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You are here: Home / Food & Recipes / Cooking / Friday Recipe Exchange: Labor Day Grilling

Friday Recipe Exchange: Labor Day Grilling

by Anne Laurie|  August 30, 20139:22 pm| 35 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Recipes

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jeffreyw grilled steak

Grilled Steak with all the fixin’s by JeffreyW

From our Food Goddess, TaMara:

Since it’s Labor Day weekend and I’m ready to go out and play, this will be quick and easy. We’re going to grill some steaks. And while you’re waiting to flip them over, let’s talk about what you’re gonna do this weekend for fun.

For recipes, let’s start with this week’s Dinner Menu: Grilled Steaks with Coffee Rub (click on over here).

Yum, Cranberry Pepper Steak (recipe here).

And my all time favorite: Steak with Spicy Blueberry Sauce (click here).

If you just need to drool over some great photos, here’s a round up of Jeffreyw’s steak portfolio (click here if you dare).

And finally, here are some basic steak grilling rules:

My version is here. But my all time favorite version is from John Cole at Balloon-Juice:

(Warning, some salty language ahead)

Not to go all Anthony Bourdain (or McMegan) here, but everyone was commenting that the ribeyes were delicious and the best steak they had had in ages, so I am here to do a beef PSA.

You know how you have a good steak? It’s easy.

1.) Unwrap it, wash it in cold water, pat it dry with towels. Season it with salt and pepper, then let it sit out on a plate for an hour or so until it is room temperature. NEVER EVER EVER EVER COOK UNSEASONED MEAT. NEVER EVER EVER THROW COLD MEAT ON A GRILL. EVER.

2.) Have a hot grill where you can get a good sear. Sear for a minute or two,turn 45-90 degrees, cook for another minute or two or three (depending on thickness). Flip. Get a good sear after a minute or so, turn 45-90 degrees for the nice markings, let finish.

3.) Never ever ever ever ever ever ever poke or prod your steak. Use tongs. Period. You seared the steak to keep the juices in, right, you fucking clown prince? WHY WOULD YOU POKE IT WITH A FORK AND SEND ALL THE JUICES INTO THE COALS? If you want to know whether it is rare, med. rare, or well done, use the method involving the ball of your hand. BUT NEVER CUT INTO IT TO LOOK FOR COLOR. You do that, you might as well just fucking microwave your meat.

4.) Take your steaks off, put them on a plate, let them sit for ten minutes so the juices redistribute throughout the cut. If you take a steak off the grill and immediately cut into it, you have just committed a felony. Hell, this is not hard, it requires you doing NOTHING. Put your steaks off to rest, open a beer, slowly sip it for ten minutes. Congratulations, you have just saved your steak from a capital crime.

It’s really that easy. Grilling cuts do not need to be marinated in vinegary bullshit or overwhelmed by spices and seasoning. It needs salt, it needs pepper, and if you want to give it a steakhouse flair, throw a small pat of butter on it when you let it rest.

I’m sorry for this post, but listening to my guests as they watched me grill just fucking depressed (and mortified) me, and I realized how many cows go to their grave only to have Americans murder them a second time. How does a society this obese not know how to fucking cook?

Make the madness stop.
***********
That’s it, now you’ve got your instructions, go out and start grilling. Have great holiday and see you next week – TaMara

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Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    Yatsuno

    August 30, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    Tonight: burgers. Tomorrow: salmon. Sunday: steak. All grilled. Tummy berry happy with trip to ranch so far.

  2. 2.

    tybee

    August 30, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    and steak comes out just fine when violating all those rules….

    so don’t freak.

    i’m eating off a boston butt gently smoked with maple for 7 hours.

    damn fine shit. better than steak could ever be…

  3. 3.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    August 30, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    Mrs. Fuckhead and I are taking a little trip to the mountains this weekend.

  4. 4.

    Scamp Dog

    August 30, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    John’s link is out of date. Here’s the current one.

  5. 5.

    tybee

    August 30, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    gonna comment about her weight gain again?

  6. 6.

    chopper

    August 30, 2013 at 9:35 pm

    NEVER EVER EVER EVER COOK UNSEASONED MEAT.

    nothing wrong with unseasoned meat. a good cut of meat tastes fine on it’s own.

    likewise, salting it after cooking is fine.

    NEVER EVER EVER THROW COLD MEAT ON A GRILL. EVER.

    there is nothing wrong with this. searing a cold cut of meat, then finishing it in a slow oven can lead to a wonderful combination of nice, medium-rare flesh combined with a nice sear.

    3.) Never ever ever ever ever ever ever poke or prod your steak. Use tongs. Period. You seared the steak to keep the juices in, right, you fucking clown prince?

    searing a steak doesn’t ‘seal in its juices’. that’s an old wive’s tale. you’d think someone tossing around insults would have done their homework, but this is the internet and all.

    that being said, tongs are still better (tho tongs are seriously overused). but FFS, what is with people flipping their shit while getting the most basic facts wrong?

