Help me grill the perfect steak.

[Mark C]

I think it was only mentioned once...

Get a meat thermometer. I don't know how I ever cooked without one. Some 'purists' will argue that you're poking a hole in the meat and letting some juices escape, but monitoring the internal temperature is definitely the easiest way to build consistency.

Other things often overlooked are to start with room temp meat, and let the meat rest ~10 min before cutting it. Keep in mind the internal temp still rises while it's resting, so take it off the grill 5-10 degrees before your target 'done-ness'.

[dgold21]

Pretty much what they said:

Super-hot grill, I get mine over 600 before dropping the steak.
Tongs, never fork.
I do about a minute, then rotate it about 45 degrees, another minute, then flip and repeat...you get a nice crosshatch grill pattern.
Pat of butter on the finished product as it rests on a wooden slab immediately after removing from the grill.

One thing extra that I like to do is lightly sprinkle some chili powder (Texas or Southwest style if you have it) along with your other seasonings of choice and brush the steak with a thin layer of olive oil before grilling.

Oh, and DON'T TRIM THE FAT BEFORE GRILLING. Sorry, pet peeve of mine.

[hoax]

Pretty much everything has been already said.

I'll just reemphasize that the meat needs to rest after grilling. Preferably with a big pat of salted garlic butter sitting on the top. To often I see my friends pull the steak off the grill and start cutting right away.

[MikeyC]

Originally Posted by Darrell

Thanks for all the great info. Now, how would I grill up a London Broil? I know it will need more than a few mins on each side.

IDK I guess you could consider London Broil a steak but personally I don't think of it as such. This is a cut of meat which is TOUGH. My grandmother used to refer to it as "gorilla meat."

Here's what I do with London Broil. Soak it in beer for one day. The more flavorless and watery the beer the better. The beer will break down the meat and make it more tender but you don't want to add the beer flavor for this recipe. Take the meat out of the beer, rinse it off well (soaking in cool water for an hour is a good idea), and marinate it for another 24 hours in Ken's Steak House italian dressing. I believe this brand is available nationally and has a unique flavor. So, don't substitute if you don't have to. Flip the steak in the marinade after 12 hours. Then grill. Sprinkly some garlic powder on the meat on each side while grilling. I guarantee you the best london broil you've ever had.

There's some good advice on here about cooking steak in general. Cut of meat is of paramount importance and so is cooking to the right temperature/cooking technique. I would also add to that two more things.

Thickness of cut:

A thin steak is easier to overcook and tends to add toughness. A thicker steak is easier to cook med. rare and will be more juicy and tender.

Quality of meat:

We have a few different "level" of supermarkets around here from bargain type markets to high end/all natural type markets. The meat from the higher end markets is MUCH better than the bargain markets. These markets tend to get more preferable grades of beef and one market that opened a couple of towns over has a dry aging room right next to the meat department.

Also, keep your eye out for a local butcher shop. They're harder and harder to come by these days. At least around here because of the prevelance of supermarkets many butchers have been forced "up market" in order to differentiate from the supermarkets and to survive. So, the few butchers around here are very high end and often charge more than even the most expensive supermarkets. However, the meat they sell is HIGH quality. For valentines day last month, I cooked up 2 sirloin strips and they came out as good as you would get at a high end steak house. Of course, I paid $20/pound for them.