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Serious Red Meat: How Do You Grill Steak?

Posted by Ed Levine, August 23, 2007 at 8:05 AM

Here's the Beef: Prime steaks age in Master Purveyors' dry-aging room. From Adam Kuban's trip to the meat supplier.

The Serious Eats Steak Grilling Quiz:

Rib-eye, sirloin, or filet?
Bone in or out?
Prime or choice?
Dry- or wet-aged?
Weber Kettle or fancy-pants grill?
Charcoal or gas?
Salt and pepper or spice rub?
Eyeball, finger, or instant-read thermometer for telling when a steak is done?

So many questions to answer about grilled steak, so little time to do so with summer fleeting fast.

Mark Bittman gave his usual minimalist, reductive take on grilling steak in the New York Times, and he did end up answering many of the questions posed above. But since I had grilled a three-inch thick bone-in rib eye on Tuesday night, right before his story appeared, I did not have the benefit of his wisdom or yours when I wrestled with my hunk of red meat.

I bought a choice, wet-aged, bone-in rib-eye Black Angus steak from a terrific new food store, Fiddlehead Farm, that opened a mile from us. I much prefer dry-aged prime meat to wet-aged choice, but there is no dry-aged prime meat to be found in any food store near us. Bone-in rib eyes can be hard to find if you do not have access to that dying breed of food retailers, the local butcher. But they are worth seeking out, as the bone helps keep the meat juicy and moist and imparts a little bit of flavor as well. And, of course, rib eye steaks are rimmed on one side by the spinalis dorsi, the tastiest, most tender ridge of meat you will ever find anywhere. The rib eye is the only cut of steak that has the spinalis dorsi.

I did quite a bit of research on Black Angus beef a few years ago, and I discovered that it is as much marketing ploy as it is a sign of quality. That said, this particular Black Angus steak produced one seriously delicious platter of red meat. If you are willing to splurge on dry-aged prime meat for your occasional steak, I have found Lobel's to be a reliable if costly mail-order source. What's your favorite cut of steak to grill?

I used a chimney starter filled with hardwood charcoal in my Weber Kettle. I get great results using my rickety Weber Kettle for things like steaks and burgers. Are you a gas or charcoal griller?

I took the steak out of its cryovac container, patted it dry, left it out of the fridge to get it to room temperature (steaks grill evenly and faster at room temperature), and ground some salt and pepper and rubbed them all over the steak. Kosher salt is just fine, but up here on Cape Cod, my box of kosher salt becomes a box of salt clumps, so I end up using any old salt grinder I can find. I love the taste of simply salted and peppered steak, so I don't go in for spice rubs. Do you?

I grilled the steak on both sides for six minutes right over the charcoal. I then moved it to the edge of the grill to cook over indirect heat for another two to three minutes a side. Remember, I was cooking a three-inch thick steak. I ended up with meat a little too rare for my wife, so I ended up putting a few slices back on the grill for a minute or so more. To avoid this kind of uncertainty, use an instant-read meat thermometer. According to Bittman, 125 degrees is rare, 130 degrees is medium-rare. I didn't have one handy. These thermometers are particularly helpful when you're grilling a really thick steak. I have seen chefs use their fingers and their impeccable touch to precisely cook steaks, but I have never been able to utilize that method myself. How do you tell when your steaks are done?

We ended up with a perfect summer meal, grilled bone-in rib eye, sliced vine-ripened tomatoes with sea salt, and sweet corn on the cob rolled directly on a stick of unsweetened butter. The steak had a phenomenal charred, just-salty-enough, crust, and the tomatoes and corn were the essence of great summer eating. What do you serve your grilled steak with?

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Tags: grilling, Mark Bittman, meat, steak