How to Grill the Perfect Steak
Steaks can be eaten at any time of the day for a full, satisfying, pleasurable meal. People pay big bucks to eat the perfect steak at a fancy restaurant, when it’s very easy to get the same results at home with a good cut of meat and the right steps. Here’s how you can grill the perfect steak in your own home.
Choosing the Right Meat
The texture and flavor of the final dish is determined by the kind of meat you’re using. Almost all steaks can be grilled, but some steak cuts are more suitable for grilling than others. There are three things you should look for in a steak:
Tenderness. Tougher cuts of meat are better suited for stews or braising, but tender cuts like rib eye and round steaks are best suited for grilling.
Marbling. Beef cuts have traces of fat and connective tissue in the meat that melt and dissolve as they are cooked. Having more marbling means more flavor, but they are prone to overcooking and burning, and you may not get as much volume as you want when the meat is cooked. Try to find a cut of meat that has a good amount of marbling, but still has a significant amount of meat.
Thickness. Steaks thicker than 1 1/2 inches can take much longer to cook, and you may end up with a steak that’s overcooked on the outside, but undercooked on the inside. If your steak is too thin, though, you may end up overcooking it completely.
A charcoal grill with an evenly-heated bed of coals is perfect for grilling, but you may also add wood chips from apple or hickory to give the meat a subtle flavor. You may also use a gas grill or a grill pan.
Steps
Heat the grill to the highest cooking temperature possible. High heat keeps the meat from sticking to the slats of the grill, and cooks the meat through.
Some people like to marinate or spice up steaks. To get the best flavor from the meat possible, you can season the meat with some salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Let the meat rest for a couple of minutes to allow the muscle fibers to absorb the flavor, and to allow a small amount of the juices of the meat to leak out and impart more flavor to the steak as it cooks.
Set the steaks on the grill to cook it. Move the meat to cooler parts of the grill just in case you experience flare-ups from fat dripping into the grill.
Check the steak for tenderness. If you’re not very experienced or skilled in cooking, you may need to cut a small slit on the thickest part of the meat to see if the meat is cooked through just the way you want it.
The perfect steak takes a lot of practice - and a lot of steak - to get right. With these steps, you can cook a steak to perfection in a matter of minutes.