The Holy Grail of Steaks

This week’s topics include a new kitchen toy for the Wannabe Foodie, a random travel note that I’m still trying to digest (gotta love Vegas), I find the holy grail of steak preparation, and why my friends are better than yours. 

The Wannabe Foodie’s latest toy.  A new lodge 10” cast iron skillet, with grill ridges.  Check it out:.  

Nice to cook steaks, burgers, hot dogs, etc., on the cooktop.   Like all cast iron, this beauty will take all the heat you can give it, and you need high heat to get some nice grill marks.

Its inaugural use was for bratwursts.  Mmm…..  Bratwurst…..  And, yes, of course, they were boiled in beer before being grilled.  What am I, new?  Served them on big rolls with Beaver Brand Wasabi mustard, and some other stuff that resembled side dishes.  But, let’s face it, it was really a meal of bratwurst and that other stuff.   

The review of my new toy?  Cool addition to my collection of kitchen toys and fun to use.  The only down side is that it’s a bit of pain to clean, particularly since you can’t use soap.  The down side of the ridges, I suppose.

Side note - kosher salt and olive oil are a very good way to scrub cast iron.  

Steaks, Revisited.  So, I admit that I seem to dedicate a lot of space and time in this blog to steaks, and I make no apologies for that.  We’re talking steaks!  Unless you’re a vegetarian, is there another protein that makes you happier to be at the top of food chain?  Methinks not, except maybe king crab.  In short, there are few better meals than a well prepared steak with a great red wine. 

I am on a quest to make the perfect steak.  I’ve cooked more than my share of my steaks in my time and frankly, I’m pretty good at it.  But I’m always trying to get closer to the ‘true’ steakhouse steak.  The holy grail, dare I say. 

Alas, I think I’ve found it.  As you may recall from a prior blog, I’ve seen the light and now grill my steaks over lump hardwood charcoal, and my charcoal of choice is Ono charcoal made from Kiawe.  Bring them up to room temperature and throw some kosher salt, pepper, and olive oil on them right before they go on the grill.  Sound familiar?

Note the time when I put the salt on – right before they go on the grill.  The traditional thinking is that salting earlier than that will draw the proteins out of the meat and dry it out.

Do you know what I’ve learned?  That’s BS. 

Yes, it’s correct that you don’t want to put your meat in a salty marinade well in advance of cooking.  You’ll have chewy, ceviche-esque steaks before you even cook them.  Not good.

However, that is not what we’re talking about here. 

So, recently I grilled my favorite steaks, ribeyes, and I rubbed some black, volcanic, sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper on the steaks a few hours BEFORE grilling.  Here they are after the initial rub. 

When I pulled them out of the fridge, you could see a slight sheen on the outside of the meat.  This was the proteins being drawn to the surface by the salt.

I followed my normal cooking method and these steaks came out with this absolutely, beautiful crust which you would normally associate with a steakhouse steak.  You could barely make out the grill marks as the crust was so uniform.    

The review?  Truly amazing, spectacular steaks.  Slightly salty, a hint of fresh pepper, and a true crust surrounding all of that beefy goodness.  The best steaks I’ve ever made.  Period.  End of story.  I’ll keep trying to improve this aspect of my culinary abilities, though I really don’t know how I’m to cook steaks any better. 

To recap – salt the steaks 3-5 hours before cooking and rub it in.  Take them out of the fridge at least an hour before grilling.  Brush with a little olive oil right before you grill.  Grill on REALLY high heat to your preferred temperature.  I try to pull thick steaks at 125-130 and thinner steaks at 130-135.  Don’t forget carry-over heat.  Let them rest on a rack uncovered or lightly covered for at least 5 minutes.  Note – you don’t want to wrap them completely.  It will produce steam inside, which will soften up the crust you’ve worked so hard to produce.   

Give this method a try.  I promise you will impress your friends and family. 

Why my friends are better than yours.  You may recall that a few weeks ago a friend of mine had me over and poured his 1994 Chateau Lafite Rothschild and 1986 Silver Oak.  Muy impressive, to say the least.

This week, our friends L&L bring over a bottle of 1995 Stags Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon.  You may recall that Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ cab (not those impostors over at Stags Leap Winery) was one of the wines that beat the French in a blind taste test in Paris in 1976.

They also brought a bottle of 1995 Stag’s Leap Winery cab (yes, that’s the impostor winery). That’s quite a duo of bottles to open with friends! 

Here’s the complete selection of wines we quaffed that evening: 

Lucky us, eh?

Like I said, my friends are better than your friends, at least in the wine department.

Random Travel Note.  So, I’m in Las Vegas for work.  It’s 108 flippin degrees.  As I exit the freeway, I can’t help but notice the guy walking down the offramp.  You know the area I’m talking about.  The right side of an offramp where there’s no sidewalk and where no is supposed to be walking. 

Ok, WF, that’s weird, but not 'mention it in your blog' weird.

He’s got a dog hat on, which is probably a foot tall.  And he’s got a six foot tail dragging behind him.  Not sure where he came from or where he was going, and it’s 108 degrees outside!  Wow.  I really wanted to take a picture, but I was driving by him too fast to be able to pull out my phone. 

And, yes, I know this post was tardy.

Happy cooking. 

WF