Cookaholics Bulletin Board

So I bought some steaks, really good, US beef entrecôtes ( not sure what the cut is but well marbled, nice chunk of fat, no bone) and tried to follow the advice on Serious Eats. I salted it a few hours ahead. I have a 4 burner gas grill, a very good Australian via Germany model that gets up to 600 F no problem. I put the 2 outside burners on high and left the 2 inner ones off. I think my steak was too thin, more like 1" than 2 but it is 9 bucks per 100 grams... I should have got a double thick one and split it but only thought of that later. The steak was cooked perfectly but I didn't get a good char. Beside having a thicker steak, these were my ideas: 1. Turn on the 2 left (or right) burners so there would be a larger hot surface or 2. Take the steak off the grill after the indirect grilling and the put the temp up on the whole grill. Solution 2 would allow me to precook the meat and then just zap it to order. Thoughts?

Mary

Mary,

I also tried Kenji idea of salting the steak four days in advance. Yes, flavor is better.

Cooking separately from searing is a good idea. I prefer pre-roasting to an internal temperature 100F in a cool, 250F oven. Actually, the best was pre-smoked entrecote (boneless ribeye) beginning with cold steaks, 6 natural briquettes and a chunk of pecan. After smoking, I held them in a 100F oven for an hour and seared just before service.

This is tricky with a thin cut. In that case, you might as well cook, turning frequently for a total of 8 minutes to 10 minutes.

Sounds like dinner.

Tim

I have done that in the oven with roast beef, cooked at 180 then seared at the end. That is also the way the chef we had in Malta did the filet. Just plain old grilling probably would have worked as well. I need to save my pennies so I can try this again.

Mary

IME sear on a gas grill is accomplished by the grill grate rather than by the gas heat. How heavy is your grate?

Real heavy? I think the steak was too thin and I left it on the cool grate too long and the surface area was too crowded for the meat I had. I will salt again but probably save the indirect grilling for big chunks of meat.

Mary

You won't get a char on the cool side. Need to go on the hot side long enough to char, if you want a char. Then you need to decide how much more on the cool side (pre- or post-) to cook it thru.

Yeah, I think it was on the cool side too long so I couldn't leave it on the hot side long enough. I made a butterflied piece of beef tenderloin (aged on the bone... not even going to tell you what that cost as it made me want to puke a little). I didn't have enough time to salt it and just seared it quickly. Lovely thing it was. Not sure what my next grilling adventure should be.

Mary