Favorite steak

[Raider Bill]

That looks mighty tasty!

[Tom]

 

[Raider Bill]

Sha Zam Sha Zam Sha Zam! as Gomer Pyle used to say.

They look DELISH!

[DanG]

They are! ;D

Generally, my favorite steak is the one on my plate at the time.

[Samuel]

Prime rib or bone in rib is my fav...  of course rare so the juices get soaked up by the taters.    Salt & pepper only on the steak.  The wife and kids like BBQ sauce and admittingly its OK, but just a lightly seasoned steak on the hot grill...  well that's all I have to say about that... right now

A nice lime margarita on the side is also fantastic!

[Raider Bill]

So how do you guys cook them? Tom it's my understanding you are the Master Steak Griller. Looking at those 3 I suspect it's true! What's your method?

I olive oil a side, salt, pepper, then put on the hottest fire I can get till the juices start to run out the top then flip it over to finish.

Some constantly flip them.

[Tom]

blush!

Maybe not "Master", but I sure do like them cooked over a wood fire.  Once you do it, you begin looking for the different flavors in wood.

It works for most cuts, but my favorite is a bone-in rib eye.  It hurts the pocket book, but we will get a whole rib and cut them ourselves.

Chill, cut, pepper, bring to room temperature  (salt if you are going to) and cook on a generous hardwood fire that has been reduced to a blue or green flame (no yellow).  It will be mostly coals.

If you can hold your hand over it, at grill height, longer than a three count, it's not hot enough.  Lower the grill or build up the fire again.  Use the preparation fire to heat the grill. (the steak should hiss when placed on it.)

Put the steaks on the grill and cook until the bottom surface is reddish brown with tinges of dark brown and really dark stripes from the grill. (a wood fire will turn the surface of the meat red, not that dry brown look of a gas fire)

Turn the steak and cook until pressure applied with a tongs gets the same resistance as the Hand Test indicates what you prefer.  (never, ever, ever, never, never stick the meat with a fork or cut into it.)

My steaks are usually 2"-3" and I shoot for medium to medium rare.  That satisfies most people.  A really rare steak requires a very hot fire.  When you start getting a thick steak requested in the "medium well or well done" area, you might best do it with a cover.  I keep old rejected smoker lids handy, or cut a 6 or 10 inch piece from the end of a 50 gallon drum and attach a handle.  If you use the top of a drum, you might have to use something to close the hole.

You'll find that meat cooked over an open wood fire assumes the flavor of salted meat, as well as the flavor of the wood used to build the fire.  It's easy to over salt if you aren't careful.  I usually cook on water oak (red oak) and flavor with a little bit of hickory, cherry, bay, or whatever as the meat requires.

It's actually an easy way to cook steaks and lends itself to libation and good company.  :P

I also like a porter house, but a thick piece of chuck is right up there too.  Chuck needs to be cooked a little slower to allow the fat to weep out some.

[Burlkraft]

Last night we went out for steak as we celebrated Jill's 50th birthday weekend.

I had a bone in ribeye that was mmmmmm goood  digin_2 digin_2

Today we had a bunch of folks over and I made a whole tenderloin on the grill.

It turned out perfect, well done on the small end and rare on the big end   ;D  ;D  ;D

[Jeff]

Rib-eye  rare to medium rare.

[Piston]

Tom, thanks for just teaching me a whole lot about grilling steak 8)