In my mind, it’s not the summer until I’ve broken out the grill to cook up some tasty food. I love and have grilled pretty much all imaginable kinds of meat, typically with what I’d consider great success, one particularly catastrophic incident with catfish fillets not withstanding.
That said, the hands-down pinnacle of fire-grilled meat is the steak. There is simply nothing tastier than a high-quality piece of beef grilled to perfection. I’m going to walk you through some steps that’ll help to ensure you get the best results.
Once you’ve selected your steak, the first thing is to prepare it for the grilling process. This can take a variety of paths, but generally it boils down to two options: marinades and dry rubs. A marinade is a liquid that the steak will soak in for a period of time usually several hours, gaining both moisture (that will eventually result in a juicier and more tender steak) and flavor based on the makeup of the marinade.
A dry rub is a mixture of spices that is applied to the outside of a steak immediately prior to grilling – it’s simply sprinkled on liberally, and then pressed into the meat with your fingers in order to ensure adhesion. Once that’s done, then you can slap it right on the grill. This serves mainly to add flavor to the steak.
The two things are by no means exclusive, and in combination can be quite tasty, but be careful not to overpower the flavor of the steak itself.
Finally, once your steaks are prepared, you can throw them on the grill. This is a fairly straightforward process, but there are a few tricks you can use to ensure your steaks stay tasty and don’t get overcooked. First, you should begin the process by searing both sides of the steak. This traps the juices inside, preventing the steak from drying out. Second, rotate the steaks’ positions on the grill. Even the best-distributed grill is going to have hot and cold spots. Rotating the steaks ensures that they all cook evenly.
Finally, there’s a simple trick to ensure that the steak is cooked to perfection. Open up your hand completely, palm up. Press the tip of your pointer finger to the meaty part at the base of your thumb. Then the middle, ring, and pinky fingers, too. See how the firmness changes? As a steak cooks, its firmness changes as well, and your hand can provide a basic comparison – for rare, use your pointer, for medium, the middle, medium well, the ring finger, and well done, your pinky. When the steak’s firmness matches your hand, it’s time to take it off. It’s not scientific, and takes some getting used to, but it’s a good starting point.
Getting good at grilling takes time and practice, but these steps can help you keep your steaks tasty even from the beginning. Happy grilling!
