- 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 on the grill and cook side one until about 60% done. I don’t believe in 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
- Touch it. Every steak you have ever had st a restaurant has been touched. At KFI we trained salespeople to check for doneness. I call it the GOLDILOCKS METHOD. We had them touch a raw steak. It is too soft. We had them touch an overcooked steak. It is too hard. We had them touch a medium steak and it was in between hard and soft. It was just right. Touch takes practice. GOLDILOCKS KNEW HER STUFF!
- Use an instant read thermometer. They work pretty well.Thermometers work better for roasts than they do for grilling. Sometimes the high heat of the grill throws off the reading. 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(For the record, the really good chefs I have worked with, make fun of chefs that keep an instant read thermometers on their sleeve. Great chefs have a sense of touch that obsolesces thermometers)
- Cut a little slice. This 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 white table cloth restaurants and they say 85% of customers want 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 a 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 doesn’t work! 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
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