Three Steps to Cooking Perfect Steak on Your Outdoor BBQ Grill

01. February 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , ,

If you’re like me, When you crank up that BBQ grill for the season it’s all about cooking perfect steak. I love all kinds of foods cooked on an outside bbq grill, but none says summer quite like that sweet smell of steak on the grill. For me, the results are always predictable and always pretty close to perfect. This is because I use the same process every time and I start with the end result in mind. So that’s my first tip: cooking perfect steak starts with identifying what that means to you and then learning about the basic cooking method so that you can navigate to that desired point. You’ll have to decide on the definition of perfection for yourself – that’s the fun part. But the next few paragraphs should help with the second part – learning the process and the basic cooking method that helps get you to your perfection.

It All Starts BEFORE Cooking Tenderloin!

For most carnivores, the beginning of the process towards steak nirvana is when you actually start cooking tenderloin. Unfortunately, this approach leaves out one of my best secrets for cooking perfect steak: start with the whole tenderloin. There are so many advantages to buying a whole tenderloin and breaking it down yourself. You can definitely save some money learning how to do this, and it is a lot easier than you think. When you buy the whole tenderloin, the first thing you have to do before cooking tenderloin is to remove the “chain”. The chain is the side muscle; it contains a lot of the fat and is great for use later in stews, chilis or even my favorite treat: Tenderloin Philly cheese steak. But that’s a whole other way for cooking tenderloin and beyond the scope of this article! Once you’ve removed the chain, you must remove the thick top end of the tenderloin – “the head”. This, too can be set aside and used later. What you are left with is a long tenderloin from which to cut your steaks. The most important thing to remember is to try to cut the steaks of consistent size by weight. Consistent size equals consistent cooking, which equals reliable cooking! Use a scale and aim for a consistent size somewhere between 3 and 5 oz per steak, depending on who you’re cooking for.

Do you Really Know How to Grill Beef?

If you believe most people, grilling takes no skill at all. It’s so much easier than cooking and anyone can do this with little advance planning or common knowledge. Right? This is actually one of my favorite cooking myths! Knowing correctly how to grill beef (or anything else) is essential to outdoor cooking success. Grilling is direct source conductive heat. Cooking is to grilling as driving is to flying a rocket ship. Everything happens quickly and intensely with grilling and that includes mistakes. So, let’s begin with the simple process:

First, get the grill as hot as possible. Keep the lid down while heating the grill, but open when cooking. This is another common grilling mistake. If you close the lid while cooking, the method you are applying is similar to that of oven cooking. Why bother doing it outside on the grill?
Brush the steak with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. You can use any other kind of seasoning or rub here, but I find that the true steak flavor comes from a good cut of meat and you don’t need anything else. You might have a different opinion so season as you see fit.
Place the steak on the hot grill “show side” down – meaning the side you’d want to display on the plate goes down on the grill first.
Now observe for signs of done-ness. When the steak is 75% done on one side, flip it over and cook the rest of the way.

Knowing how to grill beef is a simple process, but most people still go into it blindly. By following the steps, you will always be working towards cooking the perfect steak, rather than just cooking a steak until it has reached a safe to eat temperature and texture. The fine line of difference between acceptable and perfection make all of the difference, and with perfection so reliably reachable, why not aim high?

How Long Should the Meat Cook? Until It’s Done!

So, here we are. We always arrive at the same question. In travel, it’s: are we there yet?; and in cooking, it’s: how long should the meat cook?. Well, I have one answer to all of the how long questions: until it’s done. Yes, it really is that simple. Let the meat cook until it’s done. And now we get into the more interesting question: how do I know when it’s done? I often say that cooking is a journey – so you are a tourist, an observer on that journey. As you observe what happens to the steak during the cooking process, you will notice some predictable things happen. First, at 165 degrees, proteins coagulate. What you will see when this happens is that the steak will stiffen and shrink. You will see the sides of the tenderloin start to get brownish gray. At 320 degrees, the sugars caramelize. If you lift a side of the steak up slightly and look underneath, you will see the formation of grill marks to indicate this is happening. You will also begin to smell that nice, sweet, smell – telling you that you are cooking perfect steak and all is happening as it should. When the steak is 50-75% cooked on one side, it reaches what is termed in French culinary as “a point”. You will observe the juices start to bubble up to the red top. This indicates it is time to flip the steak, allowing it to finish its cooking on the other side. The last observation you will make to determine done-ness is the most quantitative because you will use a thermometer. Don’t cut open your steak to peer into the middle! Don’t stab at it with a fork! Both of these activities will release all of the juiciness you just worked so hard to achieve! 125-135 degrees is rare; 145-150 is medium and 160-165 is well done. So pick your temperature and remove the steak from the grill. But before serving it, let it rest for 5-10 minutes so that the juices can redistribute and run off onto the non-serving plate.

