BBQ, Help
 

Well, since I figured this forum is filled with men (and some Fraus too) I figured I should at least ask for some help.

Ever since I moved out and started living by myself, I've had to cook steaks with a grill.. obviously this wasnt very tasty or fun. So for Christmas I asked for a BBQ.

Now, fast forward to New Years, and my girlfriend is up visiting. I decide to buy some nice steaks and do them on the BBQ. As it's not a huge BBQ (but a 'tail gate' one to fit on my balcony) I have some trouble gauging how best to cook things. The steaks turned out very well done, and very chewy.. :nope:

Any tips or things I could do to cook steaks better? I heard that you should only turn them twice and cook them for 4 minutes on each side and then put them on a top rack with low heat to cook them to Medium or Well done. As its a 'tail-gate' BBQ I don't have a top rack..

Cheers,

Krater

I was taught and have always practiced turning the steaks and pretty much anything else on the grill with two sides, including sliced veggies only ONCE. Don't salt raw steak meat on the grill but wait to do it on a cooked side otherwise you get that nasty coagulated blood festering to the top.

The amount of time per side depends on the thickness of the steak.

Also very important get the grill up to temp before putting anything on it and set it up for a direct grilling

-----> Find a good grillin' bible by Steven Raichlen http://www.barbecuebible.com/

For me, it's really important to get that good sear on both sides first. I cook with a good old-fashioned black Webber charcaol grill. What I will do is place them in the center with the lid off first for about two minutes per side. With the juices sealed in, I then move them off to the cooler perimeter and place the lid back on. I do about two more minutes per side for medium rare and 4 per side for medium. Of course, the thickness of the steak will play a major factor in the time. I usually do thicker cuts on the grill.

I don't eat meat, but you do, so you can use a trick until you start to get the feel for it. Take a plate outside and cut into the steak that you will eat. That way, you can see what is going on inside the steaks and not mangle your guests' meals. In any case, the most important part is that the hot part of your grill is hot, and I mean really hot. Searing the outside without cooking the inside is critical to keeping your steaks moist regardless how 'done' they want them, and giving them that very appealing chared texture and appearance that one would expect from steaks on the grill.

EDIT: Rockstar, Steven Raichlen is the freaking man.

Hey thanks for the quick replies guys :)

Just finished my meal for tonight. Here's results and what I did.

Turned propane BBQ on high, for 5 minutes (to get it hot). While waiting, I took the steak (raw) on a cutting board, and put on Montreal steak spice, rubbing it in both sides. Afterwards, I took it outside, turned BBQ down just underneath 'Medium' and put it in the centre. Because the last time I cooked between Medium and High for 4 minutes each side, I decided to turn it down a tad and cook longer. This time was Medium for 10 minutes each side.

What turned out was, when I went outside to turn them, all the juice had risen and kind of coagulated at the top (making the steak a little dry..) After turning it twice, I cut into it and found it was still a little too pink for me so I put it back on (Cut side UP) and let it sit for 5 more minutes. Eating it now, it tastes great, maybe a tad too spicy but its great. It's kind of dry but that's about it.

So what your saying is I should spice the steaks while they're on the grill already? How does this stop the blood from coagulating on top?

So cook them on high with lid off until they're seared? Will this stop the juice from rising to the top and coagulating?

The only problem with this is that I like the look of presenting a meal (with guests here) where the steaks are whole and not mangled :D. Are there any tricks to knowing how long it takes to get rare, medium, well done steaks? Or is it only a matter of knowing your grill and experience?

The only problem with this, is that when I cook, it doesn't look or feel like the grill is getting all that hot.. Maybe because its something like -25~30 or maybe its just me :D

Also, is liquified propane (obviously all propane is dangerous) dangerous? Does it run the risk of exploding?
The problem is, while barbecuing I had no problems, however, when I took the tank off prior to eating, the tank still had some escaping gas, while attempting to re-attach it to the propane feed, some liquid propane came out and squirted onto my finger (it went numb and was dam cold). After calling my parents, my dad said just to leave it outside. Because of this, I'm afraid the next time I go try to re-attach the tank, the majority of the tank is going to be liquified.

Thanks for the quick replies!

Krauter

There will always be some blood rising to the top, but with the heat high enough, you can get that really nice sear before too much of the juice is gone. It is also worth noting that thick cuts will always grill better than thin ones, and it is hard to find the thick cuts this time of year.

That's why you pick the one you want for your self and cut it, not your guest's. If you like your's medium rare, and your guest likes medium, you can see how pink your's is and have a pretty good idea of what the inside of your guest's looks like.


Therein lies your problem. You are a using propane grill, which is fine, but your's doesn't sound like a very good one. This is probably compounded by the fact that you are grilling in the winter, and the surrounding air temperature is not helping your grill's lack of 'punch', if you will. It is forcing you to keep the meat on longer (30 minutes is way too long) which is drying out your meat.

I don't have much experience grilling with gas, but I'd say that you probably don't want to play around with it.

Aah ok, thanks a lot.

My steak that I had tonight is about an inch thick, maybe a little thinner. Is this thick for a steak?

Yes I understood what you meant :) But I just meant I like a good presentation on my own meals also :)

I really thought that was what the problem was. Besides the point that its freaking cold out, the BBQ isnt some huge monster that can grill 10 steaks at once, its only 1ft x 1.5~2ft with not very much heat coming out of it either haha. But thank you for the help.

