1 1/4" thick boneless rib eye steaks.
Salt, pepper, a little olive oil, nothing fancy.

Then I got my cast iron skillet really hot on the stove while the oven was cranking up to 400.

I seared one side of the steaks for about a minute, flipped over for a minute, then into the oven pan and all for about 10 minutes until the steaks were bout 130 degrees.

I pulled the pan out of the oven and let it sit for a few more minutes on the stove, until the steaks were juuuuuuust riiiight.

Hadn't ever done it that way before, but it turned out really tender and good.
Best steak I've had in a long time.
I'll think twice the next time I throw a good steak on the grill.

Sammy, the important thing IMHO is the searing on the stove in the cast iron fry pan. Do that, then finish on the grill for the grill marks and whatever special taste your grill imparts.

i love it this way.

i preheat my oven to 400, but i have my cast iron in there warming. gives it a huge jump-start when i need it to be rocket hot. that way, i just put it onto a flaming stovetop and it is already hot.

you ever read recipes? they all say a two minutes on each side..and into the oven..for way too little time. i need the same 8-10 minutes you do for med rare. maybe my oven is weak? 400 seems like 400. dunno.

i then slice it on the bias, fan it out,,drizzle some fresh olive oil, and add a big squeeze of lemon and serve it up family style. i cant eat an entire steak anymore.

cooking it outside saves me the home interior that smells of steak. my hoodtop is also weak.

Hard for me to get that good 'ole steak flavor since a stroke in '06.
Really f'd over my taste buds.
But I keep trying w/various marinades and soakings...wood chips over coals, etc.

I buy strip & rib roasts & cut steaks from them 2 1/2 - 3" thick. Heat the ole cast iron on the grill outside on max for 10+ minutes. 650 degrees. Sear both sides for 3 minutes (I like a crust). Transfer to a thin cold pan into 400 degree preheated oven until the inserted thermometer hits 133. Pull & wrap in foil for 10 minutes. Bias slice & drizzle with 2nd pan juices. Perfect medium rare every single time. 130 would be a good rare, 137 for med well.

This is really excellent with my steak chili rub.

Ian

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

That's the recipe for prime rib.....should work.

buy skirt steak? cooked med rare..IMHO nothing taste beefier.

I have some friends who are pretty good cooks who do them this way every time, swear by it. Always pan seared in the cast iron skillet. They are also into this current healthy diet that is just meat and veggies, little or no wheat. One guy who does this is a pretty good athlete, (tennis), he's healthy as a horse but I chalk some of that up to youth, lol. They will make a huge salad in the summer and everyone is eating that with a nice steak sliced-up in the middle of the table for anyone to grab some if they want. Great meal.

My dad alway grilled steaks on the barbie outside and they were delicious, charred on the outside and pink in the middle. Man I love a good steak, this thread is making me hungry. :)

I'll try that.

Every once in a while I use my cast iron skillet to cook a steak on the stove. Just a touch of pepper and ground coffee. Two minutes per side depending on thickness. Nice crust on the outside and pink on the inside. The only downside is it stinks up the house for a few days.

Do you put any oil in the cast iron skillet, or just sear it dry?

JA

Yes. Let the pan heat dry. Add 2 -3 tbsp oil. Add steak.

Ian

The quick answer is NO, grilled beef is still my favorite thing!!!! I have had many steaks done that way, sometimes in very expensive restaurants....also always very good.

The reverse sear method works well also.

The cast iron skillet works very well for steak, salmon and pork roast. Easy to get the flavor and cooking time perfectly. I season and then coat then item in olive oil right before throwing it into a super hot skillet.

Cast Iron pan is good for so many things. When I'm grilling and want potatoes, instead of just grilling potato slices, I'll toss some red potatoes in oil and rosemary and put them in a hot pan on the grill.

We do seared/oven finished steaks (and yes skirt steaks!) for less marbled cuts. I think the more marbled cuts do a little better on the grill.

I use the cast iron pan for seared/rare ahi almost once a week.

What's this?...

