The Perfect Steak

We bought a grill a few months ago, and it’s been a lot of fun to grill. I’m convinced that everything tastes better on a grill. You could grill old shoes and they would taste good. We had asparagus on the grill the other night and even it was good. In fact, it was delicious.

The best thing though has been grilling steaks. I love a good steak, and I’m pretty anal about grilling my steaks. First, it’s an expensive piece of meat so I don’t want to ruin it. Second, there is nothing more disappointing than an overcooked steak except maybe a BYU loss to utah. Those losses sting for the entire year; whereas, overcooked steaks generally haunt me around 2-3 months. With the steaks, redemption can be found much sooner.

So here’s my method for grilling a great steak. Turn the right and left burners on high and leave the middle burner(s) off. Season the steak with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I like to keep the seasoning simple so you taste the beef not the marinade. Place the steak over the right burner on high heat for 1 ½ minutes then rotate 90 degrees and cook another 1 ½ minutes. Flip the steak over onto the left burner over high heat and cook 1 ½ minutes then rotate 90 degrees and cook another 1 ½ minutes. The rotating will give your steak a nice diamond pattern. If your steak isn't very thick, it’s likely done at this point. If the steak isn't done, move it to the middle of the grill and letthe remainder of the cooking happen over indirect heat. You will want to turn the steak every few minutes so it doesn’t over cook on one side. You can tell by touch when the steak is done or use a meat thermometer. I like 133 degrees internal temp for a nice medium rare. My meat thermometer is off by 4 degrees (I took my temperature with it to find this out) so my steaks come off at 129 degrees. If you use a meat thermometer, make sure you know how accurate it is because a few degrees are the difference between a great steak and a dry disappointment. Finally, let the steak sit a few minutes before cutting so the juices redistribute and then ENJOY.

For Father’s Day I decided to treat myself with some steak, and I picked out two huge bone in rib eyes. (See above) They were thick and perfectly marbled. My first rib eye turned out absolutely wonderful. It was a perfect medium rare, tender, juicy, and nice and beefy. Eating it was pure bliss. Coupling it with a baked sweet potato made it even better. The second rib eye that I made didn’t turn out as well. I placed too much faith in the meat thermometer and not the touch method. Technology failed me! It was still a good steak but just a little over done. It’s been eating at me ever since, but I redeemed myself last week with two perfect, medium rare, juicy New York strips. No sweet potatoes this time, but it was still a great meal.

Stupidest quote of the week: "God is so gangsta. That is what I love about him. That's why I'm not trippin."

What's the dumbest thing you've heard this week?