tarjan
Fri, May 6th, 2005, 01:30 PM
In reference to the may 6 note of the day: Hey john, you are absolutely right the heat is the key to steak. The webber gas grill is great, but I still like my charcoal. If you are interested in combining the charcoal flavor with the right amount of heat, try a big green egg, kamado or primo type "cooker" to get the best of both worlds, even if it isnt quite as easy as the webber. If I had more room I would definitely have both the webber and my BGE.
As for the process I go through, I fire up my BGE and get her up to somewhere around 800+F (thermostat can't read past 800 :) ) in the dome, which should be around 1000F or so at the grate. This takes oh, about 10 minutes. Throw down a steak for 1-2 minutes on one side with the top CLOSED, then open flip and close again. One to two more minutes and then I shut all the vents and let it sit for another minute or two. Slowly open the vents to stop flashback (yes, it really does happen) let the grill pull some o2 through and then open the top. Thats it, steak is perfect at a medium rare to medium. EVOO, salt and pepper are all the seasoning I need and are done immediately before cooking.
oh man am I hungry now.
BTW the kamado style cooker lets you smoke as well as high temp stuff very well. jerky, pulled pork, brisket, beercan chicken etc all come out great with the flavor only charcoal can provide. I can keep it at 160F for over 24hrs on a single load of charcoal.
If anyone is interested, follow the instructions in the unit and dont use briquettes. They do not produce as much heat and leave tons of ash. The "expensive" stuff, hardwood charcoal, has more heat production by weight/cost and leaves very very little to clean up after. I use a mapp gas torch to light it up if I am lazy, otherwise a chimney starter.
As for the process I go through, I fire up my BGE and get her up to somewhere around 800+F (thermostat can't read past 800 :) ) in the dome, which should be around 1000F or so at the grate. This takes oh, about 10 minutes. Throw down a steak for 1-2 minutes on one side with the top CLOSED, then open flip and close again. One to two more minutes and then I shut all the vents and let it sit for another minute or two. Slowly open the vents to stop flashback (yes, it really does happen) let the grill pull some o2 through and then open the top. Thats it, steak is perfect at a medium rare to medium. EVOO, salt and pepper are all the seasoning I need and are done immediately before cooking.
oh man am I hungry now.
BTW the kamado style cooker lets you smoke as well as high temp stuff very well. jerky, pulled pork, brisket, beercan chicken etc all come out great with the flavor only charcoal can provide. I can keep it at 160F for over 24hrs on a single load of charcoal.
If anyone is interested, follow the instructions in the unit and dont use briquettes. They do not produce as much heat and leave tons of ash. The "expensive" stuff, hardwood charcoal, has more heat production by weight/cost and leaves very very little to clean up after. I use a mapp gas torch to light it up if I am lazy, otherwise a chimney starter.