How do I BBQ a great Steak?

Question

I have tried and tried and tried! It is either too rare and bloody or too over done and dry! Thanks for any tips!

OMG- Thanks for all the great tips in just 12 minutes! A special HI! to John Doe! lol

Answer 1

There are a lot of factors that can be leading to your dilemna. Cut of meat, how thick it is, how hot the coals are, and how close to the heat you have the steak. The best advice I can give is to not mess with the steak too much once you get it on the grill.

Most of my experience is with rib eyes. This is important, some cuts of meat do not do well on the grill. Ask your butcher/meat cutter for advice. What I do is I raise the coals to medium/medium high. Get a nice sear on both sides of the meat, and then I lower the coals to low, close the lid, and leave it alone for 15 mins or so. Check the meat by pressing on it, do not cut into it or stab it. Also, turn the steak with tongs instead of a fork. You want to keep all those juices in there, and poking holes in that nice seared outter layer defeats that purpose.

There is some trial and error, but once you get the feel for the how hot your grill gets, and the cut of meat, you should be ok.

Also...key point. Let your steaks set for about 5-10 after cooking. This allows carry over cooking, and the also allows the juics to soak back in to the meat. Cutting a steak right off the grill lets all those yummy juics out and they end up as a puddle on your plate.

Answer 2

There are several answers to the question actually.
1. Using gas or charcoal
2. Marinate or Dry
3. What type of steak, Ribeye, T-Bone, New York

My personal favorite is marinating a ribeye for 2-3 in Wishbone Zesty Italian Dressing. Use a zip lock bag to marinate your steak in. Prepare a charcoal grill and when the coals are covered with white ash, place the steaks on the grill. Grilling depends on the thickness of the steak. Usually a 1" steak will take 8 minutes to cook medium rare over hot coals, 4 minutes per side. An easy way to check for doness is use the finger method, meaning taking your index finger and pressing on the meat of the steak. Really soft feel is rare, a little firmer is med, firm med, hard is well. To practice the feel put your hand in a loose fist, with other forefinger press the skin in the cup between the thumb and forfinger, then squeeze a little tighter, then a little tighter and so on, the tighter you squeeze the more done the steak feel will be as a guide.

Good Luck

Answer 3

Have your steak cut so that it is uniform in thickness - about an inch and a half. Then marinate it in teriyaki sauce overnight. Using an outdoor grille and charcoal is real good because you also get the smoke flavor you can't get by frying.

The biggest mistake newbies make is not letting the charcoal get fully ready. You need to light it and let the starter burn completely off, then let it sit and continue to warm up at least twenty minutes. Then slap your steak on the grille close to the charcoal. It should start to sizzle in a couple minutes as the fat - which you DO NOT trim off - melts and drips onto the hot coals.
Let it sizzle like mad for five minutes, turn it over and let it go another five. Then raise the grill three inches above the coals (hey, does not have to be exact, but at least three) and allow it to cook another three minutes on each side.

That really isn't a long time, so at this point remove the steak to a plate or platter and cut into it to visually check to see whether it's done to your liking. If it needs more, slap it back on the coals another three to five minutes per side. Repeat the process until it's done to your liking. Meantime, the sneakiest way to overcome the guys' objections to a less-than-perfect grilled steak is to make sure each of 'em has had at least three beers before y'serve the meat 'n potatoes! Hey, a girl needs all the advantage she can get, yo! BTW - another good marinade is A-1 Bold steak sauce...

Answer 4

Get a good piece of meat.

Mix up some mustard, bbq sauce, some spices, onion, etc in a bowl as a basting mix.

My mix is: 2 tablespoons mustard, 2 cups honey bbq sauce, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 2 tablespoons worshdishiresauce, oregano, basil, onion salt, garlic salt, black pepper.

Take large 9" x 12" or so cake pan, line with tin foil, smear some of your mix on the bottom. Lay steak on foil and coat the rest of the steak. Leave some of the mix for the grill.

Put in fridge covered in foil for 6-8 hours to allow the steak to soak in the flavors.

(6-8 hrs later) Get grill started, nice and hot but not flaming. Ensure clean grates and slap on the steak. Once on poke say 10-12 times all over the steak with your 2 toothed grilling fork. This allows heat to get to the middle of the steak.

After poking some, smear on some of the mix from earlier. Close lid and let cook about 5-7 mins.

Open grill and flip steak and poke the other side and put some of the mix on the steak. Close grill and cook 5-7 mins.

Open grill and flip steak.

Now from this point on it is a matter of how you like your steak. Rare, Medium or Well Done.

Allow the steak to cook in 2-5 minute sessions per side. Using a sharp steak knife cut into different sections of the steak to check the center. Do not cut all the way thru but just like a gash.

Continue the 2-5 mins on each side until you get the center color you like.

If you like bbq sauce or similar on your steak you can save some of the mix from earlier for this time.

This is my personal receipe and always get "man oh man....got any more?!"