  7. 7.

    raven

    August 30, 2013 at 9:38 pm

    I bought a small turkey that I’ll brine and smoke. May make tasso out of the thighs.

  8. 8.

    Southern Beale

    August 30, 2013 at 9:41 pm

    I have a tried and true method for cooking super thick steaks indoors, for those of you without a grill. Take the racks out of your oven and heat your oven to its hottest temperature — at least 500 degrees. Heat a solid iron skillet til it’s almost smoking — no grease in it. When it’s hot, toss some Kosher salt in it. Throw your room temperature, rinsed & patted dry and peppered steak into the pan. Listen to that sizzle. Then throw the skillet in your oven, setting it on the floor of the oven. Cook about 3 1/2 minutes for medium rare. Take it out, using tongs flip it over, throw the pan back in the oven for another 3 1/2 minutes. Take it out, let it rest for 5 minutes (I don’t do the full 10 as John says but 10 is perfectly fine), and I do tent it with foil. I also drizzle a little olive oil over the top and sometimes sprinkle a dusting — just a DUSTING — of fresh chopped herbs, rosemary is a favorite.

    Then dig in and YUM.

    John is right, it’s not rocket science and you definitely don’t want to slice into your meat to check for doneness, ever.

  9. 9.

    chopper

    August 30, 2013 at 9:43 pm

    @raven:

    that sounds bloody wonderful.

    i have no idea what i’ll do, but it’ll have to be on sunday (plans on monday).

    i’m a have to think about this. maybe lamb, lamb always goes over well in my house. the 4 year old goes ape-poopy over it.

  10. 10.

    chopper

    August 30, 2013 at 9:45 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    nice.

    i’ve always found the hot cast-iron skillet, plus an oven set as low as possible, with an ice-cold cut of steak does best when you have no grill around.

  11. 11.

    chopper

    August 30, 2013 at 9:46 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Listen to that sizzle

  12. 12.

    JGabriel

    August 30, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    OT, but John Roberts is getting gay-married, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg is presiding.

    Just thought y’all would want to know.

  13. 13.

    Mnemosyne

    August 30, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    I’m going to be making a flank steak in my grill pan tomorrow (no outdoor grill). Any good marinade ideas?

  14. 14.

    Culture of Truth

    August 30, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    All well and good but when to we get invited to Cole’s house for a meetup and food?

  15. 15.

    Culture of Truth

    August 30, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    Neanderthals did use this method and look what happened to them. Just saying.

  16. 16.

    Culture of Truth

    August 30, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    Sorry, “did not use this method.”

  17. 17.

    Culture of Truth

    August 30, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    Be like Steve Lonegan. Eat your meat raw with scotch, ya pansies.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    August 30, 2013 at 10:08 pm

    Labor Day Grilling

    “One more time, punk, where is Hoffa’s body?”

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    August 30, 2013 at 10:16 pm

    Apparently the raft of comments accompanying the referenced post by Mr. Cole, pointing out what was mistaken about it – and why – carry no weight or validity whatsoever.

    And ribeye? Pfeh. Can remember when ribeyes were considered suitable only for cheap sandwiches served in dive bars.

  20. 20.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 30, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    @NotMax:

    Can remember when ribeyes were considered suitable only for cheap sandwiches served in dive bars.

    Flank steak. And skirt steak. And hanger steak. Even brisket. Stuff in the old, canonical Joy of Cooking that got the Rombauer stinkeye now comes with a ‘financing available’ tag.

    The ‘cheap steaks’ of my youth might as well have been harvested from mastodons….

  21. 21.

    Scott Alloway

    August 30, 2013 at 11:16 pm

    Boy oh boy. What a storm moved in on steak. For me, room temperature, charcoal grill, patted dry. rubbed with sesame oil and herbs de provence.. 4 minute a side. The end. Serve with a nice grilled vegie and roasted potatoes.

  22. 22.

    lockewasright

    August 30, 2013 at 11:19 pm

    Get a rack of ribs, either spare or baby back. Remove the membrane from the back. Apply, extremely liberally, John Henry’s West Texas rub (I like either the maple or the pecan). Wrap the rack in aluminum foil and put it in the fridge overnight. While the ribs sit in the fridge overnight, soak about a dozen chunks of hickory in water (remove the bark). Cook the ribs over indirect heat at about 230 degrees using lump charcoal until the internal temperature is between 180 degrees and 190 ( I know that seems very high, but indirect heat smoking is a different process. Trust me.) Make sure that there is one chunk of hickory burning on top of the charcoal throughout the entire cooking process with the lid closed. You can use the vent to control the amount of oxygen that the charcoal gets in order to control both the heat and amount of hickory smoke. There should be a thin stream of smoke coming from your grill, not a thick cloud. Once the meat has reached the target temperature, remove it from the pit, wrap it in foil and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

    The cook process can take from 3 to 6 hours depending on the environment where you live and the composition of the protein.

