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View Full Version : Steak your claim . . .



Nelskie
July 30th, 2006, 08:18 AM
So how many of us Fretters can attest to this same statement? I went to ___________ the other night and ordered a steak, and they over-cooked it. Sadly, this happens far too often, and speaks of the general malaise and disrespect given the steak by today's supposed restaurant professionals.

Case and point - I went to Ruby Tuesday's last week (yes, the dreaded chain restaurant - mistake # 1), and ordered a steak entree'. I asked that the steak be prepared "medium", which to my knowledge has a pink center, and a thin, brown outer edge. Well, as you might have guessed, it came back well-done. I mean not even close. I pointed this out to my server, who asked me if I wanted to send it back, a thought which did cross my mind - since it was so obvious that the cook put forth such little effort in even trying to cook the steak properly. Since I wasn't of the mindset to wait another (20) minutes to eat, I just asked that my next tall beer be on the house - a request that was promptly filled.

In high school, I worked in a pizza restaurant, so I did have some conception of preparation / cooking techniques. Two of my good friends worked at family restaurants - Mr. Steak & Ceasar's Centurion (pre-Royal Fork buffet-style place), and both of these guys knew how to cook a steak properly. Like any teenager, fast-food was always easily accessible, and due to our continually-changing schedules, it was often the only option. But I can honestly say that working in a fast-food type restaurant really made me appreciate a good, home-cooked meal - especially a steak on the grill. Of course, having a severe "jones" for steak, I continually picked the brains of my two friends on the best ways to prepare different cuts. They were always happy to share their knowledge, and commented often that preparing and cooking a steak was "an art" - which is, without question, an absolute fact.

I still remember one of the first meals I cooked myself at my very first apartment. I'd just rec'd my very first "real job" paycheck, and had went out shopping that Sat. morning to gather a few key supplies. The *NEW* (at the time) Zeppelin box set; a case of my favorite beer; and then to Menard's for big purchase - a little Weber Smokey Joe charcoal grill ($19.99); along with a bag of Kingsford, lighter fluid, and a nice, wood-handled, stainless steel grilling set. Next - it was off to my local supermarket (Larson's Super Value - best meat dept. in town) to select a fantastic ribeye, along with some choice sides (tates, veggie). I went home, lit the coals, and readied myself for a perfect meal. Sliced, skin-on potatoes with butter, pepper and rosemary; steamed asparagus with homemade hollandaise sauce, and the coup de' gras - a thick, beautifully marbled rib-eye. For me, the perfect medium is approximately 3 1/2 to 4 minutes per / side, over gray-ish coals (the same, or slightly less on a gas grill).

Cooking a steak is a ritualistic, but very rewarding experince. The "ssssssssssssss" as the meat first hits the grill grate; the smoky aroma wafting in the vicinity of the grill as the fat drips on the coals (enhanced further by the simultaneous enjoyment of an icy cold, carbonated, hop-flavored beverage); the black lines and brown-ish color of meat that you see after the first flip; and of course, the anticipation of incredible flavor that you soon will be soon be savoring.

The meal, of course, was incredible. But the thing that made it even better was that I knew how to properly prepare it, thanks to my steak-savvy friends, and their expert knowledge of the craft. It's a skill that has benefited me up to present day, and one that I take great pride in having. Dan, Scott G. - you guys rule.

So, what am I saying here? 1.) There's a very slim chance that you'll get a properly cooked steak at a chain restaurant; 2.) You can always get a better steak at your local supermarket; and 3.) The rewards of knowing how to properly cook a steak are many - not only from the flavor / texture stand-point, but also from the personal satisfaction you get from doing it yourself - and doing it right! ;)

Here's a few steak links for my fellow guitar-playing epicureans:

http://www.fiestabbq.com/kitchen/chart.html
http://www.ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Cook-Steak&id=129884
http://www.txbeef.org/cooking_methods.php3#grilling

Robert
July 30th, 2006, 08:47 AM
Good post, Nelskie! I love to bbq as well. Steaks are yummy, and I also fancy pork sirloin on the grill, good stuff.

