HOW TO MAKE A GREAT STEAK (Part 2) - COOKING YOUR STEAK

Step 1:  Bring the meat down to room temperature.  I don't think I've seen any concrete rules for this, but we usually take the steak out of the fridge 0.5-1 hour for a 1" steak and 1-2 hours for a 2" steak.  You obviously don't want to leave meat out or more than a few hours.

Step 2:  Remove excess moisture from the surface of your steak.  Take a paper towel and blot off the excess water / blood off of the surface.  The excess moisture is going to steam your steak and impede getting a nice sear.

Step 3:  Rub with oil, sprinkle salt and crust with pepper to taste.  Those are all the ingredients you need!!!  You can also use a butter / oil mixture, but we usually just use olive oil.  Some people like to put various rubs, marinades or whatever.  But IMO when you have a great piece of meat, you want as little on it as possible.

Step 4:  You need a really hot heat source.  Ideally, you should use a heat source that will also emit a smoky flavor to the meat - like a wood or charcoal grill.  But that's kind of a mess.  Most of the time, we grill our steaks and just use the highest setting.  You can cook it on a range, but you probably want to use some pan that will really conduct heat well, like a cast iron skillet.  I don't think an electric range gets that hot, but I guess it couldn't hurt to try.

Step 5:  Cook your steak.  I'm a little reluctant to give out times, because all set-ups are different.  But on my Weber propane grill, I cook on high for 5 minutes a side for a 1" thick steak.  For a 2" thick steak, I cook on high for 5 minutes a side and cook covered for 7 minutes a side on medium.  You cook on high to sear the juices in, and you cook on medium until the center is how you like it (which I assume is medium rare). 

Step 6:  Check for doneness.  You can get a meat thermometer for under $10, but I find them somewhat unreliable.  Make sure you don't cook for longer than a few minutes more than the times I listed above, in case you have a spazzy thermometer.

• Rare Steak – 125°
• Medium-Rare Steak – 130° – 135°
• Medium Steak – 140° – 145°

If you like your steak medium-well, you need to stop reading my blog and go hang out with the other dregs of society.  Oh!  All right!  Medium-well is 150-155.  If you like your steak well done, you need to GTFO.  Seriously.  :-P  160.  Pull the steak off the grill when the temperature reaches 5 degrees LESS than the numbers above.  This is because the steak continues to cook, even after you take it off the grill.

Step 7:  Let the steak sit for 5-10 minutes.  This lets all the juices redistribute within the steak.

Step 8:  Enjoy!