Answer 5

It is probably your fire. You need to get a constant heat for your fire before you can practicie the art of BBQing a good steak. If the fire is too cold you will dry the steak out, if it too hot the staek will be too rare. Get a consistancy going in how you build your fire then when the coals are ready hold your hand just above the grid and you should just be able to count to 8. That is a good heat to start getting used to BBQing at.
For the first few tries don't be shy to cut a small hole in the steak to check it. Allways aim for slightly pink as the steak will dry a little even after you have taken off. Steak should be served asap as it can dry out and become rubbery if kept warm for too long. If you must add a little butter on top of the steaks, in the wrming drawer. Not too hot or you will continue cooking them. With sausage it is done once you can see bubbles at the topside, this means it is cooked through.
You should try marinading you steak for two or three hours before the time to. The marinade must not be too thick and saucy as this will burn on the BBQ and spoil the taste (and is very cancerous). Sauces are for afterwards. A marinade should be light and only tenderise the steak with an extra bit of flavour. I will put a rcipe at the end.
This is a good place to start. Practice makes perfect, eventually you will know how you like your steaks done on what type of heat (the key).

Marinade recipe: Adapt to the amount of steak you have.
25ml brown vinegar (the key tenderising ingredient)
1 sliced onion (in rings)
garlic flakes sprinkled on the steaks to the strength you like
1 teaspoon of fresh ground coffee if you have. You will not taste coffee bu it will taste smoked.
25ml oil
25ml worcestershire sauce
Then add your favourite spices as you like it.
Lay the steaks in the mixture with the onion rings in loops on the surfaces. Let it stand for 3 hours turning occasionaly to ensure a smooth coating.

P.S. Never flame grill your steaks. Never. One flame grilled steak has the same amount of toxins in it as 600 cigarettes. Don't go there.
Good Luck and happy BBQing!

Answer 6

If you live in the Midwest invest in No Name Steaks they are the best ever!!!:) Also here is a tip I saw on a website. When you prick your steak with a fork, there are different kinds of resistance. So what you do is make a fist, but clench your hand lightly, at the portion of the skin between your thumb and forefinger meet that is what the steak feels like if it is rare. Then clench your fist a little tighter and that is how the steak will feel when it is medium, and then clench your fist as tightly as possible and that is how it will feel when it is well done. Hope this helps

Answer 7

Well, this is one of those practice makes perfect things.

One of the challanges of outdoor cooking is control of the temprature. You want to cook over coals not flame. They give you a much more consistant temprature. You have a bit of control over just how hot the actual grill surface is by adjusting the distance to the coals.

The steak itself will begin to loose it's fat as it cooks. This fat will usually drip on the coals and flame up. This *can* be a good thing as it gives that nice little crust to the outside. Just keep an eye on it and flip the steak and/or move it to another part of the grill if it gets out of hand.

As for knowing when it's done, one of the best tools I have found is a BBQ fork / thermometer. You just stick the tines in the steak, press the button, and it tells you how well done it is.

As for dryness, you need to let the steak rest for a couple of minutes after you take it off the grill. Put it on a plate and loosely cover it with a small tenfoil tent. You dont have to seal the edges, just loosely cover it like a "pup tent". Let it sit for about 5 minutes while you toss the salid, fix the potatoes, etc... When you cook meat the juces are forced out of the cells. If you cut into it just as it comes off the heat all of that juce will just run out on the plate. Letting it rest like this allows the juces to re-absorb giving you a much more tender product.

Keep in mind that the meat doesn't just stop cooking the instant you remove it from the heat, there is quite a bit of heat stored up in the meat itself and it will continue to cook for a bit after you remove it from the grill. This phenomon is known as "cookover". If you want your steak medium remove it for resting when it is medium-rare. If you want it medium-well, remove it when it is about medium, etc...

As for seasoning, this is, of course, personal preference. IMHO a touch of salt, peper, and a dash of garlic (and perhaps a high quality tenderizer depending on the quality of the initial steak) applied a couple of minutes before grilling is all that is needed.

I could ramble on about some great sauces, but that's an answer to a different question...

Happy grillin'...

I am attaching a link to my website dedicated to wild game cookery. While there are not currently any articles specifically on how to cook a great steak, there are some links to books and info in the sidebar of the homepage related to the topic that you might be interested in checking out.

Answer 8

Marinate your steak in a mixture of soy sauce, Worchestershire and A1. About an hour. Get the coals ready. When the coals are completely grey, create a two-tiered layer of coals. Cook your steak on the thin layer of coals for 15 minutes (that's for a 3/4" steak cooked medium).

Answer 9

The done-ness of steak is told by the texture. Soft is rare.
Hard is well-done. I use this system. You can compare it to your face [this is what they used to teach the cooks at ponderosa where i worked]...i don't remember exactly the parts of your face but like chin is medium, forehead is well cone, cheek is med rare etc. when you press on the steak how hard it is indicates how done it is. use fairly low heat so flames don't burn it. turn it only once. excessive turning means the top cools off and when you turn it has to heat up again before it starts cooking towards the center. that's what my mom says and she is a short order cook. best to err on the bloody side, you can always put it back. my bf like them basted with melted butter (not margarine).

Answer 10

What i do for a GREAT steak is...marinade it in like Jack Daniels sauce they have it like at your local store...fire up the BBQ..Put on low heat...Take out the steaks....Put on the grill..keep a close eye on them so they dont burn...Flip every 5 mins...and after about 3/4 flips ...perfect medium steaks to melt in you mouth