As for the liquified propane thats leaking, I think I'm just going to dispose of it (at a store or..)

Cheers

Krauter

An inch thick is a pretty good thickness for grilling, and is probably the best you'll find in January.

Excellent :) Thanks a lot Takeda :D

I season the meat before I cook it, not after. In fact, well before I cook it. I take it out, and salt it, then let it come to room temp before I cook it 9or whatever it gets to in an hour out of the fridge).

I used to grill, but now I virtually never do. I cook steaks on my cast iron pan on my 22k BTU burner, hot, then if thick I put the pan into the over to finish them.

For really thick, "who's your daddy" steaks (2+ inches) I might use longer cooking, low heat (same cast iron).

It's all about the golden brown sear.

BTW, until you get the feel for your grill (or pan), I'd suggest a digital probe thermometer. Set it to ~116 for rare (the steak will "coast" another ~5° after cooking while resting). Dunno what the medium temp is... 130 (so set temp 5° below that).

ALWAYS rest meat after cooking. Always. 5 minutes minimum. If you cut a steak and "juice" pours out, it's not rested. Rested steaks look like "fake" pictures, they are gorgeous red (unless ruined by overcooking to more than medium ;) ).

Here in the southeastern US we call what you are referring to as a "BBQ" a grill.

BBQ is a well-known food you sometimes cook on your grill.

Funny how the same words mean something different depending on where you are.

As to our grill, I don't use charcoal but short sections of wood from either pecan or hickory as we have those here in abundance in the woods, saves lots of money you can spend on meat instead.

I'd say to be BBQ it would have to be with a lid (closed), and smoke would be part of the equation.

I don't consider a steak as BBQ, frankly, not unless you cook it long enough that the smoke really matters.

Hah, what I meant by BBQ is the cooking tool.

As I live in an apartment, in the middle of a snow clogged city, getting wood to burn isnt really an option for me on a student budget.

Tater, what does leaving the steak out of the fridge for an hour do compared to taking it out of the freezer the night before (setting it in fridge over night) and then taking it out, salting it and then putting it on the grill/bbq/whatever you like to call it?

Also, what does resting the meat for 5 minutes after cooking do? This time, when I cut into the steak there was no blood. But, for example, I pan fried sausages last night for dinner and they had juice come out when I was eating them.

The critical thing is the temp inside BEFORE you cook. If you take the steak from the fridge and cook, by the time the center is the right temp, the outside will be wrecked. The goal is the perfect crust, and as much of the inside the same target temp as possible. Room temp is closer to target temp than a fridge (which is ~37° F).

Resting is critical. When you cook, the juices are driven away from the heat. When the steak rests, the heated water equilibrates and spreads more evenly around the meat. The result is more moist bits of meat (all the fluids that cover the plate/cutting board are NOT in the meat, obviously. Rested meat doesn't bleed, all that goodness is in the meat.

Always rest meat. Always.

Awesome, thank you for the tip Tater, I wasn't aware of that :)

Edit: And as for room temp; I thought it was as long as it wasn't frozen, or have bits meat still frozen inside, it was good.

Say you want rare. The very center would be ~120°F (~49°C). If the steak was 40°F at the center (fridge temp), you have to raise that bit 80°. The trouble is that since the heat is coming from the outside, the outside gets crisped while the center slowly heats.

What you see when you cut such a steak is the crust on the outside (which is very well done, obviously, then grey, well done meat surrounding our rare center. The trouble is that it has taken so long to get the center to 120 that the "rare" bit of your 1.5" thick steak is almost not there. In fact, the bulk of the steak is well or medium well, and only a sliver in the middle is well.

A "perfect" rare steak would have a great crust (again, the crust is very well done), but the crust would be VERY thin, and the entire interior would be a uniform 120°. 1.25" of red, rare steak, and 1/8 of an inch of crust all around.

If you start with the steak at room temp (~70°F), the very center only needs to rise 50°. This radically improves your chances of having the bulk of the middle fall in the rare range (~120-125°), with a thin crust.

With any cooking method, you'd be very well served to get a probe thermometer with a temp alarm (under $20). Set the temp alarm to 5°F below your target temp. So 115 for rare (120 final temp after resting), 121° for medium rare (126 target temp), 131° (135 final) for medium. I'd not worry about well, there is no "perfect way to ruin meat. Above medium anything is ruined enough to be "well done." (anyone who orders well-done in a restaurant should reconsider eating out, or order something else. In restaurants, they typically save the worst pieces of meat for "well" since no one ordering well can tell the difference anyway (the best cut cooked well tastes no better than the worst).

Use the probe. Cook enough on your grill or pan, (ideally try for the same thickness of steak every time, it makes it WAY easier to learn), and you'll be able to do it by time and feel (press meat with finger and watch for the way it rebounds—but this take a load of practice with similar pieces of meat to get right). When I cook for guests, I always use a probe on one steak as a guide so I get them right. If I have rare, MR, and M that people want, I set it for rare (all steaks look the same thickness wise), then pull the rares when it goes off leaving the probed steak as the most done. I then reset it for medium rare, and pull those when it hits 121. Then medium last. I don't cook steaks for friends that like ruined (don't have any, actually :) ). If I knew people that liked steak like that, I'd cook something else (stew, or maybe a roast (then give them the heel of it that would be well)).

That make sense?