Happy Canada Day!
What better way to celebrate our nation's birthday then with a nice rib steak? First, I have to give credit where credit is due - A big thank-you to Andy and Steph for hosting a great Canada Day BBQ/Housewarming with some delicious cupcakes/Daiquiris/Margaritas. Also, if you are interested in where some of these techniques are coming from, I suggest you go out and purchase a copy of Weber's Real Grilling. My sister bought my Dad and I a copy each for Christmas a few years back, and we've been e-mailing our favorite recipes back and forth ever since. What you're about to read is a bit of a mish-mash of ideas from many years of grilling, but the main parts come from Weber's.
Second - Please share this Blog! I know a lot of you are reading it and I thank-you for that, but it's the comments, the communication and sharing that are going to make this little experiment take off. Tell your friends! Try a recipe! Write me back! Let me know how it went!
Now, on with the food.
Picking a Steak:
Personally, I like knowing where my steak came from, but that's not exactly realistic when you live in a city! I tend to lean towards Rib Steaks and T-Bones, but I have had good results with Rib Eye's that have been de-boned and tied up (I think I found them at Loblaws and they were scrumptious.) Stay away from sirloin or anything that says "tip" on it - if not done properly these can get very tough. Last thing to consider is thickness and marble. Three quarters of an inch is about right. Best thing is to find a butcher and talk to them - find out what they like and try out new cuts of meat (like a Skirt Steak???) until you start getting the results you want.
Preparing a Steak:
Really expensive cuts of meat do not require much preparation. But when you're buying meat at 24.99$ a pound it starts to get a little out of control. If that's your thing - great, enjoy. The average BBQ-er however, will spend somewhere between 8-12$ on a decent steak and will be more then happy slapping it on the grill with some steak spice. However, let's talk about making an average steak AWESOME.
Marinades - they are not necessary, but if done properly they can help tenderize a cheap cut and add a nice flavour. I love going to other people's houses and asking if I can make a marinade from whatever it is they have in stock, it's fun and you have to be creative! But here's where to start, and again, forget about measuring - use your nose and your eye to get used to what you like and how much you need. Here is the base I use for just about any steak marinade...
- Dijon Mustard (this is the emulsifier, very important!)
- Soya sauce (dark and salty)
- Garlic (crushed or pressed depending on how long it will sit)
- BBQ sauce (I like darker, spicy sauces like H1)
- Lime juice (the tenderizer! I hear Kiwis work well too)
- Alcohol or vinegar (red wine is a good start, but a good Bourbon does wonders)
From there it starts to get more creative, but the mustard-soya-sauce base can be manipulated to suit lots of different tastes - play with it and let me know what you come up with. You can marinate a steak for up to 24 hours in the fridge or about 30 minutes at room temperature.
This is the killer move: REMOVE AS MUCH OF THE MARINADE FROM THE STEAK BEFORE GRILLING. People see me doing this and they flip out. But Weber's was right - you want to sear the flavours into your steak, not steam it to death! After marinating, your steak should take on a slightly darker colour from the sauce and that's how you know it worked. Scrape and then pat dry using paper towels.
Last step - lightly oil up your steaks and rub them with whatever rub you choose! I stick to Montreal Steak Spice most of the time because I've found that's the flavour most people are expecting, but we'll talk more about different rubs later. Also, you'll get the best results if your meat is at room temperature before you grill, this means leave it on the counter for at least 15-20 minutes before you BBQ.
Grilling a Steak:
Before you cook a roast, you brown it in a pan to sear it and to "lock" in all the flavour. Steaks are pretty much the same. You want to sear your steak through the heat of the metal grills which are in contact with the meat, not from the burner underneath! This is where we start discussing the difference between direct heat, and indirect heat. So preheat your BBQ at MAX (400 degrees is plenty hot) to heat up the grills, then turn one side down to MIN just before you put your steaks on. Sear them for 1-2 minutes on the side where you turned down the heat, while keeping the other side hot. Rotate them (this gives them nice diamonds from the grill and helps to cook them evenly) onto the hot side and alternate your burners again.
Now here are some basic rules to try and follow, so hang on...
- Only flip your steaks ONCE, and only rotate them ONCE.
- Try to avoid opening your BBQ as much as possible.
- If your searing was done properly (4-8 minutes), most of the steaks should be RARE inside - if someone wants their steak Medium or well, move it over onto indirect heat and let it sit there until the desired tenderness is reached. If you're using coal, this may mean moving some of the coals so you have a place for indirect cooking.
How do you know if it's rare, medium or well done? Professional chefs know the exact heat of their grill and the thickness of their steaks is also controlled, as a result, they know exactly how much time (and we're talking seconds here) to leave it on the grill. Plus they do it over and over and over again, so they get pretty good at it night after night. My technique is not pretty, but it works - I poke the steak with my finger. The toughness of the meat tells me what's going on inside. If it feels rare like it did on the counter, well guess what, it's probably rare on the inside too. This takes some practice, but it's pretty easy to tell when a steak is overdone, because you'll poke it and the meat will feel like rock.
NOW EAT YOUR DELICIOUS STEAK.
Hope you like it! Try it out and let me know how it goes!
TWLabels: Weber's Steak Marinade