It's like a counter-clockwise swirl, but with a steak :--)

I've been doing Prime filets lately just get the grill as hot as I can, sear both sides, turn down flame on 1/2 the grill, move steaks to that side and finish them. Like buttah...

i've started reverse searing thicker steaks lately. basically, instead of cooking at high temp to desired doneness, you cook at lower temp first, then sear. this method will minimize that grey band of overcooked meat you get between the seared outside and the pink inside.

Cooking Temps: When To Cook Hot & Fast, When To Cook Low & Slow, And When To Do Both (Reverse Sear)

In a slow oven on a rack until ~90 deg then sear in the skillet until ~125-130. A little carry over cooking gets you to med-rare while resting.

yum

Olive oil burns at high temperature.

I'm very disappointed in all of you..............


this post is worthless without photos:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378793920.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378794168.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378794284.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378794303.jpg

YUM

Neat trick with the onions on the BBQ - gunna do that myself next time.

Whatever you do, don't try to make waffles with that technique... Disaster!

Skillet is best. I don't add oil to the pan though. Take a nice thick cut of steak with a healthy rind of fat. Add salt/pepepr to taste. Stand the steak on edge (on the rind of fat) in your very hot skillet. As the rind renders down and crisps up it releases fat into the pan in which you then cook the steak. Only way to have it is rare.

A good steak is a good steak. You could eat it raw and it would taste good. The BIGGEST problem with grilling is overcooking. When my Weber grill is cranking, it's almost 600 degree's. I can cook a medium thick steak in 6-8 minutes, timing it and turning it over exactly half way through. Remove it from the grill and let it set 10 minutes and they are always great, as long as the steak is good to begin with. I never order steak out!

It's all about the temperature and timing--> dependent on thickness. I've moved to a skillet, sear, bake from grilling. Same temperature, just a different method. 450-500.

The most common mistake is not allowing the meat to come to room temperature before cooking.

Let set for 5 minutes before eating. If you don't have juice on the pan or plate for the baked potato, you're doing it wrong.

The key to a good steak is to pick a good cut, then season it well. That, and don't cook the crap out of it. If you want a good steak, you want it between rare and medium rare. Grilled steaks can be tasty, but some are better done in a pan, like a filet, or a skirt steak. Huge amounts of heat are NOT needed. I'd say the average guy places way too much importance on temperature when searing the meat. It only needs to be a little over 300 degrees at the surface of the meat. Blast furnace levels of heat just create an overly cooked layer on the outside.

Sear it at a reasonable heat and finish it in a slow oven. Baste it with butter, or other fat. Make a decent pan sauce while you let the meat rest.

JR

For those who sear in cast iron on a side burner, then move to grill, while the meat is BBQing for that caveman DNA ingrained love of smoked meat, to the cast iron and left over fat scrape that pan hard to loosen all the seared bits and add thin 1/8-1/4" sliced red potatoes and onion rings and mushrooms to the rendered fat and crisp them up hot like potato chips.

Grilled over charcoal> anything else...

another trick is to get real chunk charcoal (NOT pressed sawdust briquets) hot hot hot, wave something over it to reduce the ash and put the meat right on top of it

flip the meat; pull it off, and knock off any coals

brush off any ash (there won't be much) and gnaw into it

And what is wrong with that? That part is crunchy & tasty! ;)

Ian

what's wrong with it are things like nitrosamines and other combustion products - they are carcinogenic

however, as Bruce Ames pointed out in reference to pesticide exposure, your body contains anti-cancer and detoxification mechanisms

I prefer to use my detoxification mechanisms to deal with something tasty like a little grilled meat once in a while...

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

Ian

Pittsburgh rare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Being from Pittsburgh, we like our steaks made like our steel.:D

Is that why the steel industry died out? :D

Beef has more flavor if you cook it a little. Just not too much...

This picture illustrates an even doneness, although it's a little too done for me:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378842282.jpg

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

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1378842300.jpg

Cooking with Cast Iron on both sides.!

When heating up my cast iron skillet on the bbq side burner, I place this in the pan to warm up too, and it keeps my steaks mo' flatter so they cook evenly, must weigh about 3-4 pounds..


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Seems that weight would squeeze out juices that you'd rather keep in the steak? Kind of like pressing a hamburger as you cook it.