  23. 23.

    The Other Chuck

    August 30, 2013 at 11:22 pm

    I’m trying to figure out that “ball of your hand” method, because it seems to involve fondling the steak STILL ON THE GRILL with your bare hands, then some weird business about feeling resistance like you were picking a lock or finding the G-spot. Explain it to me like I don’t already speak the sacred steak code.

  24. 24.

    Steeplejack

    August 30, 2013 at 11:45 pm

    @The Other Chuck:

    You quickly poke the steak on the grill with one finger, looking for resistance similar to that on the ball of your hand. No fondlng required or recommended.

    Video for the completely clueless.

  25. 25.

    DaveInOz

    August 31, 2013 at 12:49 am

    I used to use the turn once method. I cook the steaks on a griddle which I’ve left on full heat for 10 minutes before starting to make sure it is as hot as possible. For a one inch thick porterhouse, I used to cook it for 4 minutes each side to get a perfect medium-rare steak.

    Then I watched this video by Heston Blumenthal on how to cook the perfect steak. Turning every 15 seconds has cut the cooking time to 5 minutes instead of 8 and get better caramelisation of the surface. Of course, you still have to have JC’s ten minute beer before serving (though I usually use this time to serve the rest of the meal. My favourite, oven baked kipfler chipped potatoes, asparagus (which I cook on the griddle while the steak is resting) and baked tomato. It also helps that I get my steaks delivered direct from the farm. Delicious!

  26. 26.

    Wag

    August 31, 2013 at 1:13 am

    This weekend I’m doing grilled leg of lamb. Butterfied, a rub of minceed rosemary mashed garlic, kosher salt, and olive oil. Massage the rub generously and let it sit for a couple of hours while it comes to ROOM TEMPETURE. Grill over a hot fire for 7 minutes. Flip and grill until the internal tp of the thickest portion is 125. Rest the meat for 10-15 minutes. Ali e and enjoy.

    One of the nice things about leg of lamb is the multiple lobes of meat, all of different thicknesses. By cooking a single price of meat you can please those who like rare, medium rare or medium meat with ease.

    And leftovers make excellent gyros.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    August 31, 2013 at 1:18 am

    @Wag

    Rosemary and garlic go GREAT with lamb.

    If ever looking for a change of pace, a honey mustard rub (and garlic, natch) when grilling a butterflied leg o’ lamb is tres delish.

  28. 28.

    Wag

    August 31, 2013 at 1:24 am

    @NotMax:

    Nice. I’ll keep it mind.

  29. 29.

    TaMara (BHF)

    August 31, 2013 at 3:01 am

    @Wag: I wanna play at your house this weekend. Yum.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    August 31, 2013 at 8:30 am

    @TaMara (BHF):

    1.) Unwrap it, wash it in cold water, pat it dry with towels.

    Speaking of washing, I heard earlier this week that washing chicken before handling is now a bad idea because the spray from the water, even at a gentle trickle, spreads bacteria up to 3 feet away.

  31. 31.

    tom

    August 31, 2013 at 8:49 am

    @Steeplejack: :)

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    August 31, 2013 at 11:16 am

    @The Other Chuck, @tom:

    Oh, dear. I did have a legitimate link, but apparently I forgot to copy it into the buffer after my comment in the previous thread. Check steak doneness by ball-of-hand method.

  33. 33.

    Chuck Butcher

    August 31, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    I indirect charcoal smoke meat a lot and a lot of types. It is a very slow cook method but I have yet to find internal temperatures to need to to be elevated. 8# prime rib bone in 165 internal yields medium rare, 175 yields medium. Birds – chicken, turkey whatever size, stuffed or not require 175 to make it to just cooked. I do maintain a cooking temperature very near my desired end temp – given the variables with charcoaling. I did have the good fortune that one of the first people in N MI I made friends with happened to own a butcher shop… that worked out well.

  34. 34.

    Chuck Butcher

    August 31, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    I am endlessly amused that this Blog requires a “The Other”…

  35. 35.

    Susan K of the tech support

    September 1, 2013 at 12:12 am

    Thank you for this. It is deep Saturday night and this morning I got inspired by this post, a coupla steaks came outta the freezer today, and we refined our technique a bit (rested longer), and OMG we could not stop talking about how stupendous our steak was. garlic salt n pepper before, blue cheese during the resting time, and Carol Shelton Karma Zin (2009) to accompany it all.

    The Contentent Abides.

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