471 0 0 0 16 9. It’s never too early to start prepping for barbecue season—so go ahead and bookmark this. Purists assert that a good-quality cut of steak is done ill justice at the hands of an overzealous grill. Contrast that to cheaper cuts like chuck roast, for example, medium rare steak temp come to their prime slowly and forgivingly when slowly cooked.
Choose the right piece of steak. The quality of your final product depends on your starting ingredients. There’s really only three things in my opinion that make for a good grilled steak: Beef, salt and fire. We only work with USDA Prime beef, which is the highest grade of beef available, and accounts for only 1.
Fat is flavor, so look for beef that looks plump, bright red and has the most marbling. Grain-fed or grain finished beef will have more marbling than a grass-fed beef. If you’re lucky enough to be able to find a butcher that has dry-aged beef,” Prentiss says. I highly recommend trying anything aged from 15 to 30 days until you become acquainted with the flavor.
He’s executive chef at Brennan’s of Houston. If you’re up for trying your hand at aging and are lucky enough to have access to a cryovac, he recommends packing the meat in an airtight seal until it hits at least 23 days. According to chef Dan Sharp of The Meatball Shop in New York, certain types of steaks best lend themselves to grilling. He recommends a skirt steak for a hot grill, whereas a NY strip steak or ribeye is best for a cast-iron pan over a burner. Don’t cook your steaks straight from the fridge.
Prentiss recommends taking out your steak from the fridge about one hour before you’re going to cook it and setting it on a roasting rack. This is also the best time to season it with salt, ideally medium grain sea salt, he says. Sharp prefers to season his steaks a couple of hours in advance, and then agrees about letting them come to room temperature before cooking. While chefs differ about the amount of room temp time before cooking, chef Dinesh Jayawardena recommends not squeezing the time below a half hour. Don’t use the wrong kind of salt, and when in doubt, oversalt. We use Jacobsen’s Kosher Salt from Portland, Oregon. The grains are medium sized and have a pleasant minerality that lends itself perfectly to grilled beef.
Any true fleur de sel or sel gris type sea salt will work well for good beef. Cervantez is a fan of kosher salt, which is, according to experts, virtually identical to sea salt. Both are different from iodized table salt however, which is usually ultra fine grain and is adulterated with iodine, hence the name. Cervantez is a fan of pepper, as well, and recommends combining both in equal quantities. He’s the executive chef at Cindy’s, the rooftop restaurant at the Chicago Athletic Association. When you think it’s enough, always add a little more. A lot of salt and pepper always falls off during the cooking process and doesn’t always penetrate the meat.
Cocktail Bar in Bloomington, Minnesota, agrees. Do this before you let the steaks rest so the seasoning has time to work its way deep into the meat. Don’t season your steak too soon—yes, that’s a thing. If you do not have an hour to temper and season ahead of time, season immediately before grilling, anything shorter than 40 minutes will only pull moisture out of the steak and not let the outside get those beautiful grill marks and crust. If you do decide to add some fat, stick with olive oil, not butter, says Angelo Auriana. He’s the chef at Factory Place Hospitality. Make sure it’s super dry before it hits the heat.
Dry meat forms the best crust. Not much more to say about that, then. Don’t use lighter fluid or charcoal briquettes if you can avoid it. Always avoid lighter fluid if possible, and while convenient, charcoal briquettes can add an unpleasant kerosene flavor to meat grilled meats and should be avoided. The best way to go, however, is hardwood or hardwood lump charcoal. P we use seasoned oak logs and a hardwood lump charcoal made from mesquite, this yields us a consistent fire with minimal smoke that burns around 800 degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t start without a super hot grill.
Your fire should have a bed of red hot coals, high, even heat across the grill, and minimal flames and smoke. This method will give you a crispy on the outside, yet moist and tender on the inside steak. Don’t forget the thermometer—even if you’re a pro. Chef Christian Ragano thinks this is one of the most important things to remember. It takes a ton of practice and a ton of experience.