Another thing, for some reason, I find a beer tastes sooooo good in these bbq situations!

SuperSwede
July 30th, 2006, 09:26 AM
Nelskie, thanks for the delicious links! :)

I am too very passionate about home bbq, and I never order steaks at restuarants because they dont know how to make a medium steak. *thumbs up* to Nelskie, and I´m off to the meat shop for some juicy steaks!

Cranium
July 30th, 2006, 09:38 AM
Actualy I usualy get steaks brought to me all bloody with blood when I order "well done" oh and did I mention there was blood all over? Thanks for the links :D

t_ross33
July 30th, 2006, 11:13 AM
knock the horns off, wipe it's a$$ and run it past the grill. THAT'S how to cook a steak :R

EDIT: BTW thanks for the links Nelskie. My wife manages the restaurant at our local golf course (they grill awesome steaks). I'll pass these on to her ;)

Iago
July 30th, 2006, 11:26 AM
Man, you`re sounding just like my dad! hehheheh

I wish I could cook though...

Mark
July 30th, 2006, 12:27 PM
I never order Steak in a resturant either. For one they will manage to screw it up and a good cut like Ribeye etc the price out here is rediculous. I love cooking and Q'ing another great one for the grill is Tri-tip not available everywhere but one great cut O beef.......now I hubgry

Nelskie
July 30th, 2006, 12:48 PM
Another thing, for some reason, I find a beer tastes sooooo good in these bbq situations!
*Homer Simpson voice* Beer. Mmmmmmmm.

Yes indeed, Robert, there are few things that I enjoy more than a steak, with an icy cold beer to wash it down. Any BBQ, for that matter. They are definitely two things that go great together.

Since we're on the BBQ vibe here, another thing I thought I'd mention are two BBQ recipe books that I use ALL the time. The first is a very comprehensive volume that I consider a personal bible for grilling - How To Grill by Steven Raichlen. An amazing book, with wonderful illustrations, and fabulous recipes.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761120149/sr=1-1/qid=1154286192/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1474151-8058318?ie=UTF8&s=books

The second is a smaller edition that focuses only on steaks, ribs, and chops - though a volume I also consider to be indispensable - Steaks, Ribs, & Chops by Better Homes & Gardens. If it says BHG and it has anything to do with food - get it!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0696208288/sr=1-2/qid=1154286260/ref=sr_1_2/104-1474151-8058318?ie=UTF8&s=books

If you have these two books, you'll have a collection of some of the best BBQ recipes out there! Bon apetit'! ;)

Spudman
July 30th, 2006, 09:47 PM
I just did steak for 200 on Saturday along with duck kabobs. The steaks you would be happy to know were indeed pink in the middle which was a bit tricky as the outside of the medallions were wrapped in bacon which had to be cooked well enough to...well you know, it's bacon. Needless to say not one steak came back with a request that it be cooked longer. Obviously there were some very intelligent people in attendance or they were just really hungry.

marnold
July 31st, 2006, 08:43 AM
When my dad was asked how he wanted his steak, he replied, "Just run the cow around out back and get it a bit sweaty." I will agree with you mostly about chain restaurants. I would have agreed completely until I went to the Texas Roadhouse in Green Bay. It's the best steak I've had at a chain place ever. It's very consistently done too. They have a description for each level of "doneness" and the steak always matches that description well.

Now you've gone and made me hungry. Here, Bessie . . .

Tim
July 31st, 2006, 08:59 AM
I love to BBQ also. It is easier to cook on the BBQ than to heat up the house while cooking inside.

I normally cook 2 steaks once a week. To fill in some of the other week days, I will throw on pork chops, ham steaks or minute steaks (which really only takes minutes).

Presently I have a small stainless steel gas grill. It will hold about 6 steaks. Once more I am getting GAS on cooking smoked meat. I use to owe a Masterbuilt smoker: http://www.hawgeyesbbq.com/masterbuiltsmoker.jpg.

There is nothing better than slow smoked meat to bring out the Neanderthal man in each of us. Do they really still exist?

