How To Grill The Perfect Steak

A question I get asked all the time is: Can you teach my husband to grill a steak? He over-cook’s everything.
There are several things that I do when I grill a steak:

• Let the steak slack out to room temperature for 45 minutes
• Pre-heat the grill on high for 15 minutes
• Brush on a light coating of olive all and season liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Place the steak on the grill and cook side one until about 60% done. I don’t believe in repeatedly flipping the steak. It is good to get a little char on side one. Side two should be less charred.

In my method there are 3 ways to check for done-ness

1. Touch it. Every steak you have ever had at a restaurant has been touched. At KFI we trained salespeople to check for doneness. We had them touch a raw steak. It was very soft. We had them touch an overcooked steak. It was very hard. We had them touch a medium steak and it was in between hard and soft. Touch takes practice.
2. Use an instant read thermometer. They work really well. I cook it to 115 degrees. Pull it off the grill and let it sit. It will continue to cook up to 125 degrees which is the perfect medium rare
3. Cut a little slice. This is a taboo in most cookbooks as “they” say you are letting out the juices. I once saw one of the best chefs I have ever worked with cut a little slice. There is nothing like seeing the doneness to be sure.

The goal is medium rare. I have surveyed chefs that work in high-end restaurants and they say 85% of customers want their steak medium rare.

I have one friend that asks the waiter for his steaks “Medium rare plus”. I pity the poor server that goes back to tell the chef that some pain in the ass customer wants his steak medium rare plus. If the server is lucky the chef will laugh. A few chefs I know would explode.

The first question I get asked is how long should I cook the steak. My answer is that it depends on several factors:

• How hot is the grill. All grills vary
• How often you open the grill
• How often you flip the steak (Only once recommended)
• How thick is your steak

Time and temperature can be misleading! Stick to the 3 doneness measures above and with a little practice you will get really good.
With the goal of medium rare, I cook to rare (warm red center) pull it off the grill, brush it with a compound butter (butter, garlic, shallot, herbs, salt and pepper) and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then slice and serve.

So what about steak for people that like their steak well-done? This is bad, but I avoid friends that like well-done steaks. I love the line in Anthony Bourdain’s book where he claims that most chefs save the worst steak for dinners that ask for well done. If they want well done they don’t have a clue. Truth is that there will always be end pieces of meat for the well-done guys.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.

How To Come Up With The Perfect People To Be In A Supper Club

Supper Clubs have no age limits. The general practice is for a Supper Club to be generational. Baby boomers stick with baby boomers and millenials stick with millenials. Personally I prefer to get a mix of generations.

Not being tied to one generation opens up the possibilities. This reminds me of a multi generational story. More than a few years ago, we were having dinner with our friends Terry and Jeff back in Greenwich Connecticut. While were waiting to get seated I ran into a childhood friend, Tommy Palumbo at the bar. It was great to see him. After a briefly catching up I rejoined my wife and friends at our dinner table. When I sat down Jeff asked me: Why that I was 45 and looked 55 and Tommy who was 45 looked 35? To which I responded: It could be the 25 year old woman he was with that isn’t his first wife”. The scar from where Susan kicked me has just about healed.

For the record, Tommy had also dyed his hair. Having had hair that is completely white since I was 30 probably leaves me sensitive and exposed to older than I look comments. Then again I can be glad that I have hair. Unlike my father who was bald and used to say: “God only made a few perfect heads, the rest he put hair on”.

We are lucky to live in a neighborhood that a lot of millenials are moving into. We have joined a wine club where the average age is closer to 35 than our age of 60. It is great. The millenials are a lot of fun and the dynamic for a Supper Club works very well.

What Should You Wear To A Supper Club Dinner Party?

Every wife will ask her husband: “What should I wear to the party?” Of course it depends. My cousin in Florida says “In Florida it’s simple it is either casual or formal. Casual means shorts. Formal means black tie.”

My experience is that Supper Clubs are pretty casual. The season is more a driver of what people wear. Closer to the holidays the ladies will dress up. The warmer the weather is, the more casual the attire.

One of the classic stories about what to wear goes back to a corporate event we hosted In Montreal years ago. Kraft hosted a Culinary event at the Research Chefs Association trade show. It was dinner for 200 people. It was winter. It was a corporate event that was pretty formal. During a prep meeting for the event the subject of attire was being debated. Discussion was going in all directions. Amanda our sous chef walked up to a flip chart and jotted “The attire for the event should match the elegance of the evening”. Wow!

A few weeks later my mom was visiting and I showed her the invitation for the event. She immediately focused in on the attire description and asked who wrote this: I told her about Amanda the sous chef. To which she said: “chef – she should be writing advertising copy”. Some people can really write. Amanda can cook and write.

Getting back to what to wear for Supper Clubs, casual, and comfortable works.