Just by understanding these simple facts about grilling, cooking perfect steak is almost a guaranteed result. Go ahead and get your own whole tenderloin today and get ready for some great outdoor eating!

Chef Todd Mohr is a classically trained chef, entrepreneur, cooking educator and founder of WebCookingClasses. You CAN learn to cook without written recipes by taking his FREE cooking class that will change the way you think about cooking forever!

Outdoor Cooking Methods

27. January 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

There are many reasons you may want to use one of the many outdoor cooking methods for your meals. Maybe you are going camping or you just want to grill outside in your backyard. Whatever your reason for using the outdoor techniques for cooking you need to understand what a few of them are and how they are can help you cook the proper type of food for you and your family.

You can choose from grilling with a few different types of grills to cooking over an open fire. It all depends on what you want to cook and why you have decided to cook outside. Below you are going to find a few different ways for cooking outside to choose from.

1. Gas Grill Cooking

One of the most popular methods of cooking outside is with a gas grill. This grill will take either natural gas or propane, which will be your main source of fuel for cooking. You may want to supplement the gas heat with wood chips so you can get more flavor since you are cooking with gas.

There are many advantages you will get when you cook with gas. It is one of the most convenient ways to cook because all you have to do is uncover your grill, flip a switch, and start cooking. It barely takes 10 minutes for your grill to get hot enough to cook on and compared to other outdoor cooking methods this is very fast.

Another great thing about cooking with a gas grill is the cleanup. It is very easy to clean a gas grill because there are no ashes or mess from charcoal dust or wood. You can let your grill stay hot for ten minutes after you are done cooking and scrape it down a bit and you will be all set. The heat will clean the grill on its own quite well.

The only downside to cooking with a gas grill is that you are going to taint the flavor of the food you cook with the gas a little bit. This doesn’t bother most people and you can use wood chips to help give your food a bit more flavor. If you use wood chips make sure you soak them in water for a while before you put them on the grill.

2. Charcoal Grill

A charcoal grill may be a better way to cook if you don’t want to taint the flavor of your food. There is nothing like getting that good smoky flavor into your food from the grill. Plus charcoal grills are much cheaper than gas grills because they are much simpler. There are many benefits to using a charcoal grill.

You can still use wood chips to help add flavor to your food and if you get the right tools you can light the charcoal and be ready to cook in about 20 minutes. This is a great way to cook outside if you don’t want to use gas, but you want to grill out anyway. You can lock in the great smoky flavor by using a charcoal grill and in most cases it is not as expensive.

Clean up is a bit more strenuous than using a gas grill, but most charcoal grills will have a way that you can dump the dust and ashes pretty easily. This is not much different than unhooking the tank from a gas grill every time it needs to be filled. You will have better tasting food with a more natural flavor with this outdoor cooking method.

3. Over an Open Wood Fire

If you are camping or you have a fire pit in your backyard another choice would be to cook over an open flame with a wood fire. This can allow you to keep the food tasting wonderful and cook in many different ways. You can take advantage of cooking things like cobblers in a Dutch oven or cooking many other dishes with the tools that are made for cooking over an open fire.

When you are camping and you are using a fire to cook most of your meals you can boil many things with simple pots and pans that are made for cooking. However, there are also tools that will allow you to build a pocket style sandwich and put it into the fire to cook. This is great for a pizza type of sandwich or anything else that can be toasted.

Many campers prefer to boil most of the food, but with an open fire you can roast marshmallows, hotdogs, and many other foods with a simple skewer that is long enough to put into the fire without burning your hand. There are many tools to help you cook food while camping and the most natural way to cook outside is over an open fire.

The outdoor cooking method you choose will have a lot to do with what you plan to do with your food. If you are simply cooking outside in your backyard choosing a grill type and cooking is much different than if you are camping out. Campers need more equipment and they have many choices for the tools they can use to cook over an open fire or even with gas burners.

If you want to keep your food tasting as natural as possible you will want to avoid using gas and stick with an open wood fire or charcoal. This is also the way you want to go if you are going to be smoking some type of meat. The smoky flavor comes from the charcoal or the wood you are using and if you use gas it will taint the flavor of the meat you are cooking.

It is up to you what type of cooking you want to do outside and if you are looking for something that is convenient and fast, then a gas grill is the best choice. However, if you are after flavor and you are not concerned about saving time you can either use a fire pit or a charcoal grill for your outdoor cooking needs.

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