Thanks for the links Nelskie

Katastrophe
July 31st, 2006, 03:38 PM
A good ribeye, cooked medium, with a baked potato (everything on it, please), a good salad with fresh ingredients (ranch or italian dressing) and a good, really cold beer is my idea of an outstanding meal. A nice big slice of cherry pie or cheesecake for dessert, and a few cheddar stuffed, fried jalapeno peppers for an appetizer and you're pretty much talkin' bout what they serve in Heaven.

I can't stand it when I get what was once a beautiful cut of meat, only to have been burned beyond all recognition by the college student in the kitchen because he's mad at the manager.:mad:

Just make sure EMS is standing by with a defibrillator when the heart attack starts from eating all that fat and cholesterol.

Tone2TheBone
July 31st, 2006, 04:40 PM
How can you guys eat raw meat? Bleck.

;)

tremoloman
July 31st, 2006, 06:22 PM
I'm a BBQ addict. I've got a Weber that gets used at least 2x a week. Last winter I dug through 3 feet of snow to satisfy a steak craving.

Nothing beats a true Delmonico treated with Allergo for 1/2 an hour. Any of you familiar with this stuff? Give it a try once and you'll never look at steak the same way again!

Allergo (http://www.allegromarinade.com/original.html)

A cool steak website that has an incredible amount of information can be found at askthemeatman.com (http://www.askthemeatman.com/)

God... I'm DYING for one right now!!!

marnold
July 31st, 2006, 08:35 PM
How can you guys eat raw meat? Bleck.
Actually, I have been known to eat bona fide raw meat. It's a very German thing to have some raw hamburger on pumpernickel with a bit of salt and onion. You have to find a good butcher, though. You don't want to get some hamburger that they ground right after some pork. Butchers who will still do this are VERY serious about it. The place locally asks where I'm coming from and will grind it while I'm in transit. Back home in Michigan, the butcher kept a grinder separate for just this purpose.

Spudman
July 31st, 2006, 09:40 PM
I just watched Underworld II. Those guys eat tons of raw meat. The movie is gross as hell but really cool.

Trem, did you notice how much sodium is in the Allegro? Oh my gosh! Just reading the label made my arteries hard. Good thing steak wont do that to you.

Salt...it's whats for dinner.;)

tremoloman
August 1st, 2006, 09:04 AM
No wonder why I never need to add salt when using Allegro. Seriously, give it a try... the stuff is amazing.

Bloozcat
August 1st, 2006, 01:20 PM
Now this is a topic I can get my teeth into....:rolleyes:

I absolutely love to BBQ. Actually, it's proper to say grilling when speaking of steaks or anything that you cooks relatively fast on the grill. The real BBQ aficianados only consider it BBQ when it's been slow cooked over indirect heat. I've been corrected on this a number of times now, so I'm trying to get it right.

I have a nice stainless steel gas grill and a smoker for slow cooking. For the grilling purists, gas grills are a no-no, but if you do a couple of things to compensate for the sterility of gas, it can turn out well. The first thing I did when I got my gas grill was to rip out the sheet metal heat deflectors that were located above the burners. Then I put a grating just above the burners and added lava rock. Finally, I added some long, narrow cast iron boxes around the edges of the lava rock to hold the water soaked hickory and mesquite wood chips. After that, I cooked a lot of nice greasy hamburgers and sausage to condition the lava rock with the drippings. Simple stuff really, but it makes all the difference in the world in the taste.

I don't really like ordering steaks out in restaurants much anymore. And just because it's an expensive well known steak house, it doesn't mean that they know what they're doing either. The last two steaks I had at Ruth's Chris were pretty dreadful. Morton's in Chicago is still good, the Hereford House in Kansas City was great the one time I ate there, and Peter Lugar's in Brooklyn NY is still one of the absolute best. But I can do at least as well myself at home...as long as I have a good piece of meat.

Tim
August 1st, 2006, 02:38 PM
Bloozcat - I did most of what you addressed for my gas grill. My only problem is that the wood chips dry out and catch fire, which burns the meat. Any ideas how to solve this delima?

