Sunday, July 6, 2008

LET'S TALK STEAK


My Honey is the KING of the grill in this household! He says "Real men don't let women do the grilling!" I think it's because he thinks women CAN'T grill! LOL I just honestly don't do it because he seems to enjoy it so much. And plus he's stinking GOOD at it! You can see, on the steaks in the pic, where he was playing with the branding iron that the kids bought him for Father's day one year. We bought him a smoker for Father's day a couple years ago and he can make that thing stand up and dance! He used it to fire grill these steaks. He didn't use gas or charcoal to cook these babies! It was wood!
He makes a mean steak and it's about the only time I truly enjoy eating steak, when he cooks it.
He can buy the absolute cheapest cut of steak and make it so tender, it will practically melt in your mouth. He always uses Lawry's meat tenderizer on it first. He sprinkles it liberally with the tenderizer and then pokes it with a fork everywhere. Then he pours Stubbs steak marinade over it and lets it sit and come to room temperature before he grills it. But if we are out of Stubbs, he just drizzles it with olive oil, sprinkles it with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper and rubs it into the meat. It's just as tasty that way.

Some things to remember when grilling steak:

Choose a well marbled cut of meat, such as a rib-eye, T-bone, or New York strip. Or you can be cheap like us and buy chuck steak. *hehe* Seriously though, if you can find a better cut of meat on sale, it's SO worth it to get the better one. Chuck steaks can tend to be kind of fatty though. If your steak has a large amount of fat around the outside, make cuts in 2" intervals around the outside edge. Cutting just through the outer layer. Make sure not to cut into meat. This will help keep the steak from curling during grilling. And for goodness sake, DON'T stick a fork in it while you're grilling! Use tongs to turn it. After you grill it, let your steak rest, uncovered for at least 5 minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute and settle before you cut into it.

TIME TABLE for grilling steak.

3/4" steak:
Med rare: 2 min each side
Medium: 3 min each side
Medium well: 4 min each side
Well: 5 min each side

1" steak
Med rare: 3 min each side
Medium: 5 min each side
Medium well: 6 min each side
Well: 7 min each side

1 1/2 " steak
Med rare: 6 min each side
Medium: 7 min each side
Medium: 8 min each side
Well: 9 min each side

* Times will vary slightly depending on outside temperatures, wind conditions, and heat fluctuations in grill.

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