Most outdoorsmen are carnivores, and it follows that most like a great steak. Sadly, many don’t know how to achieve it. Here are my suggestions for making a delicious steak whether you’re cooking in your backyard or over a fire in a remote camping spot. 1. Start with great meat – you can’t buy inferior meat and expect to make it better by some hocus pocus or special preparation. Choose fresh, black angus beef with a bit of marbling, and stick with a T-bone, Porterhouse, or Ribeye for a really tender, juicy steak.
2. Season – Steaks don’t come seasoned, so you’ll have to add it. You’ll eventually discover the flavors you like best, but start with simple salt and pepper, or try Cavender’s or other seasoning salts. Several companies make a Canadian or Montreal seasonings, and are my preference as they contain a good bit of onion and other spices.
3. Marinade – The process of marinating flavors and tenderizing the meat. Place seasoned steaks in a liquid for at least 2-3 hours. If you marinate overnight, reduce salt in the seasoning or marinade as steaks “take up” more salt the longer they marinate. Build your marinade on a base of Italian dressing, then add Dale’s marinade, Worchestershire, beer, and other liquids to your taste. Allow steaks to come to room temperature before cooking.
4. Charcoal – you can cook a steak on a gas grill, but it will never have the flavor of charcoal, even if you have lava rocks. Gas is a great second, and more convenient, but for that impressive occasional steak use charcoal. Let it burn white and reach maximum heat before you cook.
5. Cooking time - There is no set time for cooking a steak because of the variables present. The temperature of the charcoal, the thickness of the steak, the degree of doneness desired, all affect the time it takes to achieve the end result you want. On a very hot fire, one which you can’t hold your palm above for more than a second or two, here are some guidelines. Cook steaks 60 to 90 seconds per side for rare, 1 ½ -2 minutes per side for medium rare, and 2-3 minutes per side for medium. Turn steaks only once, then remove to a pan, cover with foil and let rest five minutes before serving. This will help them retain juices.
6. Sauces – most folks will find these steaks so flavorful and juicy that they will not want or need any steak sauce, but you might provide it as a concession to their tastes anyway.
7. Well done steak – if you insist on cooking your steak well done, which is completely dry and gray inside, you can pass up all the above steps. Just unwrap the steak, throw it on the grill, and burn it up. You’re going to ruin it anyway, so it’s not necessary to waste any time trying to help it be tender or tasty. Just burn it, taste it, try to chew it, then throw it to the dog.
|
|
|
|
Contributor's Note
Working at home and cooking steak!
|
|
|
|
|