Bloozcat
August 2nd, 2006, 06:53 AM
Bloozcat - I did most of what you addressed for my gas grill. My only problem is that the wood chips dry out and catch fire, which burns the meat. Any ideas how to solve this delima?

On my gas grill I had a warming rack that was set above the grill surface by about 6" when the lid was closed. It wasn't very wide, so I went to Home Depot and found a wider one that I was able to adapt to my grill. It's wide enough where I can just get three racks of baby back ribs on it.

That was one solution. The other thing was to keep the cast iron wood chip boxes at the very edges of the lava rock I had put in. In doing so, the boxes are away from the direct flame so the wood chips don't catch fire. I'll still throw some additional chips around the edges that do catch fire, but they're usually far enough to the side to where they don't burn the meat. The cast iron boxes are hard to find in a long narrow size, but you can also use 1" steel angle iron about 1/8" thick or so. Cut the angle to length and position the pieces along the edges, supported by the lava rock in a upright "V". Putting the wood chips in these channels will allow them to smoke without them flaming up.

You may have to experiment a little with placement of the wood chip boxes/channel depending on the type of burners you have. Instead of the tubular or flat type sheet metal burners, my gas grill came with straight, HD cast bronze burners. They're set in the grill in a row of three at right angles (perpendicular) to the front edge of the grill. Because of this, the side edges of my grill are just out of the actual flame.

Tim
August 2nd, 2006, 09:16 AM
Thanks Master Chef. I will work on this. My grill is round so experimenting will be needed. Or go purchase a small smoker.

Bloozcat
August 2nd, 2006, 10:18 AM
Thanks Master Chef. I will work on this. My grill is round so experimenting will be needed. Or go purchase a small smoker.

Hey, you're welcome Tim.

With all of the fancy new grills, BBQ's, and smokers out there, I still think the best is one of those barrel type cookers. You know, the type that used to be (and in some cases still are) made out of 55 gal drums. Those darn things with their little chimneys sticking up on one side, make some of the best BBQ I've ever eaten. You pile the coals on one side of the cooker, and use the indirect heat to slow cook the food.

Here's something you may have had the pleasure of doing Tim, as well as the other Florida and Southern boys here too.

It's an old Florida tradition passed on by the old time cracker residents here, to have big pig roasts every now and then. With wild hogs abounding on the land here, we've got plenty of reason to have them. My friends and I don't do them much anymore, since most of us are married now and don't have the time, but we used to do them a couple of times a year. We'd go out and shoot a hog or two, dress them out, marinate them, and slow cook them all day. For awhile there we were trapping the hogs so we could pen them and corn feed them for a few weeks or months to fatten them up and make the meat tender and sweet. It was always a great party all day long while waiting for the meat to slowly cook. Those of us who played instruments would bring our gear and jam and drink beer all day.

It was always the big barrel cookers that we used for these pig roasts. A friend of mine had one that was about 6-8' long that he trailered to the BBQ's. We never used charcoal either. Instead we had a big V-shaped rack made out of rebar that we would load up with oak, and we'd burn it down to coals. The bottom of the "V" would sit about 2-3' above a large piece of plate steel that we'd put on the ground. As the wood burned, hot coals would fall to the metal plate below, and we'd shovel the coals into the cooker. We'd start the day around 6:00-7:00 am by getting the fire going. About 6-8 of us would take turns tending to the fire, coals, and the meat. The abundant citrus here in Florida came in handy as well. There's nothing like the citrus acid in the oranges and grapefruits to cut the gaminess in a wild hog. So we always had a box or two handy. Another friend used to make the best venison Brunswick stew I've ever eaten, and the wives and girlfriends would make all the rest of the food. We'd have beans, slaw, corn, potato salad, cornbread, swamp cabbage, greens, blackeyed peas...and just about anything else that the women could make. We'd "snack" on deep fried venison (called just plain "deer meat" by most), venison sausage, and gator tail throughout the day. And pies and coblers for dessert (can't have a Florida pig roast without some good Key Lime pie....:p ).

And of course, someone was always assigned the job of picking up the keg and having it iced down by 9:00 am.

Good times and great memories...:)

What about the rest of you? Any great and memorable BBQ traditions from your necks of the woods?

Tone2TheBone
August 2nd, 2006, 10:44 AM
Deer meat rules. Especially the tenderloins of a White Tail Deer. Ahhhhhhhh.

Bloozcat
August 2nd, 2006, 12:10 PM
Deer meat rules. Especially the tenderloins of a White Tail Deer. Ahhhhhhhh.

Yup, we call it "backstrap" on a deer. We'd always save the backstrap and heart for deep frying at these outings. I never knew that deer heart could be so tender and tasty 'til I tried it for the first time.

Tone2TheBone
August 2nd, 2006, 12:45 PM
Yup, we call it "backstrap" on a deer. We'd always save the backstrap and heart for deep frying at these outings. I never knew that deer heart could be so tender and tasty 'til I tried it for the first time.

You must hunt. The "backstrap" and "saving the heart" gave it away. :D Anytime we've killed an elk we have heart and onions at camp that night. Arr Arrr Arrrrr!

SuperSwede
April 2nd, 2008, 11:51 AM
I just had to revive this old thread..

I really want the BBQ season to start.. I cant wait until I can open a cold beer and throw a nice steak on the BBQ... oh and the smell.. mmm

Algonquin
April 2nd, 2008, 11:58 AM
Oh ya... BBQ Time!

Good revival. I just bought a baby Weber bbq for our camper! Camping this summer just got even better. I lit it for the first time this afternoon...

Woo Hoo! The season is upon us!

(But I still grill at home all winter)

t_ross33
April 2nd, 2008, 11:59 AM
Me too! :beer::drool:

Just thought I'd put in this shameless plug for some local guys that have an awesome product. Order yours up today: Treager Barbecue Grill (http://www.traegercanada.com/index.php).

I'm GASing for one...

but it isn't gas :confused: How does one "pellet"? :D

Robert
April 2nd, 2008, 12:03 PM
Yes! Steak time and BBQ times are here!

Justaguyin_nc
April 2nd, 2008, 12:06 PM
BBQ time? Hmmm..Im in the south.. we eat it year round..:)

I still like mine in the oven... no clean up.. justa good eating...

He, there is a McCormicks Grillmates Steak Rub thats been around abit..
Try it on those steaks and Hamburgers.. it aint bad when cooking out..

Tone2TheBone
April 2nd, 2008, 12:07 PM
Grill all year round too here, come snow or shine...and I'm getting hungry.

WackyT
April 2nd, 2008, 12:08 PM
I just had to revive this old thread..

I really want the BBQ season to start.. I cant wait until I can open a cold beer and throw a nice steak on the BBQ... oh and the smell.. mmm

Already started here. I sat out of the patio with a couple good amber ales and BBQ'd a T-Bone, potato, and some broccoli last week. Was too tempting with the outdoor temp over 60 degrees F.:beer:

luvmyshiner
April 2nd, 2008, 12:11 PM
Woo Hoo! I love grillin'. With Central Texas weather being what it is we grill pretty muchly year round.:beer:

SuperSwede
April 2nd, 2008, 12:26 PM
I hope to roll out my rusty trusty coal grill next weekend.. steaks and beers at my house!!

moon
April 2nd, 2008, 12:44 PM
Tonight will be my trusty Weber's final grilling. It was a stupid thing... told myself to not forget to move the grill before I back the truck up... Chicken for us tonight, new Weber awaits at the local hardware store.

Spudman
April 2nd, 2008, 04:02 PM
I've been cooking with mine all winter. I've shoveled a spot clear so that I can get to the grill all winter...but I don't stand outside when I'm waiting for the stuff to cook.:)

Tone2TheBone
April 2nd, 2008, 04:13 PM
I've been cooking with mine all winter. I've shoveled a spot clear so that I can get to the grill all winter...but I don't stand outside when I'm waiting for the stuff to cook.:)

I stand outside by mine but the alcohol keeps me warm....:D

peachhead
April 2nd, 2008, 09:02 PM
I love steak...but I think this is gonna be a fire-up-the-smoker-for-some-ribs weekend. :D